Looking to affix medals in a display case

Question

I previously had medals in a display case. They were originally affixed in a very rudimentary way (I just stuck push pins through the back, which was a thin cardboardish material).

I'm putting some green felt down in the display case and figured that I'd like to affix the medals in a better manner, but I'm not sure what this better manner would be. With the push pins, the medals would often slide off if the case was jostled in any way. I'd like to avoid that and affix them in a more stable manner. Any suggestions would be very appreciated!

Original push pin solution above

How the medals hung above

Answer 1

A more complicated solution would be to "sew" the medals on, using a clear plastic thread to loop through the hole. This could be done in two ways:

1. Sew the medals to the felt before it is affixed to the case. This may be easier to adjust the positioning if you want to move medals around, but can make it harder to adjust once the felt is in the case. (However, you could also make the felt removable, mounting with Velcro or similar.)

2. Sew through both case backing and felt. This would take more force, but if you can put a pushpin through the backing, a needle should also go through. You get more flexibility in adding medals this way (no need to remove the felt to sew in a new medal).

Answer 2

A very simple solution is to use small nails. Your medals slide off the pins because their needles taper off at the end, creating a tiny slope for the medal to slide down.

If you use nails instead (heads facing the front), the heads form a tiny barrier that keeps the medal in place. There's a surprisingly wide variety of nails available. For this purpose you should choose ones with a distinct, but not too broad head and - if available - black nails.

You might have to add a thin wooden board to the backside of your showcase to give the nails enough material to dig into. If you want to paint the nails in the same color as the felt, do so after hammering them in.