How To Make A Sink Curtain Skirt – Easy DIY Tutorial

When we first bought our house, one of the things that I knew we needed to update right away was our downstairs guest bathroom. Since this is the only bathroom on the main floor and the one my guests would most likely use, I knew it needed an upgrade ASAP. Not only is the bathroom extremely small but who really wants their guests, to see ugly plumbing as soon as they enter?

What I didn’t count on was how difficult it would be to find a replacement sink that would fit in the space. I thought it would just be a matter of picking a smaller profile pedestal sink at the hardware store. Unfortunately, since I have plumbing attachments coming from two different walls, to hide the plumbing I needed to find a very specific corner mounted sink with cabinets  or hire a plumber to reroute the pipes.

Since I couldn’t find a sink that would fit and the plumber was out of the budget, I came up with the idea of updating the sink by installing a sink curtain. It’s actually pretty genius if you think about it. Not only does it hide the ugly pipes it also creates extra storage underneath for bathroom accessories and in my case a portable baby potty.

Creating a sink curtain is pretty easy and requires little sewing. Below are some simple instructions that I came up with. Please note that I’m not the greatest sewer so I’m sure there are easier or more professional ways to do this.

Measure Your Sink

First measure the sink, vertically and horizontally, with a measuring tape. Take the horizontal measurement and double it. Take the vertical measurement and add two inches (for hemming).

I decided to mount the sink curtain from underneath the sink versus being on top. Either way would look nice, I just figured if water should spill from the sink, it would be cleaner if the curtain was mounted from underneath. If you do decide to mount above the sink, you should add another 3 inches to the vertical measurement to create a band to go over the gathered sink curtain. This does require a little bit more sewing but should be pretty easy to do.

Pick Your Fabric

Since it sometimes is more economical than buying decorator fabric, I purchased a pretty ready made shower curtain at my local big box store. Not only does buying a shower curtain save you time from having to hem an extra side of your sink curtain, you know that if the fabric gets wet, the fabric can handle it. Plus most stores carry a wide range of shower curtains, that I’m sure you’ll find a pattern or two that will suit your taste. But I think the most awesome thing about buying a pre-made shower curtain is that in the same department at your local store, they’re most likely going to be selling matching bathroom accessories at the same place. Love saving time!

Now that you have your fabric (or in my case a shower curtain). Measure and cut the fabric to the dimensions that you measured earlier.

Stitch It

Hem the bottom and top edges of the fabric. And since I’m not the straightest sewer in the world, I used the shower curtain’s bottom edge on the bottom and hemmed the top myself. This way my guests will see the nicer hemmed edge and my side is hidden under the sink.

On the top of the curtain, you are now going to create the gathering of the sink curtain. You can probably do this more systematically to look more uniform but I think it looks just as good when you eye ball it. What I did was hand stitch running stitches along the top hem. Use a long piece of thread and do not knot or finish this stitch off. Once you have stitched through the entire top of the curtain, pull the thread to create a gathering. Pull it tighter to create more gathering.

You will now want to make sure that you gathered fabric matches the horizontal measurement of your sink. Pin the gathering down.

You will now use a sewing machine to sew on top of the gathering to keep the gathers in place.

Cut a piece of industrial/home decorator velcro to the sink’s horizontal measurement. Stick one side of the velcro onto of the top hem of your sink skirt.

Stick the other side of the Velcro on the under mount of the sink. Quick tip, the Velcro will stick more nicely if you clean the under mount of the sink first.

Now install the sink curtain by matching the Velcro strips together. Since it’s installed using Velcro, you can then easily change the curtain for washing and with another sink curtain whenever you want.

Voila, now no unsightly plumbing and I can store toilet paper and my son’s baby potty underneath.