Can you alter fitted sheets?

[marmaladeandpeanutbutter]

I've finally got rid of my superking bed, many years after the kids stopped joining us! It's a hassle to change, and I am appreciating the extra space.

Over the years I've build up a reasonable collection of decent quality bedding. I'm going to use the same duvet and duvet covers, but I'm having an issue with the fitted sheets.

Is it possible to alter the fitted sheets so that they fit a king size bed? The new mattress is 30 cm deep, so I imagine I'm need to lose around 10 inches width.

Thanks.

The time and effort involved if you aren’t a skilled machinist would be a PITA, and paying someone likely wouldn’t be worth the cost.
You can get fitted sheet clips or fitted sheet straps (ebay/Amazon). That would be my first try.

I could. It would be easy. The fact you are asking makes me think it’s not in your skill set. If that sounds offensive don’t mean it to be.

I'd probably just fit it on one side and tuck in the excess on the other side. Maybe take out the elastic on that side if it allowed a neater tuck.

@DustyMaiden I think the OP is asking "is it possible" not "do I have the ability to do this at the present moment".

Agree with @ErrolTheDragon that I would just tuck the excess under on one or both sides and rely on the weight of the mattress to hold it down. If it comes undone then i'd start looking at altering the sheets themselves.

Yes you can. My DC have small (4' wide) double beds with deep mattresses and toppers so I buy double or king sheets and alter them to fit.

It does involve sewing elastic so you would need to be moderately comfortable using a sewing machine. I'm not sure how much someone would charge to do it.

If it's just the width that needs to be altered you can get away with just doing one side. You need to unpick the corner seams, remove the elastic, then unpick the vertical corner seam and lay flat (it will look like a flat sheet with squares cut out of the corners. With the sheet laid flat you then measure the new width (you can choose to make the sheet 'deeper' at the stage if you like too), cut the excess fabric, stitch new seams and reattach the elastic. You can probably find tutorials online or I'd be happy to draw you a sketch!

Google is telling me there is such a thing as "bed suspenders"!! Ooh er...

I agree with a pp it’s fiddly and I wouldn't bother. If you really want to try and provided the sides of the sheet fit the 30cm depth then all you are looking at is reducing the width between the corners. The obvious solution is to sew a tuck in the flat part along one or both sides. You need the tuck to sit along the edge(s) of the bed so it doesn’t impact where you lie. I’ve attached a drawing to illustrate.

If you need to adjust the depths of the side then definitely forget it.

I need to do something similar as ikea has stopped selling bedding for the European king bed we bought from them 10+ years ago - so I’ll be removing 10cm from UK super king sheets if I can’t source any European king ones for a decent price elsewhere. Thanks for the method, @Flustration - I’m a reasonably competent seamstress (can make clothing, for instance) so I’ll take note of what you say.

Oh, this is genius, too!

I've done it- by re-sewing the corners - it worked but was a faff.
The simple tuck method looks much easier- I will definitely use that one!

What a talented and generous bunch you are! Thank you everyone, for such a lot of useful information.

I'm currently tucking them in but they don't stay perfectly in place overnight, so it does look a bit rough. And who wants to remake the mattress daily.

I think I'm going to have a go, and dust off my very rusty sewing skills. It's such a waste of money not to.

Thanks again everyone.