DIY: Fitted Sheets

It all started with a foam mattress, the one that came with the second-hand cot that we bought for Audrey. Well... it started with the foam mattress, my love for vintage sheets, and the need to personalize Audrey's room a bit.

Ahem. And the fact that I had just wrapped a poorly sized piece of fabric over the mattress for well over a year (yes, I washed it and put it back on the mattress.)

Okay. Basically I was shamed into making something nice for Audrey's bed. Because it was pretty ghetto before.

The good news is that it turned out to be REALLY easy. Like. Really easy.

The bad news is that it took me SO LONG TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Sorry, Audrey.




You'll need:
A bit of fabric (enough to cover the mattress and wrap around the sides)
Thread
80" of skinny elastic
A safety pin (or bobby pin)



1. Lay the fabric out and measure the outline of the mattress top. Add the height of the mattress plus 3-4 inches (For me, this measurement added up to 8") to each side. Your fabric should look something like the picture above after it's been cut out.




2. With the right sides of the corner together, sew along the edge to form a seam. This will become the edge that fits around the corners of the mattress. Repeat with all four corners.



3. Finish the entire outside edge using a serger or the zig zag stich on your sewing machine.

4. Iron 1" of the edge under all the way around the sheet. This will create a casing for the elastic to feed through.



5. Sew down the casing making sure to leave enough room for the elastic to feed through stopping 2 inches before you started. This is the opening that you will feed in the elastic.





6. Insert the elastic and thread through the casing until it comes out the other side.

7. Overlap the ends of the elastic and stitch them together securely. (or cheat like me and tie them together really tightly.) Then sew your casing closed.



8. Congratulations! You just made a custom fitted sheet. What a crafty one you are.




Now Audrey has real handmade linens! And I'm no longer a terrible mother ;)

Win win.

xoxo