Make a Felt Organiser for Your Hijab Pin Collection
A hijab pin collection is easier to use when you can see the fastening you need, lift it out without untangling another piece and put it back in a consistent place. Colourful heads and decorative brooches may belong to the same collection, but they do not all belong in the same holder. A loose straight pin, an enclosed safety-style pin and a pair of magnets need different arrangements.
This project makes a small felt organiser for closed safety-style fastenings and lightweight brooches. It opens like a book, with two felt leaves inside and a pair of soft ties at the outer edge. The example measures approximately 12 cm wide by 16 cm high when closed. Its purpose is to separate suitable pieces inside your storage box; the felt is not a puncture-resistant barrier, and the finished book is not a protective travel case.
Choose what will go in the book before cutting anything
Set out the collection on a clear tray where small parts are easy to see. Fasten each usable clasp and keep the pieces separated while you plan. Put damaged or incomplete items aside in a closed, labelled container so they cannot drift back into the ready-to-wear selection.
The book works best with a modest number of light fastenings whose sharp points remain securely inside their own closures. A small brooch can pass through a shallow bite of felt and close behind it. A safety-style pin can hold a small fold of the leaf while its point remains enclosed in the clasp. Neither should need to be pushed hard through a thick stack.
Keep uncapped straight pins in a holder intended for them, inside a suitable closed case. A thin felt leaf cannot make an exposed point safe. Keep paired magnetic fasteners in their own secure compartment rather than attaching them to this book: the project has no enclosed magnet pocket, and pieces could separate when the leaves move. A heavy brooch, a long decorative pin or an ornament with easily caught chains also deserves a separate fitted space.
If you enjoy making the accessory itself, the small beaded hijab brooch project explains that different task. Here, the aim is to organise finished fastenings without changing their mechanisms or adding decoration that could interfere with their closures.
Make a paper layout for the actual collection
Fold a sheet of paper to represent a book 12 cm wide and 16 cm high. Inside it, imagine a leaf 11 cm wide and 14 cm high. Arrange the closed pieces within that smaller area without piercing the paper. Leave room around each head to grasp it, open the mechanism and lift it away without touching its neighbour.
Use the two inward-facing surfaces as the main display areas. Avoid treating every front and back as extra capacity: pins on opposing faces can collide, while bulky decorations can press against each other when the book closes. A clear book with fewer pieces is more useful than one that must be emptied to reach a single pin.
A practical arrangement might put plain everyday fastenings on the left and two lightweight decorative pieces on the right. Another wearer might group by the scarves each pin has already been tested with. Do not organise purely by colour if that mixes very different shafts or mechanisms; matching colours do not make two pins interchangeable.
Close the paper around the arranged shapes without compressing them. If the cover has to bow sharply, reduce the contents or enlarge the design. The dimensions below are a working example, not a promised capacity. The heads and clasps you own determine the usable spacing.
Materials for the 12 cm by 16 cm example
- One piece of firm, flexible felt, 24 cm wide by 16 cm high, for the cover.
- One piece of suitable felt, 22 cm wide by 14 cm high, for the folded inner leaf.
- Two lengths of soft woven tape, each 25 cm long and approximately 8–10 mm wide, for ties.
- Sewing thread, a needle suitable for the felt, scissors, a ruler and a removable fabric marker tested on a scrap.
- A sewing machine if preferred, or a hand-sewing needle for the centre seam and tie attachments.
- A rigid storage box large enough to hold the closed book without pressing on the ornaments.
Choose felt that bends easily and retains a tidy cut edge when handled. Very thin sheets can stretch around a heavy clasp; very thick ones may be difficult to fold or pierce. Test the actual fastenings on an offcut before choosing the material. You are checking whether the clasp can close completely, whether the leaf stays flat and whether repeated removal pulls the felt apart.
A pale or mid-tone inner leaf can make dark hardware easy to see; a darker one may suit silver-coloured pieces. Test with your own collection instead of assuming one background gives the best contrast. Avoid loose glitter, raised embellishments or a fluffy pile that hides the mechanism.
Felt leaves sewn into a central fold are an established needle-book construction. Sue Bleiweiss demonstrates that principle in her needle-book tutorial for BERNINA's WeAllSew. This version uses a plain felt cover, one folded inner piece and separate ties; it does not require the applique, fusible layers or pocket in that project.
Cut the cover and inner leaf
Mark the 24 cm by 16 cm cover rectangle accurately and cut along the marks. Keep the corners square for this first version. Measure the two long edges and the two short edges after cutting so a slightly angled line does not turn into a crooked fold.
Cut the inner piece to 22 cm by 14 cm. No turning or hem allowance is included: these are the actual cut dimensions of the felt pieces. The cover is 2 cm wider and 2 cm taller than the inner piece, leaving a nominal 1 cm margin around it when the two rectangles are centred while flat.
Mark the centre of the cover's width at 12 cm along both long edges. Connect those marks with a vertical line across the 16 cm height. Mark the inner piece in the same way at 11 cm across its 22 cm width. These lines will lie together to form the spine.
Fold each piece along its own line and finger-press lightly. Do not use a hot iron simply because the material is called felt; follow the supplier's pressing guidance and test separately if pressing is needed. Open both pieces again before attaching anything.
Prepare and attach the ties
Choose a woven tape that lies flat and forms an easy bow. Avoid stiff, slippery or bulky trim that makes the closure harder to manage than the pins. The two 25 cm lengths allow some adjustment after the book is loaded.
At one end of each tape, turn 5 mm to the wrong side, then turn another 5 mm. Stitch across the folded end so the raw edge is enclosed. This uses 1 cm of the original length. Leave the other end unfolded; it will be secured to the cover. Neaten this remaining raw end with small overcasting stitches or a narrow machine zigzag, keeping its full length, so the tape is less likely to fray inside the attachment.
Place the cover flat with its inside facing up. Mark the midpoint of each short outer edge, 8 cm down from the top. Lay one unfinished tape end 1 cm onto the inside of the left edge and the other 1 cm onto the inside of the right edge. The long free parts should extend outwards in opposite directions.
Sew a small rectangle through each 1 cm overlap and the cover, keeping the stitches within the tape. Secure the beginning and end. If sewing by hand, use short backstitches and anchor the thread on the inside. Test the attachment with a gentle pull; if the felt stretches or the stitches cut into it, choose a firmer cover or reinforce the area before continuing.
Each tape now has approximately 23 cm extending freely: 25 cm minus the 1 cm finished end and the 1 cm attachment overlap. That is a starting length, not a required bow size. Wait until the book holds its intended contents before deciding whether the ends should be shortened.
Join the inner leaf to the cover
Lay the cover inside up. Place the inner piece over it, matching the centre lines and leaving 1 cm at the top and bottom. Check the side margins too. Secure the layers with clips away from the stitching path, or temporary basting if the material moves.
Mark the centre stitching line from 5 mm below the inner piece's top edge to 5 mm above its bottom edge. On the cover, those endpoints are 1.5 cm and 14.5 cm down from the top. The seam between them is 13 cm long.
Sew along that line through both flat felt pieces. With a machine, test an ordinary straight stitch on scraps of the same two layers and choose a length that holds them without making a dense perforated line. Secure the ends. With hand sewing, work small, even backstitches along the marked line and anchor the thread at both ends.
Keep the pieces open while sewing. Sewing through the whole folded stack would join the leaves together and prevent the book opening properly. Only the central line should connect the inner piece to the cover; its four outside edges remain free.
Remove temporary basting and any loose threads. Fold the cover and inner piece along the new spine. The single inner rectangle becomes two leaves, each approximately 11 cm wide and 14 cm high, inside the 12 cm by 16 cm covers. Allow for the felt's thickness when judging the margins: the closed layers may not line up with mathematical precision.
Load a few pins and test the organiser
Start with one light fastening on each inward-facing leaf. Open the clasp while the book rests flat, take a shallow bite through the felt and close the point fully into its own catch. Keep the mechanism visible enough to inspect; do not bury it beneath a decorative head or a second layer.
Look at both sides of the leaf before adding the next piece. An open point, a clasp straining to shut or a pin projecting past the edge means the arrangement is unsuitable. Remove that fastening and choose a different position or a separate container. Adding more felt over a problem does not correct an unreliable clasp.
Close the cover gently without squeezing the decorations. The pins should not press against each other or force the book into a wedge. Tie a loose bow at the meeting edges; the ties hold the covers together, but they should not be used to compress an overfilled organiser.
Open it again and remove the same two pieces. You should be able to see where to hold each one and release it without brushing against a neighbouring point. This removal test is as useful as checking whether everything fits. Add other suitable fastenings only after the first arrangement works.
Finally, place the book in its storage box and close the box normally. Check the space above the tallest ornament. A lid that presses down on the book can bend hardware even when the felt layout itself looks generous.
Give each space a purpose
A simple paper card kept inside the box can record the layout: left leaf for the two everyday pins, right leaf for the small pearl brooch and the light floral fastening, for example. Use descriptions that help you identify the actual pieces, not vague labels such as “best” or “special”.
If two pins look similar but work differently, record the difference. One may have a shorter usable bar or a thicker shaft. You can also note which scarf you tested it with. That record does not guarantee the pin will suit another fabric; it helps you repeat a combination you have already assessed.
Keep empty spaces visible rather than immediately filling them. If you normally return three fastenings and only two are present, a simple layout makes the missing one easier to notice. Count sharp items before putting the box away, particularly after changing an outfit or working in a shared room.
For a larger collection, two modest organisers grouped by use may be easier to handle than one thick book with many leaves. Make and use the first one before multiplying the design. If the collection is mostly straight pins or large ornaments, a divided case may be the more suitable main system.
Care for the pins and the holder separately
Remove every fastening before cleaning the felt. Check the empty leaves from both sides and check the working surface too. Follow the material supplier's cleaning instructions; do not assume every felt sheet tolerates immersion, heat or rubbing in the same way.
Let the organiser dry completely before returning metal accessories. The book is a separator, not a treatment that prevents corrosion. Store it in a dry place, and avoid putting freshly damp accessories into a closed container.
For the pins themselves, begin with the maker's care advice. A soft dry cloth may remove loose surface dust, but a general jewellery cleaner is not automatically suitable for plated metal, glued ornaments, painted heads or imitation pearls. Avoid applying a cleaning product simply because another piece in the collection tolerated it.
Inspect the ties, spine and felt holes as you put pieces away. If a leaf becomes stretched, pilled or torn where a pin sits, move the fastening to an intact area only if the remaining material can support it properly. Replace the inner piece when damage makes the layout unreliable; do not use decorative stitching to conceal a hole you still need to inspect.
To replace the inner piece, empty the book first. Carefully cut and lift the spine stitches without cutting the cover, then remove the worn insert. Check the cover along that seam: if it is also torn or weakened, remake the cover instead of sewing into the same damaged line. Cut a fresh insert, centre it and sew the spine again. The ties can stay attached if their felt and stitching remain sound.
Keep a small note of the original cutting dimensions with your sewing supplies. Record any change you made after the loading test, such as a wider cover or longer ties, so a replacement does not accidentally return to a size that was too small.
Adjust the dimensions without losing the margins
For this simple design, choose the closed cover width and height first. Double the width to get the open cover rectangle. Make the inner piece 2 cm narrower and 2 cm shorter than that open rectangle to retain the nominal 1 cm border around it.
| Closed cover | Cut cover | Cut inner piece |
|---|---|---|
| 10 × 14 cm | 20 × 14 cm | 18 × 12 cm |
| 12 × 16 cm | 24 × 16 cm | 22 × 14 cm |
| 14 × 18 cm | 28 × 18 cm | 26 × 16 cm |
These sizes change the available area; they do not establish how many pins the book can safely hold. Repeat the paper layout and loading test whenever you change the design. A larger felt rectangle does not strengthen the clasp of a heavy brooch or contain an uncapped point.
If the standard ties are too long after testing, shorten their free ends, then remake the double 5 mm finish. If they are too short, replace them with longer tape rather than pulling them tight around the contents. Easy access and an uncompressed closure matter more than making the book look perfectly flat.
Keep the routine as simple as the organiser
Put the open book on a stable surface before removing or replacing a fastening. Return each suitable pin closed, leave magnets and straight pins in their separate cases, and put the book back inside its box when you finish. Keep the whole collection out of reach of children and pets; a fabric cover and a bow are not child-resistant storage.
The finished project should make your existing collection easier to understand. You can see the available fastenings, notice a missing piece and inspect the mechanisms without searching through a heap. When a pin does not suit the holder, give it a better container instead of forcing the collection into one attractive format.