Pantry Curtains

Pantry Curtains an Easy Pantry Decor Idea

Our pantry is small, very full, with open shelving, and like most homes not nearly large enough. These pantry curtains for the kitchen pantry are my solution to controlling the cluttered look of our pantry and an easy to do pantry decor idea.

I created some fantastic dollar store organizing bins that I highly recommend checking out, you can see them here in my before image.

These rolling baskets hold a wide assortment of large items from large bags of dog food to my turkey roaster. They work so well, but I wanted to hide them to keep others from searching through my storage baskets.

Measuring for the Pantry Curtains

The pantry curtains are designed to hang on the front of the open shelves using eye hooks and wire rods.

Begin by measuring the left of the open shelf you want to cover. Double that measurement to allow for gathers and hems.

For example, I have two shelves, the long one is 49 inches and the short one is 35 inches. After the width measure the height you need, to cover the baskets my curtains need to be 24 inches, plus 5 inches for hemming, so 29 inches total.

Here the simple math I used for width – 49″ + 35″ = 84″ x 2 = 168″ divided by 36″ (for Yards). Works out to 4.66…. I rounded it to 5 yards of 30″ wide ticking.

Cutting the Curtain Fabric

Because my ticking material width (30″) was so close to the length I needed for my curtain (29″) I didn’t need to cut for length. Yeah. If your measurements are different just cut the length to 5 inches longer than your height. (This allows for hemming).

If you have a long shelf like my 49″ shelf I made two curtains so I had a split to two 25 ” curtains. For the short 35 shelf I only made one curtain.

For each curtain you want add 3 inches of width for the end hems.

Ironing and Pinning the Pantry Curtains

This is the time consuming part. Using a ruler make sure your folds are square and press well.

Curtain Side Hems

Begin by hemming the two short sides or ends of your fabric. With the good side of the fabric down fold each end over 1/2 inch and then 1 inch and press. Pin in place. Then either sew, glue, or use stitch fix tape to make the end hems. Repeat for the other curtains.

Sewing the two side hems first prevents us from accidentally sewing the ends closed for when we need to run our curtain hanger through the top hem.

Curtain Bottom Hem

Fold over your bottom hem 1/2 inch, and then 1 inch. press well and pin in place. Once pinned sew, glue or use stitch fix take to attach the hem.

Curtain Top Hem

Because you want all your curtains to be identical in height I layed each curtain down and measured the height I needed (24″) from the bottom hem. Fold the top over at 24″. Then measure 2 inches down the bottom edge under. Pin in place and don’t attach yet.

Doing it this way means you catch any little discrepencies you may have in the size of your fabric. Repeat for any other curtains your sewing and then double check they are all identical.

Once you confirm they are all the exact same height, sew, or glue the bottom edge.

Finally, I wanted a little bit of ruffle along the top of my curtains. so Once finished I added a second sewn 1/4 inch seam along the top of all my curtains. This is optional. I am adding an image so you can see the foot placement on my sewing machine. I ran the top fold of the pantry curtain right along the edge of my sewing machine foot.

Hanging the Pantry Curtains

These curtains are hung with curtain wire and hooks screwed into the front of the shelves. This is the least expensive option I could think of. The only cheaper altnerative would be elastic and small nails. Hubs screwed the hook eye into each shelf as shown and the second one into the wall. These hooks are very handy, I use the same thing on the front of my storage shelves in the basement.

To hang the curtains remove one end of the eye hook and pass it through the opening at the top of the curtain.

Other Pantry Organization Ideas

Here are some more pantry ideas you may find helpful. I find that an organized pantry is a pretty pantry. The trick it to try and handle all the clutter.