I’m a huge fan of custom bedding. In this post I’d like to show you how to turn a duvet cover into a set of fitted bed sheets. You will need a duvet cover that is the size of your mattress or larger. Our mattress is a queen and so is this duvet cover from Ikea. First, I prewashed the cover and then turned it inside out.
I don’t waste time trying to unpick the seams of the covers. I take my scissors and simply cut off all the seams around the three sides that are sewn.
Iron the large rectangular piece of fabric that you’ve created by chopping away the seams.
You should have a nicely ironed and very long piece of fabric now. Turn to your mattress and find its length and width. My mattress is a custom size. It’ dimensions are 53” x 75”.
The width is 4”. I add an extra 2” for a fitted sheet to wrap under the mattress and an additional 1” for seams (½” plus ½” for turning). To find the total length and width I need for a fitted sheet then, I add 7” + (width or length) + 7” = total width or length needed. In my case I needed a large rectangle 67” x 89”.
First I mark the shorter side of the sheet and cut the long strip of extra fabric away. Then I mark the length of the first sheet and then the length of the second sheet. For the second sheet you will often be a few inches short. If this happens I take fabric from the long side piece I discarded and sew it onto the ends to elongate it.
Now cut out 7” squares (or whatever your measurement is which will depend on the depth of your mattress). If you did your math right, the rectangle formed between those cut out squares will equal the same length/width as your mattress.
If you want to make the second sheet right away, then sew any fabric you need to make it long enough, and then repeat the process, cutting out the 7” squares. I made two fitted sheets because we don’t use top sheets but you could make the second sheet a top sheet.
Take your fabric to your sewing machines and sew the corners together. I sew first a straight stitch and then finish with a zig zag. Do this for all four corners.
There are many ways to finish the edges of a fitted sheet. I like to finger fold over the fabric by ½” then another ½”, then place the elastic on top. I move that over to the machine and begin sewing a zig zag stitch.
Once I’ve secured the elastic, I begin to hold it taught (but too tightly) and sew around the entire sheet this way. I finger fold over the fabric, hold the elastic taught, sew and repeat over and over until I’ve made it completely around.
Soon the seams will look like this as you keep working.
And here’s what it will look like when you are done.
Take it over to the bed and try it out. If you’ve done your math right, and not pulled your elastic too tightly, it will fit like a dream. Make the other sheet now and you’ll have a spare.
