Quilted Masjid Magnets {Tutorial} Guest Post

We are so honored to host a guest post for our Ramadan crafts 30 day challenge from Muslim Homeschoolers Unite.

Eaman is sharing how she made these adorable Quilted Mini Masjid Magnets with her kids to place all over her house.

To celebrate our 11th annual Ramadan crafts 30-day challenge, we are hosting guest posts for most of the month, if you have a craft, resource, or recipe you’d like to share, please let us know.

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DIY Quilted Mini Masjid Magnets by Eaman Elhadri from Muslim Homeschoolers Unite

Who can resist tiny…everything!? MINI mini quilts!? Oh yes!

We’ve been having so much fun creating these teeny tiny quilted Masjid magnets and they’re all over the fridge, white erase board, and even dishwasher! Can you blame us!? So stinkin’ cute!

Besides, we’re all missing the Masjid these days.

What I love about this Ramadan handcraft –

  • You’re creating memories with your child
  • It’s a scrap-busting project
  • You don’t need to know how to quilt
  • You don’t need a sewing machine or special quilting supplies

Age Recommendations

This handcraft is appropriate for children over the age of five. Young children can be involved in creating the fabric shapes for the masjid (i.e. discuss rectangular or square bottom, half-circle, or circle tops).

What is a quilt?

my children practiced hand quilting on this piece (image description)

For those of you who are new to the textile world, no need to fret! A quilt is just a sandwich made of fabric!

The technique used in this project is what I call improv quilting – You won’t need to worry about exact measurements or those gosh darn 1/4 inch seam allowances! Woo-hoo!

Supplies Needed

Step 1 – Cut your fabric

For one mini-quilt magnet you’ll need:

  • two pieces of solid color fabric either 2×2 or 3×3 inches (roughly, we didn’t measure it)
  • Cut out one craft felt piece (same size as fabric)
  • For the actual masjid, you’ll need to cut one piece of rectangular fabric and one piece of half-circle fabric

The tinier they are, the more challenging they can be to work with. I recommend younger children work with mini quilts that are around 3x3in and older children can work on the 2×2 inch sized mini quilts.

Step 2 – Design your Masjid

This step is perfect for very young children! Place the masjid fabric pieces on top of one piece of fabric as shown above.

This is called the ‘quilt-top’.

Step 3 – Stitch the quilt top to the felt

Place the ‘quilt top’ on top of the batting, in this case it is the felt piece. You won’t need the ‘backing’ piece quite yet.

Next is the fun part! Stitch your masjid in whatever design and way you’d like.

If you’re not familiar with hand stitching and embroidery, there are tons of YouTube videos about it.

Step 4 – Sew on the backing

First you will need to place the “right sides” together, aka the nice sides.

Next, you will do a back stitch around the entire parameter, leaving a gap to turn the quilt inside out, as shown in the image below.

Step 5 – Turn your quilt inside out

Once you are done stitching around the parameter of your mini quilt, it is time to turn it inside out. Believe it or not, this is the hardest part of teeny tiny quilts!

Using a chopstick should help with this!

Step 6 – Place a magnet in your mini quilt

First test your magnet to make sure it’s strong!

Another option would be to add the magnet to the back of your mini quilt with a hot glue gun (big kids or adults only).

Step 7 – Sew up the hole

Sew up the hole using a whip stitch.

What a cutie! My children call this one the ‘Blue Mosque’ in Turkey. 

Stop by the YouTube video for step by step directions!

Variation 1 – Embroidered top

Instead of creating the Masjid with fabric, you can do it entirely with embroidery designs. We used a back stitch for outlining and a fill stitch for the top.

I recommend tracing on the embroidery design for your young children first as seen in the image below.

Variation 2 – Add Arabic words

This craft can easily become an Arabic lesson by adding Arabic words such as Ramadan Mubarak!

Trace the Arabic word onto the quilt top for young children and then they can stitch away!

Final Step – Place those babies around the house!

Expect to see these adorable masjids on anything magnetic around your house!

Place them into an envelope and bam! – perfect Eid-ul-Fitr gifts!

Helpful Tips

  • All of the stitch and embroidery techniques can be found on YouTube, start with the video on how to make these!
  • Younger children can work on large mini-quilts, while older children are capable of working on the small mini-quilts.

Helpful Links

Looking for an Islamic Hajj themed homeschooling resource that includes handcraft projects? Grab it here!

Eaman Elhadri is a Libyan American homeschooling mother that is passionate about slow living, slow crafting, nature, and books. She is a teacher by profession and a blogger at Muslim Homeschoolers Unite, where she helps equip Muslim families to homeschool in a way that is developmentally appropriate, spiritually nourishing, and based on proven methods of education. You can often find her with a hot cup and handcraft in hand! See more of her slow crafting adventures at @eaman.um.ibraheem .

acraftyarab

I am a Libyan American who creates art to promote a positive image of Arab and Islamic culture.