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How to Use a Ring-Style Shawl Pin

By Crystal of Star and Crossbones
Tips & Tricks Last Updated on July 14, 2010

These directions are for using a two-piece shawl pin, where the body of the pin has a space in the center, and the fabric is held in place by a separate stick pin pulling the fabric up into the center of the pin. This is sometimes called a ring shawl pin or a scarf ring, but the body of the pin doesn't have to be ring-shaped.

Ring Shawl Pin Diagram

Attaching Your Shawl Pin

Arrange the layers of your fabric as you'd like them to be fastened. (If you want to use the pin as a closure, for instance, overlap the layers of fabric the way you want them pinned together.)
Place the body (the "ring") of the shawl pin flat on top of the arranged layers of fabric, centered on the spot where you want it to sit. Hold the fabric and pin in place firmly with one hand.
With your other hand, insert the point of the stick pin into the fabric, just inside the edge of the shawl pin. Make sure to catch all the layers of fabric on the pin. Bring the point out on the other side of the shawl pin, inside the center hole, as close to the inner edge of the pin as possible.
Adjust the angle and positioning of pin to your satisfaction.
Enjoy how lovely and stylish you are. ;)

Hints and Tips

To deal with a loose shawl pin: Finer yarn and looser weaves make it more likely that your pin will shift and loosen while you wear it. If it doesn't feel firmly in place right after you fasten it, it's probably not. If the pin and fabric won't be moving around a lot (like if they're on a display, not on a person), attaching the pin loosely will probably be fine. If you're wearing the pin as a fastener and you won't be playing the part of a statue, you may want to pin it through more layers of fabric, which will help keep it more secure.

To adjust the shape of your shawl pin: Some wire shawl pins are slightly malleable. If you need to make small adjustments to the shape of the ring or the stick pin, to fit your style of using it, grasp the piece in question firmly with both hands positioned around the spot where you want to bend the wire, and gently apply pressure to adjust its shape. (The more pressure you put on the wire, the more extreme the change in shape will be.) You can use the same technique to reshape the wire if your pin gets bent by being pulled hard, wrenched around in your bag, or stepped on.

To make your shawl pin more durable: If you have a wire shawl pin and you find it too malleable for the way you use it, you can harden the metal by sandwiching the pin carefully between two plastic or wooden cutting boards, placing the sandwich on a hard, durable surface (like a work bench or the floor) and hitting the top cutting board with a mallet one or more times. This hardens the wire. Don't go overboard, though — too much hardening can make wire brittle rather than springy, or it can flatten the pin out of shape.

Uses for a Shawl Pin (Some Creative, Some Less So ;))

A shawl pin can be used:

To hold a scarf, shawl, wrap skirt or sarong in place (of course)
In your hair, decoratively or as a fastener
As a fastener on a cardigan or wrap-around top
To hold a knitted bag closed
As a brooch (on fabric with relatively large holes in it)
To poke people who are trying to paw your fiber or yarn stash!
As an emergency reflector if you're stranded on a desert island (okay, maybe not...)

Thanks to Sinead (found @SineadR on Twitter) for suggestions #3 and #4!

Have a tip or a creative shawl pin idea? Send it to us or tweet it @starncrossbones! If we use it here, we'll give you credit!

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