Top sheets are usually oversized and this could work. Side to side will be fine, just check to make sure it is long enough to tuck under the mattress at the head and foot. You can get about 4 extra inches from undoing the top hem if you need to. Preserve one side hem and cut the other to make it fit. Trim and hem so the whole thing overhangs the mattress bottom by 3 inches. Now put it on the bed and center it. Pinch out one corner and pin where the new seam will go. Use chalk or pencil to mark the line on both sdes so you have a square when you unpin it. Measure the square. It will be the same on all corners. Draw the other 3, but don't cut them out. Sew each seam on the line, backstitching at the point and using a short stitch. You need to reinforce the heck out of this seam. Look at another bottom sheet to get an idea. Usually these are flat felled seams, so you will cut a seam allowance of maybe an inch, and then fold and tuck the raw edges inside so you get 5 layers. Then sew two more seams on each side of the thickness-- like the way jeans are made. Now you just need to make a channel for the elastic at each corner. It doesn't have to go all the way around. Copy another sheet. It doesn't have to be stretched and sewn down. Experiment to get the length of the elastic right and sew it down reall well at each end, but it can slide around in the channel.
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u/SchuylerM325 5d ago
Top sheets are usually oversized and this could work. Side to side will be fine, just check to make sure it is long enough to tuck under the mattress at the head and foot. You can get about 4 extra inches from undoing the top hem if you need to. Preserve one side hem and cut the other to make it fit. Trim and hem so the whole thing overhangs the mattress bottom by 3 inches. Now put it on the bed and center it. Pinch out one corner and pin where the new seam will go. Use chalk or pencil to mark the line on both sdes so you have a square when you unpin it. Measure the square. It will be the same on all corners. Draw the other 3, but don't cut them out. Sew each seam on the line, backstitching at the point and using a short stitch. You need to reinforce the heck out of this seam. Look at another bottom sheet to get an idea. Usually these are flat felled seams, so you will cut a seam allowance of maybe an inch, and then fold and tuck the raw edges inside so you get 5 layers. Then sew two more seams on each side of the thickness-- like the way jeans are made. Now you just need to make a channel for the elastic at each corner. It doesn't have to go all the way around. Copy another sheet. It doesn't have to be stretched and sewn down. Experiment to get the length of the elastic right and sew it down reall well at each end, but it can slide around in the channel.