Bunk Bed Sheets

We got a set of bunk beds for our kids last summer.  We love them because they save space in their tiny bedroom.  The kids love them because it is a combination pirate ship, deer stand, tree fort and bed all in one.    So they are all around a winner.  


However, I just have one little problem with the bunkbeds.  I can't reach to make the top bunk. While the beds were in process (we got them off of Freecycle sanded and repainted them), I sewed  a basic bedspread for each bed.  The blankets are just big enough to cover the tops of the mattresses. So I don't have to wrestle with the blankets, but the sheets are still an issue.  Tucking in sheets is really hard for me. I'm just not tall enough for it.  

While in Goodwill a week or so ago, I found a couple really cool old twin size sheets for $1.99 each.  But they were both fitted sheets.  Then inspiration struck!  These sheets are the kind where the elastic is at the narrow ends, not all the way around, so I thought I'd cut the elastic off the top end, hem it up and have a perfect bunkbed sheet.  And, it worked beautifully.  Here's how I did it.

My nifty sheet before it was forever altered.  I unfolded it and carefully cut the elastic binding off.  Then I had big piece  of fabric with two notches missing out of the corners.  So, I cut the middle part out from between the notches to make the top a straight(ish) line.  Following me so far?  Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of that part.

Then, I took that hunk of fabric that I chopped off the top, folded it in half the long way and cut along my fold, so that I had two strips of fabric.  Then I sewed them together along one of the short sides, so I had one long strip.

Then, I folded it in half again and pressed in the seam.  Next, I folded the edges under to make a nice even finished edge.

Now I had my binding to attach to the top part that I had hacked apart.  I ran 3 lines of stitches along the binding to attach it to the rest of the sheet.  The first to hold the two pieces together, the second for decoration and the third because I missed a spot and my fold came undone.  When I was finished, this is what I wound up with.

A nicely hemmed flat sheet that does not require any tucking.  It just slides over the foot end of the mattress and lays flat at the top.

I'm sure I'm not the first person who ever thought of this, but I feel rather proud to have found a way to solve my bunkbed sheet problem.

Oh and I had a little piece of that binding left, so I made it into a fancy little iron cord cuff thing that I saw on Pinterest.  Theirs had a button closure.  I'm not even going to pretend that I know how to work the button hole setting on my sewing machine, so I used velcro.  The button is purely decorative.  Sorry for the sideways picture here.  It was turned the right way in my photo file, but seems to have flipped back over during the upload process.