Ask Chelsea Porter about the moment she tossed her handmade vest on stage at the Benson Boone concert Thursday night and she can’t provide an answer.
“I literally blacked out,” she said from her home sewing studio. “I don’t even remember throwing it. I just know that it got to him!”
The mom, quilter and megafan had one hope for the sold-out show. Get Benson Boone to wear her vest. Instead, she got so much more.
A two-week labor of love and livestreams
It was about two weeks before the concert that Porter got the wild idea to make the vest. And she shared the entire journey on her social media channels.
“My followers were so involved in it. We went live for like two hours just to have people give me their input on what fabric to use. Two hours just nailing down the fabric. That’s not even cutting it.”
Porter stitched every piece and then quilted it all together before cutting out the pieces for the vest and sewing them into a piece of clothing. But with just two days to go before the show, she realized something wasn’t right.
“I made this collar and the collar was overpowering too much. It was a lot. There were stripes and ruffles,” she said. “I was like, ‘I’m going to make Benson look like a clown and everyone’s going to laugh at him.’”
She planned an emergency livestream with her followers where they reworked the vest. Not that Boone couldn’t have rocked a clown vest.
“That man can rock a jumpsuit and a vest-pants set any day of the week,” said Porter. “He’s like the Freddie Mercury or Elton John of our day so it was like if anyone is going to appreciate what I can do it’s this guy right here.”
Getting it just right
Porter had no measurements to go by, no mannequin to fit. She had a general pattern and a prayer.
“I was so stressed about making that vest fit Benson,” she said.
Her husband wasn’t the right size to help either. “I was just going to my friends’ husbands, pedaling my vest. Like, will you try this on? And they were such good sports.”
And then it was showtime.
Porter and her friends stood in the second row at the concert doing everything they could to catch the eye of the superstar on stage. She even enlisted the people around her to get his attention.
“It was kind of like this fun team effort of strangers working together to get this vest to him.”
With the vest raised high in the air, Boone stopped suddenly between songs and with a simple gesture Porter’s dream came true. She threw the vest up and over and it landed perfectly in his hand.
“I went back and watched the video and I was like, ‘How did I get that to him? Because that was perfect.’”
Without hesitation, Boone put down his microphone, took off his red vest and put Porter’s quilted vest on. Then he spoke to her. “Did you make this?” he said. “You quilted this? You’re a quilter. I like it!”
With a spin, Boone showed off his new threads to the crowd.
“It couldn’t have fit him any better. I was so pleased because it just laid on his back so good. You could see the ‘BENSON’. You could see the heart quilt block that I put on there.”
Boone wasn’t done, though. He came jumping off stage in search of his new seamstress, finding her in the crowd and giving her a hug.
“It was the best moment. It, by far, exceeded my expectations. My wildest dreams,” she said.
Boone wore his new quilted vest for the rest of the concert, nearly half of the show, before changing for the encore. His dad, Nate Boone, found Porter in the crowd, complimenting the vest and giving his thanks. They stopped for a picture after the show. And since then, Boone’s sister commented on her social media posts telling Porter that he loves the vest.
Who’s next on Porter’s sewing list?
Porter doesn’t dream of sewing more clothes for other stars, although she’s not ruling it out.
“The quilted vest felt signature to Benson because I felt like I could really get that unique, multifaceted, eclectic style that is just so Benson Boone …
“But I do have floor tickets to Ed Sheeran next year. We’ll see what comes of that because Benson is just so unique you know? He’s just truly so unique that maybe, maybe I’ll make something for Ed Sheeran. I mean, it’s Ed Sheeran!”