When I was re-organizing my accessories as part of my closet makeover, I found my stash of pins and brooches. I’m not cool enough to have an extensive enamel pin collection (yet!), but I have plenty of little buttons, and I needed a better way to store them. A wall pin storage banner seemed like it would be an easy solution, so I whipped one up in no time. It seems like such a cute way to display pins that now I’m finding myself wishing I had more enamel pins to show off.
DIY Pin Storage Banner
Materials
12×18″ piece of felt
1/4″ wood dowel
Skein of embroidery thread
Yarn or twine
Sewing thread
Tools
Scissors
Ruler
Pencil
Pins
Sewing needle
Saw (manual or power)
Optional:
Sewing machine
Glue
Steps
1. On the back side of the felt (the two sides are probably identical), measure and mark the center of one of the short ends. Measure up 4 inches from that end on each long side. Use a ruler to draw lines between these marks, creating a point on the end.
2. Cut just inside the lines of the point.
3. On the other end, measure an inch down from the top, and draw a line. Fold the top down to this line, and pin in place. Sew the flap down with a narrow hem, creating a casing. You could do this by hand, or even use felt glue, but I just used my sewing machine.
4. Cut the wood dowel. For my 12″ wide banner, I cut it to 14 1/4″. Slide it into the casing.
5. Tie a piece of yarn or twine to the ends of the dowel. Tuck the ends of the yarn into the casing on the back to hide them. Add a dab of glue to secure the ends and the knot if you prefer.
6. If you want to make a tassel to hang from the point, grab your skein of embroidery floss. Keep the skein intact, but unwind and cut off a length of about 16″. Fold the skein in half, and wrap the length of thread around the middle.
7. Tie the thread tightly in the middle of the skein, and trim the ends evenly with sharp scissors. 
8. Wrap the ends of the piece you tied around the middle around the whole tassel several times, and knot. Tuck the ends inside, and trim.
9. Use a needle and sewing thread to sew the tassel onto the point at the bottom of the banner. 
OMG I love this idea! I’ve got lots of pins – some of them heavy – and the long ribbon idea was a fail. I’ll be doing this one soon!
Glad you like it, Barb! For heavy pins, you’ll probably want to try to use the thickest felt you can find. Or maybe you could glue two thinner sheets together (haven’t tried it) if you can’t find heavy-duty felt.
Using felt is such a great idea for pins! I made something similar many years ago to store my earrings so that I could see them all at a glance. It also cut down on losing one of a pair. It was made out of cross stitch fabric. The holes were perfect for putting the posts through and the grid pattern of the holes in the fabric made it easy to line up the earring pairs. However, it wasn’t as useful for pins.