frankie exclusive diy: embroidery hoop pin board

With an endless amount of beautiful enamel pins out in the world, amassing a collection is easy as. Finding a place to store them – now that’s the hard part. Rather than keeping your precious pins locked away, this embroidery hoop will add a bit of fun to your wall or desk, while also keeping them in order. Plus, it works just as well for storing earrings, too.

MATERIALS
20cm embroidery hoop
30cm x 30cm of 16 count cross-stitch canvas in your chosen colour. (The count refers to how many squares per inch, so 16 count is quite a tight weave and allows very delicate cross-stitch, but you could use any count, really.)
Range of stranded embroidery cottons. (I ended up using mustard, jewel green, mint green, pale pink and bright coral colours – just make sure your threads show up well against your canvas colour.)
Hand-sewing needle
Scissors

1. Place the inner hoop under your square of cross-stitch canvas and place the outer ring on top, pushing it down to hold the canvas taut. Tighten the screw at the top as necessary. Now you can start sewing.

Cut a length (roughly from your hand to elbow) of one of your embroidery cottons. Separate two strands and thread these onto your needle, then tie a knot at the end. (As this embroidery is quite delicate, we’re just using two strands at a time.)

Download and print this diagram out if you’d like to sew the same geometric shapes as I have, or make up your own designs!

2. Once you’re happy with your embroidery, turn your hoop over and trim your canvas with sharp scissors as close to the hoop as possible.

3. Turn your hoop back over and you’re all ready to store your pins!

For more rad DIY projects from Anna, be sure to check out her new book – it’s filled with bags for just about every occassion.