Saving Headphone!

By DillDoe | September 2, 2007

I’ve had this headphone for about 7 years now. It’s really the most comfortable pair I’ve used/owned. But it’s the earpads are getting pretty nasty now. Seams have ripped and the leather has peeled due to age. Due to the age of the headphones (discontinued) replacements are hard to find (impossible is more like it), so I’ve decide to make my own. Here’s how….

As you can see in the above pic, I’ve already removed the padding by unscrewing (3 screws) the speaker element from the casing. The pad can then be slipped off.

Since the inner seam ripped totally, the foam padding was easy to remove.
The top shows the back of the padding. As you can see, a ring of material is what holds the padding to the headphones. So…

This is how we gonna tackle the replacement. Now before I explain this, just a quick run down on some term.
Fabric has 2 sides, finished (face) and unfinished/inside (back). The finished side is what you want to end up with.
Ok, back to the diagram. A ring of fabric, just like the old one to hold it to the headphones (face down). Two ring of fabric to hold the foam. The unfinished side facing the foam.

Now take your foam and trace it on a piece of paper so you can use it as a template. You can use your old foam (as I did) or new one (ie. Memory foam). This is also a good time to give it a nice wash and dry to return it to it’s original state.

You need 6 squares of fabric. Choose a fabric with a little give or stretch. Pin your paper template down on 2 squares. Make sure the finished side are facing each other. As you can see in the pic, the template is pinned to the Back/unfinished side of the fabric.

On with the sewing (or gluing if you don’t know how to sew) Set your needle to the left (inset pic) and sew with the template in the center of the foot. Also, use a contrasting color thread so you can see it on the fabric. You’ll never see the thread when it’s done anyway.

Now cut out the center and pull the top into the hole, basically turning it inside out so that both finished side is on the outside.

Now place your third square of fabric (finished side up) on the bottom of your finished piece. (imagine the diagram upside down) Trim the extra fabric off, leaving about a quarter of an inch around the template.

insert the foam into the center of your finished piece. Just pull one side thru the hole of the foam. Make sure the front of the foam is faced down. Now sew up all 3 piece of fabric with a zigzag finish.

I would suggest using the left side of the foot to trace the foam instead of following the middle with your seam. This will give you a better fit and excess fabric can be trimmed afterwards.

Now cut a hole in the back piece slightly bigger than the hole. This piece is just to hold it to the headphone, so we don’t need alot of it. Then flip it to the back, turning it inside out.

Repeat the process again for the other side and reassemble your headphone.