Thank you soo much!

Thank you soo much!

I have a sheet sitting in the closet waiting for me to figure out how to do this--my brain is soooo lazy! Thanks for the tutorial- this solves my problem! Great information!

Wonder if Joanns or other local stores carry fold over elastic?

I've seen similar, but like I said in a previous discussion, they are the small bubble packs that cost about $4-5 each as I recall.

For Feathers -

For a crib sheet cut 39 1/2" x 62 1/2" sheet fabric; seams 3/8" - cut 5" squares out of all four corners of your crib sheet fabric; with right sides together sew cut-out sections together to form corners to go over the mattress (serge, or sew and then zigzag); I then would fold over raw edges all the way around 1/4" and then again 1/4"; I would then take 1/4 inch elastic and start 6-10 inches from the corner and sew the elastic on the wrong side of the sheet stretching it as you sew from one corner to the next right on the 1/4" hem. I don't sew it all the way around the sheet, but you can if you prefer.

I would make them out of flannel and they fit perfectly. You can do the same thing and make cradle sheets the only difference is the size - large cradle 24" x 40" and small cradle 22" x 38" cutting out 2" squares in all four corners.

I never worried about anyone seeing the elastic as it is on the inside of the sheet next to the mattress. Very fast and fun. Always a big hit and if you are giving it as a gift with something else you can use the sheet as wrapping paper. Enjoy!

what do you mean sew the corner together you show dash lines on 2 sides what do you sew together.Do you completely cut out the whole corner

do you sew the elastic around the whole sheet

Thanks for this info, just yesterday I had another bottom sheet bite the dust and realized I have a few flats without bottoms, no I can repurpose them and get more life out of them. And put enough elastic on them so I don't have to worry about them popping off.

yes, you cut a square out of each corner BUT ONLY AFTER you have made all your calculations and come up with the size of square you need to cut out.

You will fold the corners back on each other, like a giant dart, and sew them together. If you go look at your fitted sheets you will see that they have done some sort of alteration in the corners to make it fit down around the corner of the mattress.

You certainly don't HAVE to sew all the way around with the elastic, but I do because I like the way it looks and the clean finished edge and how snug it fits under the mattress. You could sew elastic only around the corners as some others have suggested. I have seen very high end sheets with elastic all around and they fit well and look great.

Please see the explanations below, thanks.

Whoops, see the explanations ABOVE, thanks

Where do you buy your sheet elastic?
Lena---Livnlearn

If I could get a better close-up on what they have on their website, I'd buy it from ctsusa, but I can't tell for sure what their big rolls of "fold over elastic" look like. It needs to have that little rib in the middle that helps it fold easily. I'm going to go to some fabric places locally this week and see if I can get someone to identify specifically/exactly what I have and then order it. I'll keep everyone posted when I get an answer. But to answer you again, ctsusa looks like they have the best prices.

Are you cutting off the 10 1/2 inches out of the corners?

Yes, remember this is an example for a TWIN SIZE SHEET and the calculations are based on the size of the flat sheet, minus the expected dimensions of the fitted sheet. My example left us with a cut out in all corners of 10 1/2 inches. If you go back in this blog you can see other questions and further discussion about this and some standardized sheet sizes and calculations. Hope this helps.

Thank you.
Lena

I also want to thank you for the tute. I have a king fitted sheet that I will be able to cut down into a queen as it hangs over the mattress real bad and wont fit properly. With your help I now know how to fix the problem.

You are SO welcome. (ALL OF YOU!!) I've been reading info on this site for quite a while and always thought this is such a marvelous group of TERRIBLY SMART qulters/sewers/fabric mashers. I've learned lots from the tutes of others, so I'm REALLY pleased that my little bit of knowledge about something has helped some of you. Thank you all for your kind words and encouragement!!

Oh, I almost forgot, I've ordered a sample of the elastic from CTSUSA, their order desk guy was wonderfully helpful. I'll keep you all posted when I receive the sample.

After reading all of this I have an observation. When cutting out the squares on the corners shouldn't you ADD the half inch seam allowances TO THE SHEET instead of adding it to the part you are cutting off??? You want the seam allowances on the part of the sheet you are keeping wouldn't you??? or am I just not reading it right???

For instance, somewhere you mentioned for a queen size bed to cut a 15 1/2square. Shouldn't it be a 14 1/2 inch square??? Leaving a 1/2 inch seam allowance on either side of the square??

Good Morning Quilterguy,
Yes, you would add to the "sheet" part, not the cut out part. Please remember that I was trying to give a "ballpark" estimate for how to calculate the dimensions, they are not exact to the gnat's fanny!! haha In my humble opinion, a 1/2 inch seam more or less on a fitted sheet won't make a huge difference, especially if/when you have 4+ inches of material for the "tuck under" the mattress.

All of the measurements MUST start with the size of your FLAT sheet, minus the top, minus depth on the sides, and minus tuck-under portion of your calculations for the FITTED sheet. For example, all queen flat sheets don't measure exactly the same, so you'll have to start with what you have (the existing queen flat sheet), make your calculations and see if it will work for the queen fitted.

For example, I know if you are going to use a queen FLAT for a twin FITTED, you will have lots of sheet to work with. And you'll need it if you have a really deep twin mattress. If you have a skinny twin mattress (for example) you can possibly use a twin FLAT to make the twin FITTED, I know that works, because that's what I made for the YWAM base in Australia - fitted twin sheets from flat twin sheets, because the mattresses were pretty skinny.

You are welcome to PM me and I'll give you my phone number and we can discuss this further if you'd like.

Any of you on this blog are welcome to PM me for my phone number, just remember I live in Alaska and we have a time difference and I don't calculate really well in the wee hours of the night/morning!! haha

In general, IF YOU HAVE A NEWER, VERY DEEP MATTRESS, NO MATTER WHAT SIZE (twin, full, queen, king) generally speaking, you WILL NOT be able to use the same size top to make the fitted bottom. You may be able to squeek it in, but it won't have much to tuck under and look beautiful.

I don't need more fitted sheets, but do have a stack of flat sheets.Some are used for company,some for dust covers.The others will be cut up to use as quilt backing...or for blocks like PP or stings quilts.Sheets seems to last & last.Seems I can always find a use for sheets.

Thanks for this. I have been wanting to repurpose a winter weight flannel comforter cover that I bought for a Queen size, as it is just too big and heavy, and does not fit into my washing machine!

My children love flannel sheets and I thought I'd make some soft fitted sheets for them from it, but did not know how to start. Now I do!

I still dont understand how to sew on the elastic, but if I buy some I'm sure I can work it out.

Silly question, but how do you measure and cut a sheet this size? I have a hard enough time finding room on my living room floor for a lap quilt. lol Mostly though, I'm curious how to cut it straight.

Thanks!!

Another question, do you have to use fold-over elastic? Could you use regular elastic?

WOW this ended up being a great discussion. Thank you Dolly in Eagle River. Hope you are having the nice weather we are having as I write this.

Thanks for the great Tute. I have 2 twin mattresse to make a king size and the king sheets are way to big so this would work for.Where to buy the elasic is the question someone, please let me know?

When I was making the sheets in Australia I had some really big cafeteria dining tables to spread them out on. I did bring my rotary cutter and pad and you really only need to have the cutting pad under the area where you are going to cut, you don't have to have it under the entire sheet.

Also, once you get the sheet trimmed down to the right size, you can fold it into quarters, which makes it lots smaller and then cut all four corners at once.

Certainly you could use regular elastic, but I LOVED the fold over elastic because it makes such a beautiful, clean, professional looking edge all the way around the bottom of the fitted sheet.

It's been incredible. Sunshine and blue skies and a little rain once in a while to save me the trouble of watering the lawn!!

Okay, I promised you all that I'd keep you posted on what I learned about the elastic....the best contact, most choices, best prices (also with the best service) that I've found online is CTSUSA.COM. They don't have the exact elastic I was using in Australia, but they have a 1 inch wide fold over elastic that I'm sure will work very well. It is 1" ultra soft FOE, #04F1WSOFT and priced at $21.95 for a 50 ft roll. I've emailed them again because when I tried to order it thru their website the FED EX ground charges were going to be more than the price of the elastic.

No, I don't need 50 yards to make sheets, but this elastic is quite beautiful and will work well for any other elastic projects that I have in the future that need a lovely edge. I think it's lingerie elastic. It's cheaper than anything at Joann's or anywhere else I've found, unless they insist on shipping via FED EX, in which case I'll balk and not order it.

One of you darlings offered to send me some from Australia and knew exactly the elastic I was talking about. However, the shipping/mail is still likely to be a problem. I do appreciate it, however, and will keep you in mind if this doesn't work out with CTSUSA.

Yes, stretch the elastic just like you would if you were putting it on anything else that you wanted snugged up after putting it on. Remember, it has to cinch up under the mattress.

Thanks for the tute! I need to do this with a couple of water bed mattress pads and sheets, to use on full sized beds. ( we've gotten rid of the water beds) :thumbup:

How do you measure how much elastic needed for sheet?

Here is a link to a video using fold over elastic. Not on a sheet, just showing how she stretches it. I am going to make covers for the cushions on my sofa. This will work great.

http://angrychicken.typepad.com/angr...ld-over-e.html

i was wanting to do this. glad i was digging thru old tut's.

I have been doing this for years, for all mattress sizes. What you have to remember is that however wide and long your mattress is, for an example only say: 70 x 80 .. and the mattress is 10 inches thick. At 70 inches thick, your sheet would have to measure first the 70 inches, then twice the 10 inches for the thickness, and then you must add 2 inches to each side for the application of the elastic.

The same instructions go for the length of the sheet. Now that you have that figured out, you can draw the pattern on the sheet, remove the twelve inch square at each corner, sew the edges together, apply the elastic, and you're done.

Since my husband won't use a top sheet either, I use duvet covers over twin comforters on our king size bed. I have learned to make these duvet covers from my unused top sheets.

I've made lots of baby crib sheets this way with special "baby" fabric, and the new moms always are so pleased to have especially, flannel sheets for winter. Flannel can usually be purchased wide enough for the 36 inch wide, by 6 inch thick, plus the four inches overhang (two each side) standard baby crib size mattress.

Can someone please post a picture of how the elastic looks when it's sewn into the sheet? I'm having a hard time visualizing this. My sheets all have casings for the elastic. I recently replaced the elastic in one sheet because it had disintegrated and stretched. It wasn't hard at all, which is why I'm wondering why you'd have to buy special elastic.

I ordered the foldover elastic off the internet. i was somewhat surprised when it arrived. it doesn't seem to have the stretch to it, that regular elastic has. no reason someone couldn't use regular elastic., it just might not look as pretty on the edge. going to give it a try.