Today’s contributor is Tiffany from Making the World Cuter. All posts written by Tiffany for Make It and Love It, can be found here.
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Hi everyone, it’s Tiffany from Making the World Cuter!
January is a month of organizing for most people, and for me it’s no different. My husband recently built me a beautiful new pantry…kind of a butlers pantry. I have a smaller pantry right next to it, but I needed a space to put all of my serving dishes and small appliances and this pantry honestly surpassed all expectations and I could seriously move in. Harry Potter would have been happy to live in this closet. ;)
As you can see it’s really white and bright and while I was looking for baskets to keep overflow pantry items in I couldn’t really find anything that I liked in the space. I wanted something white and I wanted them to be deep and fit on the shelf well. So of course I needed to make some DIY pantry baskets myself.
I may have to make more as this space evolves into what actually ends up in here. Right now they are holding extra baking supplies, spices and pasta. Shopping at Costco gives us lots of extras that won’t fit in the smaller containers I keep in my cupboards.
Organizing is my favorite thing ever…yes I’m serious. My dream would be to have my own business or show, where I go in and throw away a bunch of stuff and organize their spaces. My friends and family always ask me to do it for them, but when I actually show up with a box of garbage bags and boxes marked donate, they quickly change their minds. Ha!
These baskets needed to be washable and sturdy and I decided to make labels not permanent since I will most likely change my mind on what goes in them at least a dozen times.
Want to know how to make them? Seriously they are so inexpensive and easy to make with basic tools and a sewing machine.
The first thing I did was measure my shelf, and figure out how big I wanted the baskets.
The supplies are pretty basic, you just need some strong canvas fabric (I used a heavy weight duck cloth) and some furring sticks. I found mine at The Home Depot for less than a dollar a piece. You only need one per basket.
Here is your cut list per basket:
After the first one, and figuring out how to put it together, I realized that staining the cut pieces of wood first was easier than putting it together first. I used the Minwax White Wash Pickling stain…which I use for everything lately! It’s my favorite.
To put the frame together I suggest using a brad nail gun, it is my most favorite tool in our arsenal. You can also use a drill and screws, but if you have a nail gun it goes a lot faster! Take two of the 14″ boards and one of the shorter boards and then about a half inch down the long board, nail the small board in between the two long boards. Does that make sense? Look at the picture below, hopefully that will help! Just make sure it’s even.
I used two nails on each side. If using a drill and screw, drill pilot holes first and one screw should be plenty on each side. Make both sides of the frame. You will have one that is thinner than the other.
Then you need to put them together. On the wider one you just need to mark it at 7″, on the thinner one I marked it at 7″ and then 3/4″ on either side of that mark.
Fit the smaller one inside and then line it up so that the boards make an X. Use two nails on each side again. The frame is done and then you just need to make the basket.
The basket is an easy sew, a good one for beginners. A bunch of straight lines. It took about 25 minutes to sew each basket once everything was cut and pressed. You’ll need less than a yard of fabric for each, your cut list is as follows:
The first thing you need to do is pin the sides to the bottom. Center the bottom between the sides.
My fabric is super heavy duty and stiff…which is what I wanted, I used a very small seam allowance and just sewed the edge on each side.
Then when you unfold that fabric you just sewed, there is the pretty seam!
Do this on all four sides and you’ll have a plus sign. I should have pressed the fabric first and I did after this first one, but of course I only took pictures of the first! Ha!
The next thing is to sew the sides up, to do this just match the sides up and sew straight again, but leave about 1″ at the top so that we can sew it over and give it a nice finished look. It’s time to finish it off!
With the basket turned inside out, fold the sides over twice and pin. Make sure all sides are even with each other, then sew all the way around.
For the straps I just folded the fabric into itself so the edges meet up. On the ends I folded them down and then trimmed the corners.
Then fold the strap one more time in half and then press it.
Then you just sew all the way around.
Once you turn the basket the right side out, pin the strap at half way down where you want it.
When sewing the strap to the basket I sewed along the same line as the seam that was already there to give it a more professional finish. Make sure to back stitch a time or two, and make sure they are good and secure.
Finally tie those cute baskets onto the frames!
I ran out of my heavier canvas fabric after making the baskets and one set of straps so I used a lighter weight on the last two for the straps…if you have that possibility I would suggest it, because they are WAY easier to tie.
I just took some black card stock and a white chalk marker and played around a little bit. I was going to stencil directly on the bags, but decided I wanted to be able to change them out.
Once you have your labels figured out, put them in the pantry and fill them up!
Good luck!
-Tiffany
If you enjoyed this DIY pantry baskets post, swing by Tiffany’s blog, Making the World Cuter and check out her other clothing refashions! You can also follow her on Pinterest, Instagram , Facebook and Twitter.
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Has the organization bug bit you, yet?
Check out these other amazing ideas to get your space organized:
Hi, I’m Ashley—the DIY-enthusiast behind this crazy blog!
