How to sew a French Jilbab
A popular hijab style in Europe, Northwest Africa, and North America.
French jilbabs (also spelled jilbeb) actually originated in Algeria or Morocco. From there their popularity quickly spread to France and throughout Europe and North America. They are also known as over-the-head jilbabs.
They are easy to move in, come in amazing colors, cover Western clothing well (so underneath you can wear your favorite jeans and t-shirt), and identify you as Muslim. All important points for wearing a jilbab.
I have bought a couple for myself and have enjoyed wearing them. They looked fairly simple to sew so I decided to try.
I scoured the internet looking for instructions, details, pictures, anything that would help. After about two weeks of thinking through how the garment works and what the pattern should look like, I decided one afternoon to dive in.
In all, this project took me about 10 hours. It would have taken less (more like 6 or 7) if I hadn’t had to redo the sleeves.
NOTE: This is an easy sewing project especially compared to sewing Western style clothes, but you still need some sewing experience. This is a tutorial for making a French jilbab, not for learning how to sew. You should be familiar with basic sewing techniques, making an elastic hem (for the cuffs), setting in…
