How to Save a Stretched-Out Fitted Bedsheet

See that? That is my Little Mermaid bedsheet. I got it for my 6th birthday. (For those of you keeping score at home, that was 1990.) Why did I save them all this time? How did I save them all this time? Not sure. Well, honestly, the real question is, how did they make it from the day I got a full-sized bed in high school to that day in college I realized I wanted to make crafts out of everything? Their survival during the rest of those years makes complete sense.

Anyway... We now have a twin bed in our baby's room. It comes in handy for all sorts of things, like getting the baby to go to sleep and taking a nap when sick. And since I still have the sheets, and I still love the sheets, and our baby's a girl, I thought I'd put the Little Mermaid sheets in the rotation.

Upon putting them on the bed and using the bed for its various handy purposes for a few days, it became apparent that the elastic in the fitted sheet was dead. Dead as a doornail.


But not to fear, dear readers -- I fix things! (Eventually.)

Here's how I fixed it:

Take your sheet and put it on the bed. Not the whole thing; just a corner will do. You just need to get a sense of where to put the elastic. The strip of elastic needs to cut across the corner under your mattress, so find the points on the sheet (one on each side of the corner) that will make that happen and mark them with pins.

Go to your ridiculous stash of elastic in all shapes and sizes and pick out some likely candidates. At this point you could do some spiffy math and A squared + B squared = C squared it up, or you could just guess at how long your piece of elastic needs to be. (You'll need 4 of them.)


Pin the ends of the elastics to the places you marked on each corner, perpendicular to the edge of the sheet. (Very important.)




Stitch in place. (I used two rows of zigzag stitching. Wouldn't want it to tear and come off!)

(Upon reflection, I probably should have stitched the ends of the elastic to the insides of the sheet. But who's gonna see it, really?)


Put that sheet back on one corner of your mattress and marvel at the difference!


Tada!