What to do with extra flat sheets?

free4now

free4now

Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
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It seems that more and more sheets are being sold as sets, and it's getting less possible to buy just a fitted sheet.

It's always the fitted sheet that wears first... usually after a couple of years it rips, while the pillowcases and flat sheets are fine because they haven't had body weight on them.

I've now got a half dozen spare fitted sheets and a similar number of pillowcases. They are useful for spare guest bedding, camping, and picnic blankets, but I now have way more than I need for those purposes. I just hate to throw away perfectly good sheets.

I came across this tutorial on converting a flat sheet to a fitted sheet:

Sew Your Own Fitted Sheets

But that doesn't seem like it'd be cost effective as I don't own a sewing machine and bringing it to my tailor/cleaner would probably cost almost as much as a new sheet (if I could find one sold separately that I liked!). Also, the flat sheets are sized just a little bit too small to give the recommended 4-6 inches extra to tuck underneath.

Anyone have frugal solutions to the flat sheet dilemna?
 
Seriously, you can't make a bed with two flat sheets?

Give away or learn to make 'hospital corners'
 
What Khan said. :duh:
 
free4now said:
It's always the fitted sheet that wears first... usually after a couple of years it rips, while the pillowcases and flat sheets are fine because they haven't had body weight on them.
Click to expand...

You must be having a LOT more midnight fun than I am. :2funny: I have only one fitted sheet (yes, too much of a penny-pincher to buy more so I wash and dry it and put it back on the bed immediately). I have used my fitted sheet constantly for nine years now, and it doesn't even show any wear much less being ripped up like that. :angel:
 
Last edited:
Donate them to a shelter or charity or put on Craigslist or Freecycle so they can go to someone who needs them. You can always go get yourself a new set at a Black Friday sale if you are itching to spend a bit.

I've seen sheet garters at the Dollar store so that may be a cheap idea to use a flat sheet as a bottom sheet.

You say you don't have a sewing machine so using one as a quilt backing is probably not of interest.

I also have ended up with a few extra flat sheets. They were used to put over my bed for the years I had a cat since they were easy to clean the cat hair from and could be washed frequently. The cat believed the bed was hers and only tolerated me sleeping in it as she always sprawled across the area where I wanted to put my feet. In her later years I was able to contain her to a smaller area by cleverly placing a heating pad on one corner of the bed.

A few years ago I went through my linen closet and gleaned a big box of sheets and some fabric I didn't need to keep and wouldn't use. I advertised it on Freecycle and had alot of responses with the caveat that they had to take the entire box. It went to someone who was happy to get it and would use what they could and maybe pass on what they couldn't use.
 
I use flat sheets as the top cover on beds in my home instead of a bedspread or quilt. Our little yorkie sleeps with us, so the 'bedspread - flat sheet" get laundered weekly along with all the other sheets, and stays nice and fresh. In fact...I just bought a new flat sheet from e-bay yesterday just for this purpose. I like how this looks a lot better then most other kinds of bedspreads available.

When they become worn or I'm tired of them I use old flat sheets for yard work. They work great to pile leaves and other yard trash onto and then I drag it to the street and flip the stuff off for our yard trash pick-up days. I also use them to cover some plants that can't handle the occational frost in Florida. I keep 3-4 flat sheets in the garage for these purposes.

I have also used bed sheets as gift wrapping occationally...usually with oddly shaped items. I've set the item in the middle, cut around it in unevenly, and then pulled the sheet up around the item creating a "sack" of sorts that I tie with a big cloth ribbon at the top. It actually turned out great!

Hope this helps some.....
 
Hey, these are some great ideas!

Actually one reason I have so many sheets is that my obsessive artist uncle came to visit a few years ago and we wanted to stage a japanese tea ceremony in my apartment to celebrate the holidays. His contribution was to go to a thrift store and buy some white flat sheets to cover up all the furniture for an obsessively clean zen environment.

I'm thinking wrapping his gift in the sheets the next time I see him for the holidays will be a nice way to "return to sender".

I will take a look for those sheet garters. Actually I'm in spring cleaning mode right now and I just put a pair of 80's style suspenders in the donate pile... perhaps I can repurpose those.

As to hospital corners... I think that just reminds me too much of a buddhist monastery in Yangon where I once stayed. I did learn to do hospital corners there, but the bed was infested with bedbugs and I stayed awake all night scratching. The sheet was always getting untucked, exposing me to the infestation even more as it rode up. Not a good association. And the guy in the video on that page took 39 seconds to do a single corner on a twin size bed, about on par with my recollection of how much a hassle it is. No, I need a solution that will stay in place for a week or so until I clean my sheets again (don't tell Martha Stewart).
 
high thread count works great as a beach blanket - shakes out well
 
This is the first I've heard of the flat sheet dilemma. My two oldest sheets, fitted or unfit, wrap around the clothes in the closet to keep sunlight from fading the clothes. Just this morning those two sheets went into a Salvation Army bag along with two more from a drawer, a comforter, stadium blanket and two blankets. Then the two new oldest sheets went on sun screen duty.
 
Decades ago when I was moving out to my first apartment, my Mom took me to a bakery where they were giving away the linen bags that bulk flour came in. These were large bags; all you had to do was unpick the seam, and you had a perfectly fine creamy white twin bedsheet with a high thread count. I used my "flour bag sheets" for many years and still have them. I now use them to drape over my ironing board.

I guess my Mom was also LBYM.....
 
Lots of good ideas here... Another would be to donate them to an animal shelter, they can use blankets, sheets, and towels.
 
Meadbh said:
Decades ago when I was moving out to my first apartment, my Mom took me to a bakery where they were giving away the linen bags that bulk flour came in. These were large bags; all you had to do was unpick the seam, and you had a perfectly fine creamy white twin bedsheet with a high thread count. I used my "flour bag sheets" for many years and still have them. I now use them to drape over my ironing board.

I guess my Mom was also LBYM.....
Click to expand...

So are you suggesting that OP do the reverse? Make flour bags for the local bakers?
 
I have to say every time I see this topic, I think, where does one buy extra flat sheets? Are they better than the regular flat sheets?

Carry on.
 
My kids are always coming up with some project or other that needs flat sheets. Camp uses them, costumes use them. We've had to go to the store and buy extras and over the years are sometimes stuck with a bunch of fitted sheets we didn't need (or want). We cut the corners off those and pretend they are just a slightly smaller flat sheet.
 
I couldn't convert them to fitted sheets for my queen bed. The flat sheets are just a bit too small to tuck in on both sides with newer thicker mattresses.

But I just took up a hobby of doing studio photography in my living room and I'm going to use the flat sheets to block the light out of my windows. My ten year old stack of flat sheets finally gets some use!
 
One of the problems with using flat sheets for bottom is that so many mattresses today are very deep, there just isn't enough fabric to tuck them under the mattress.

The other issue I am having with flat sheets is quality, they aren't cut true to grain. I hate to buy sheets in sets because you can't identify that problem until they have been through the wash a couple of times.
 
Free Burqua material.
 
I cut them up and use them in my shop for cleaning up my tools. That wears them out pretty quickly to the point of getting tossed. I do this with worn out or torn towels as well, cutting out the torn part and using them as oil absorbers. They're good for about 4-5 cycles through the washing machine after that. My wife makes all sorts of things with old fabric from clothes, sheets, towels, etc. A worn out pillow case becomes strips of cloth to tie up the bean and tomato plants to stakes in her garden, for example.
 
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