How to Make a Skirt to Cover Sink Pipes

Make a custom skirt for your pedestal sink.

Pedestal sinks add a vintage, elegant feel to a bathroom and save space over their built-in-vanity counterparts. The design of the pedestal sink, however, leaves unsightly pipes and plumbing exposed underneath. You can neatly hide away these pipes by making a custom sink skirt out of fabric that complements your style and your bathroom's décor. By using hook and loop tape, you can make the skirt easily removable for access to the area under the sink and for washing the skirt when needed.

Things You'll Need

• Measuring tape
• Fabric
• Iron
• Sewing pins
• Coordinating thread
• Sewing machine
• Stick-on hook and loop tape

Instructions

1. Measure around the circumference of your pedestal sink and measure the length from the edge to the floor. Cut a piece of fabric measuring twice as wide as the circumference of your sink and two inches longer than the length from the edge to the floor.

2. Turn both side edges over toward the wrong side of the material ¼ of an inch and iron. Fold over again another ½-inch and iron. Pin the side edges in place and edgestitch using a ¼-inch seam allowance on each seam. Repeat with the bottom hem.

3. Turn over the top edge toward the wrong side of the material ¼ of an inch and iron. Fold over again another inch and iron. Pin this top edge in place and edge stitch using a 3/4-inch seam allowance.

4. Wind a bobbin and thread your upper sewing machine and bobbin area. Set your sewing machine's tension on the highest setting and set the stitch for the longest straight stitch your machine has.

5. Sew a long straight seam 1 inch away from the entire upper edge, leaving long thread tails on both sides of the seam. Sew an additional long straight seam parallel to the first seam, ¼ of an inch below the original.

6. Pull the hanging tail threads on the underside of the fabric gently to gather your skirt fabric. Adjust your gathers as you pull. Continue pulling until the skirt is the width of your pedestal sink's edge. Your skirt will be about half the size of its original width.

7. Set your sewing machine for a medium zigzag stitch and adjust the tension to a medium setting. Sew a zigzag stitch over the long straight gathering seams you made to lock the gathers in place.

8. Cut a length of the hook and loop tape equal to the edge of your pedestal sink. Separate the stiff side from the soft side. Peel the sticky backing off of the stiff side and place it so it is neat and straight around the entire visible circumference of the pedestal sink.

9. Peel the sticky back off of the soft side of the hook and loop tape and stick it on the top edge of your skirt, about ½ an inch away from the upper edge. Press it securely in place. Adjust your sewing machine to a straight stitch and sew it in place using and edge stitch 1/8 of an inch away from each of the long edges of the tape.

10. Place the skirt of the pedestal sink via the hook and loop tape. Press into place with your fingers.

References

• Cheap Chic Daily; DIY Sink Skirt; April 2009
• Keswick and Country; Sink Skirt Tutorial;January 2011