We are very hard on fitted sheets around these parts. It’s likely a combination of all the playing, sleeping, wrassling, and, yes, jumping that gets done on top of them every day, the result of which is a bunch of fitted sheets with worn spots and rips along the seams and plenty of stains from ink pens and grape juice.
In contrast, we don’t use our flat sheets very much. Pretty much everybody in the family prefers a very light blanket, or nothing, to being covered with a sheet so often we don’t even take them out of the drawer.
What we’re left with, then, are too many flat sheets and not enough fitted sheets. If you have the same problem, or if you just happen to have a gorgeous vintage flat sheet or two that you’d love to make use of, then have I got a solution for you! Read on to see how I turn my unused flat sheets into the fitted sheets, in very little time and at no extra expense.
You will need:
- A flat sheet sized for your bed. If you have a queen-sized bed, for instance, you can make a queen-sized fitted sheet out of a queen-sized flat sheet, and it’ll fit your mattress perfectly. Use a king-sized flat sheet, however, and you’ll likely want to do some trimming.
- Gridded cutting mat and scissors for fabric
- Sewing machine with an appropriate needle and matching thread installed
- Four six-inch lengths of elastic, at least 1/2″ wide or wider
1. Do the math to figure out how much you need to trim from each of the four corners of your flat sheet. You want to trim away a square piece of fabric from each corner, to bring the size of your flat sheet down as closely as possible to the size of your mattress. For instance, the average full-sized mattress is about 54″x75″. The average full-sized flat sheet is about 81″x96″, although if you’re using a vintage sheet or a sheet made of jersey knit, there can be some stretching that will increase this measurement.
Subtract your mattress length from your sheet’s length, and your mattress width from your sheet’s width, to learn the amount of extra fabric that your sheet contains in length and width: 81″-54″=27 for instance, and 96″-75″=21″. Divide the smaller number in half (10.5″). That number is the magic number. At each of the four corners of your flat sheet, cut away a square that measures that number. That way, your new fitted sheet with fit your mattress nice and snug.
2. After cutting away the square, bring together the two cut ends at each corner and sew them up, making a pocket out of each corner of your sheet.
3. Sew the elastic to the hemmed edge of your sheet at each corner, stretching it as you sew.
Now you have a fitted sheet with elasticized corners. Make your bed with it and commence sleeping.
Or jumping.
Thanks, never ever would have thought of this idea
this is the first time I have seen your blog. This is a good idea ,but my mother-in-law was like martha Stewart and she figured out you could use the flat sheet by making a hem around the edges and just run elastic in the hem and draw it up and tie it off . and when you put the sheet on the bed it hugs the mattress and stays on good . better than bought fitted ones. And I use this method in making baby sheets. One yard cheap cotton and it's a great fitted sheet for the crib.My name is Anita. thanks for listening… peace
Did she run the elastic all the way or just at the ends/corners?
Just run the elastic at the corners. It should end up looking pretty much like a store-bought fitted sheet, which also has elastic only at the corners.
Thank you Anita!!! I’m making a fitted sheet for a 36 x 36 play pen for my friend. Each sheet on Amazon was $30 each!! And thank you Julie for this webpage!
So thankful, Susan G
Ooh that's a great idea! Our fitted sheets always wear out so much faster. Thanks so much for this, I'll be linking.
I'm kind of into this idea these days using vintage sheets, too. I really like the look of mismatched, busy (but sorta coordinating) bedding, and vintage sheets are GREAT for that.
I used this technique to remake a queen size fitted sheet into a twin fitted sheet. It worked perfectly! Thanks.
Oooh, I never thought about trying that–we’re moving our kiddos from one full-sized bed to twin bunk beds this summer, so I bet that now there’s going to be lots of sheet remaking!
I just tie both ends of a flat sheet and fit it on my mattress like a fitted sheet. No sewing.
You are a genius!! I twisted and knotted the bottom corners of a flat queen sized sheet I already had and put it on an aerobed air mattress and now I have sheets that fit my aerobed for free!! Air mattress sheet sets can cost over $100.
BTW I can’t sew and you are a life saver!
That’s a very clever sewing project. Thanks for sharing.
This is a great idea! We just got the Contour Adjustable King duo bed (which is actually 2 XL twin beds…..future buyers beware!) so I need 2 fitted XL twin sheets and 1 king flat sheet…..VERY hard to find pretty patterned fitted sheets unless they are in a set. This great idea will save me both time and money. Thanks ever so much again…..BTW….you might need to adjust the measurements if you have deep a deep mattress.
Hi:
Am I the only one who had trouble with this? I tried following the directions and ended up with a fitted full size sheet that was about 6 inches too long! I re-read the directions and it seemed to me that I needed to go back to the step where you subtract the size of the mattress from the size of the sheet and THEN to subtract the smaller number from the bigger and cut that extra sheet length off the end and hem the sheet end. I tried that approach on another sheet and that worked out fine. It seems like its the only way to be able to take a perfect square out of each corner.
I used the basic technique to convert a twin flat to a twin fitted and also had to trim one long side and hem it before cutting all four corner squares.
I am making a twin fitted sheet with fabric that is 62 inches wide. The depth of my mattress is 11″. What would my corner cut off be? I think l2 1/2. Is my fabric wide enough for a twin bed measuring 37×75? I bought three yards.Thanks. Will wait for a reply.
12.5″ sounds right to me. If you have the mattress, you can also try stripping the mattress and draping your fabric over it–it won’t give you the specific measurement, but you can see the drape and get a good estimate that will let you know if you’ll like 12.5″ or not.
wondering if this same technique will work to make a cover for a chair cushion.