How to sew a sheet with an elastic band?

You won’t surprise anyone with this type of bed linen for a long time. Sheet with elastic band – it’s convenient, practical and neat. But usually purchasing it costs a little more than you would pay for a simple rectangular sheet. Today I will tell you how to save your family budget and sew it yourself.

Benefits of using fitted sheets

Everyone knows that with such bedding there is no main problem of restless sleep: the sheet does not lift up from the mattress. This is especially true for children's beds, when the baby can spin almost all night. It is also important for children to have a supply of sheets in case of unexpected nighttime situations. This is where a parent’s skill in sewing linen will come to the rescue.

The nuances of handmade production

Of course, to sew such a sheet faster, it would be nice to use an overlocker to finish the edge. But even on a modern household machine this will not be a problem.You can either turn the edge up everywhere and stitch it that way, or use a special overlock foot in some places.

I would also like to note that bed linen is made from natural fabrics (or with a large percentage of natural fibers), so they will definitely shrink after washing, especially if we are talking about cotton. How much depends on the fiber content. Typically, cotton fabric shrinks 4-10% on average. This should be taken into account when purchasing a cut.

Important! When sewing a sheet for an “adult” bed, I would recommend considering fabric with a width of 220 cm. Otherwise, you will have to somehow get wasted and sew several parts even for a not very large bed.

In order to avoid surprises, before sewing it is advisable to wash the fabric in the same mode and temperature at which the finished sheet will then be washed. If the piece of fabric is very large, you can cut out a fabric measuring 1x1 meter, wash it separately, and then take new measurements and calculate the shrinkage coefficient. Then cut the sheet taking into account this value.

Required tools and materials

In order to sew a sheet with an elastic band without any problems, you will need:

• fabric of the appropriate size for the mattress, taking into account shrinkage, sides and folding (the most popular option with a lot of colors is calico);
• linen elastic (the thicker, the more folding is needed);
• a measuring tape (or tape measure), a long ruler - preferably in a corner;
• chalk or special marker for marking;
• threads in the color of the fabric;
• sewing machine.

Pattern and calculations

If with a sheet without an elastic band it is not particularly difficult to imagine cutting the fabric, then with the product we are considering it is not so simple.Firstly, for a standard mattress size of 2 meters, fabric 220 cm long will fit only in width. After all, you also need to take into account the height of the mattress (about 20 cm) and the fold on the bottom side. That is, you need to purchase about 3 m (270–280 mm) of fabric 220 cm wide for one fitted sheet. In this case, it’s easier with children’s mattresses that are less than 2 meters long. It is worth considering that this description is suitable for a standard mattress width for a double bed of 140–160 cm.

We have to cut out a rectangle of fabric without squares with sides of about 27 cm at the corners. Let's consider an option with mattress dimensions of 200*160*20 cm. I add 7 cm to the hem on all sides of the fabric. We will need a piece of fabric (after washing and ironing):

• along the grain thread (where the factory edge is) – 160 + 2*20 + 2*7 = 214 cm;
• along the transverse (where the cut is) – 200 + 2*20 +2*7 = 254 cm.

Please note that these data do not take into account shrinkage. Those. If you haven’t washed your fabric, you need to add the shrinkage factor to these dimensions. For calico along the grain thread this is about 2% of the length, along the transverse (weft) thread - about 5%. But I don’t see a big problem in washing and ironing a piece of fabric measuring 2*3 meters.

Step-by-step instruction

When it comes to sewing, I prefer to simplify everything as much as possible. So when sewing a sheet with an elastic band, I try to do it all without unnecessary movements.

1. I don’t cut anything from the standard 220 cm of canvas (it will fit to the size I need) and fold it in half so that the longer sides of the rectangle fall on the factory edge.
2. Then I measure the length I need at 254 cm and cut off the excess.
3. We fold one of the corners of the canvas in the shape of a triangle with the wrong sides inward, measure as if along the legs of the triangle, 27 cm each (a large ruler-corner is just useful for this). For a linen seam, I recommend making these sides 26 cm long.
4. We outline with chalk the side of the triangle that falls in the middle (and not on the edges), fasten the two parts of the future sheet with pins from the side of the main fabric and sew it on a machine along the drawn line. Stepping back a few mm from the seam, cut off the “extra” triangle. Repeat this for all other corners.
5. We turn the corners inside out and, retreating about 1 cm from the fold, make a straight line. We ended up with something like a mattress cover, without the elastic for now.

Advice! You can make napkins from the resulting squares by finishing the edges.

Finishing the hem edge

To determine the required amount of elastic, you need to secure it from one corner of the mattress and, stretching it well, bring it to the other along the length of the mattress, and then along its width. Measure how long it is without tension and multiply by 2. And in order to finish the job and have somewhere to put the elastic, you need to trim the edges of the canvas in a special way.

1. Make a hem of 1 cm, and then the width of the elastic plus a few mm (for example, if the elastic is 2 cm, then the second hem is 2.5 cm).
2. Sew along the entire perimeter, leaving about 3 cm for threading the elastic.
3. Using a safety pin, securing it at the end, we thread it into the formed hem. We try not to twist it, sew the ends of the elastic together.
4. The sheet is ready!

There is nothing particularly complicated in the manufacturing process. The only thing that will upset the craftswoman is the increased consumption of fabric and difficulties with subsequent ironing of the product.But all this pales in comparison to the main advantage of this type of bedding - ease of use. I hope my tips will help you make your life more comfortable.