Tutorials for Muslimahs

Niqab tutorial:

This is one of the first things that I learned how to make and it is really very simple and can be very easy if you pick the right fabric.  I prefer to use georgette to make the niqab with.  Georgettes are breathable, stained resistant, and very, very durable I must say. One downfall to georgette is that its hard to find in different colors and it can be a hard to control as far as stability when trying to cut it and sew it.  

There are different kinds of niqabs that can be made but we are going to start with the half niqab. Which is a square piece of fabric with elastic sewn to the top corners. 

Then we are going to do a niqab with a head band.

Lastly, a niqab with an attached eye screen.

Pics are below!

Half Niqab:

Personally, I like to make this kind of niqab small because so about the width and length of a piece of printer paper.  Using the longest part of paper for the length of my face and the shortest part as the width.  When placing the paper on the fabric, make sure to place the width of the fabric along the fold if possible. This eliminates the need to sew along this edge. (Less work, Happy Mia!)

For this tutorial I used a olive green chiffon, which is a horrible fabric to use for a niqab because it stains so easily. Georgette is the ideal fabric for niqabs, at least from what I have found, but you can used just about anything that you can breath through.  Its up to you.

This is the square face piece we'll be working with.  I have folded the fabric in half pressed the top, and lined up my edges.  A neat thing about using chiffon and Georgette fabric is that if you cut a slit in the edge of the fabric, whether from the top or the side, you can tear it in a straight line.  This can come in handy because these two fabrics can be very slippery to work with.  

Before sewing the edges together, I would suggest you pin the corners together.  As I have done above. In the top right corner, I placed a pin horizontally through my fabric. This will be the spot I will start to stitch what is to be the inside of the niqab.  Leaving a small opening for me to turn my face piece right side out.

As can be seen here, I have given my self a very small seam allowance because I do not want the inside of my face piece to be bulky. I stopped and backstitched right where I marked  with my needle.

Now turn the niqab right side out through the little opening in the sided.  Make sure there are no bubbles or gaps in your face piece.  

Fold the opening inward and press the edges of the face piece.  Be sure that all of the edges of the fabric are even and lined up.  You can even place some extra pins along the seams so that the fabric stays put!  That is what I usually do to the opening right before I sew around the edges.  With this niqab, I did not sew along the edge that is to be right below my eyes.  You can sew across the top if you like, but be careful to pin along the edge to help guide you straight across.  (This is where my painful experience comes in!)  After you have don this press the face piece and it is time to attached the elastic.

You can use whatever elastic fits your fancy. I have found that the thinner elastics are more comfortable for me.  When measuring your elastic you can simply hold the face veil up to your face and then stretch the elastic around the back of your head from those two points.  Make sure to give it a little tug so you can see just how tight you want it before you cut it.  Remember to always give a little extra when cutting. Remember that sometimes making things smaller is easier than trying to make them bigger. (Painful experience again 0_o)

Pin your elastic to one of the upper corners of your face piece and sew it together.  I usually backstitch a couple times to make sure the elastic wears well.  Do the same thing with the other side and bada boom bada bang!  Your done!

This is the finished product ladies.  It usually takes about 20-45 minutes to make this style niqab.  If you have a serger that does a rolled hem, you can do this in less than 10 minutes if you already have it threaded with the colors to match your niqab.  Just simply cut out your square serge the two long edges, trim your threads, serge along the bottom edge, and attached the elastic and thats it.

If you find that your elastic is too loose, you can either tie a knot in it, or cut it and sew it to get the fit you like.  If you find that it is too tight, you can use a seam ripper to take off the elastic and reattach a longer piece.  Or, for those of you who wear the elastic part under your hijab, where no no one can see it, you can cut the elastic in the middle and just add an extra piece of elastic. (Easier so of course this is the method I prefer ;)!)

Stay tuned for the other two niqab tutorials.

Part 2 and 3 of the Niqab tutorial

This niqab has a circular face piece connected to a head band and then an eye veil is attached to that.  These are the pics below.  

I started out with a rectangular piece of fabric that I folded i half and rounded off at the bottom.  I then opened it up, and pinned it down to keep it together when I sew it.  In the upper right hand corner, just as in the first niqab, I left space to turn the face veil right side out. 

Next, I cut a strip of fabric for the band.  It is about one yard long and about six inches wide.  I doubled it, pressed it, and then pinned the edges together.

When sewing the head band, I usually leave a place to turn right side out and then sew from that point, around the corners and completely sew all the other edges clothes.

Turn inside out.

Lay the two pieces out, matching up the center of the face piece and the head band.

Pin the head band onto the face piece, leaving enough space for the eye slit.

It should look like this in the back.

Sew it closed from the top. And it should look like this below!

Attaching the Eye Veil.

I cut out another rectangle about two inches wider on each side and hemmed the two sides, then hemmed the bottom.  Putting a pin in the hem really helps keep it in place .

Pin the right side of the screen to the back of the head band and then sew across very close to the edge of the head band. Next, trim any excess threads from the top of the screen/eye veil and then flip it over. 

Put some pins to hold the screen and place, I pressed it with my iron as well, but if you are confident that you can hold it down then go right ahead sew across. The finished product is below.

The top part should fold back with out showing any of the seam that attached the back of the screen to the head band.  

Alhamdullilah, I finished my first tutorial.  Please make dua for me and I pray to Allah he accepts this from me and may it benefit the muslimahs.


Abaya Tutorial


Okay Ladies,  I drafted the initial abaya pattern using a brown packaging paper.  When I took pics of it, I realized it was hard to see the lines I drew on the paper. But maybe that is just me.  I would love to have you some feedback on whether you can make out the lines in the pics.  Let me know.


I am going to make a variation of two different abayas.

1. An abaya that have the sleeves that are cut out and then reattached.  This is the normal abaya that you can find in the stores and include Turkish, Jordian, Egyptian, and some Moroccan style abayas.
2. An abaya that have the sleeve that is cut out along with the body of the garment and an extension is added to lengthen the sleeves. This also includes caftans, the farasha, and  some Saudi style abayas.

For the sake of this tutorial we are going to label them Abaya Style 1 (with detached sleeves) and the Abaya Style 2 (with attached sleeves) and we will be doing different variations for these two abayas inshallah.

Abaya Style 1

Find an abaya that you like and can easily copy its style.  Fold it in half and match the sides as best as you can. You are going to lay it out over the paper you want to draft a pattern for.  If you are going to use this pattern to make multiple abayas, I would suggest you make a pattern. But if you want you can lay the abaya you are copying over your fabric and cut it out then. But once your fabric is cut it could be hard to correct any mistakes that you have made. (PAINFUL, HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE.  Ugh!)

*Note:  If you cannot find drafting paper another option is for you is to use the abaya you wish to mimic (if you do not plan on using it anymore) and then cut it out and use the pieces as pattern.

Lets get started!

You will probably want to use a ruler to help make a straight lines on your on your pattern when you are following along the edges of your garment.


Fold your abaya in half and lay it flush with the edge of your paper. Put some pins in the the sides to hold the garment down.  

As you can see, I have put pins around the inside of the armhole, following the seam between the sleeve and the garment very closely.  This will be important when drafting the sleeve's top part and the sleeve hole itself.

Next put your ruler underneath the shoulder line and give yourself up to a half inch seam allowance.  You don't want to just trace out the garment because it would be smaller (unless you want the garment to be smaller after you sew it). Start tracing giving yourself the same seam allowance out beyond the neck line as you will see in the bottom pics. (harder to explain than to show ;)

Then trace the side of the garment and long the hem, making sure to add extra length for the seam allowance at the bottom.

Once you finished this step, it is time trace the arm hole.  Do not trace directly along the garment but add the same seam allowance.

You can make the curve deeper or bring it out depending on how you want your sleeve to fit.


After that trace your neck line.  You can have use this pattern piece for both back and front if you want or you can make two separate pieces.  Whatevers your pleasure.  I did the former and this is how it looks.

(sorry about the upside down again)

This is the neck line.  I usually will follow the back neck line and then eyeball the front neckline.  

Next is the sleeve.  You would follow the same steps as with tracing arm hole but just fold the sleeve back and pin it long the curves of the top.  As seen below.

Trace the remaining parts of the sleeve adding seam allowances with the ruler as you did the garment before.

Once you make your sleeve you can take  couple of measurements and mark your pattern.  I added a bust line, a waist line, a hip line, and a knee line to the body.  Then I made a line that I could fold back in order to make my sleeve wider or have a tighter fit. (But not too tight! lol)

The following is the finished products.

I couldn't fit the whole image the pic. (abayas are really long! dang)

These are the lines on the sleeves.  You can do this if you want or not. Its up to you. 

And now you can use your pattern to start making your abaya.

Whew that took forever!  Im sorry for the delay but I wanted to make sure that every thing was really clear and precise.  Inshallah I will try to make the other pattern sometime this week inshallah.

Salamu alaikum sisters.