Bed-sheet sizes

[Peetie Wheatstraw]

I gotta old "full" bed/mattress circa maybe 1970. Ancient "full" fitted sheet fits well but it's pretty much worn out.

Last year I go to JC Penny, get a nice "full" 250 thread count sheet set, and find the fitted sheet is an extreme PITA to put-on, take-off. Nice material, but too much of it. The fold-under part is about 15", way too much for my 6" thick mattress.

I picked up a Martex sheet set, read the sizes, and I'm afraid to un-package it (nobody in this world or the next can get it back in the package, back on the shelf if returned).

Old Mattress 6 x 54 x 74 " JCP sheet 54 x 75 Martex sheet 54 x 76 max 15" deep

Question: Are there multiple "full" bed/sheet size standards? Are the sizes for beds from the 70's different from those made in 90's, etc??

How can I find a "full" sheet-set that properly fits my old bed?

Thx, Peetie

[Don Phillipson]

If writing from the USA, consult the US National Bureau of Standards. (I am no longer up to date but it used to have a housewares branch.)

Your measurements above are so near enough to each other that department stores would treat them as identical. But European standard sizes differ somewhat, e.g. Ikea introduced some European sizes in the 1970s but later abandoned them i.e. now sells only US standard sizes.

You must locate a store that sells bed linen and nothing else. We do not know where you live.

[PanHandler]

What's not standard in your case is the mattress thickness. Most mattresses are at least 8-9 inches thick.

[Peetie Wheatstraw]

Doesn't look cheap. Looks kinda fancy.

It's been enclosed in huge plastic wrapper all these years.

An easy "answer". All it takes is $.

Peetie

[SteveBell]

Peetie Wheatstraw wrote in :

I used to sell mattresses.

Mattresses nowadays are much thicker than they used to be. Sheets are made for new mattresses.

The Penney's sheet will probably fit OK. I bet they'll take them back if you aren't happy.

Remember that the sheets will shrink some. Wash and dry on hot to accelerate the process.

[EXT]

Even with the mattress being 40 years old, 6" was a real cheap mattress in those days, I was there.

Something that old would be deteriorating internally, any foam in it would be crumbling, and could be full of dust mites and/or mildew.

Get rid of it and replace it with something current.

[Red]

Besides the standard mattresses being thicker they make/sell a lot of pillow-top mattresses which requires the full 15" of tuck-in depth on the sheet.

Red

[Norminn]

The kitchen/bath shops carry a fair variety of thicknesses for a hefty price. If you find a sheet made for a mattress close to your size, it wouldn't be difficult for someone with a sewing machine to alter it to fit. It probably would just be a matter of sewing up two corners with a sharper curve on the bottom side. A futon shop might carry something closer. I have a mattress about the same age, probably about 8" thick and have found sheets for it.

[Norminn]

I still have a mattress that age - inner spring, no foam. Looks like new.

[Erma1ina]

If the only sheets you can find have mattress "pockets" that are too deep for your mattress, check out "bed sheet straps" to hold the corners tight. For example:

I've not used them but I've seen them advertised every now and then over the years.

Good luck.

[Erma1ina]

Here's another link for a different (more effective?) sheet-suspender style:

[cshenk]

"Peetie Wheatstraw" wrote

I'm sure it's fine. I had an old one recently donated away. It had a thick box spring and the mattress on top was a firm one of about that.

Grin, all you need is to check the packages. You want the cheaper ones and they wont be marked 'deep'. Check and the 8 inch 'deep' will work. If you cant turn in the one or so 'extra deep' you now have, all isnt lost. You can fix them 2 ways that are easy.

1-easiest- those elastic straps with clips sewn on each end (some made for bed fitting, others can be found that guys sometimes use to hold shirts down and clip to your socks. Sounds wierd, but military dressup leads to a few odd acouterments. 2- almost as easy- - if handy with needle and thread, 4$ worth of elastic at a sewing goods store and some clips you sew on will work. If not handy with sewing, large diaper safety pins (you will need to sew down the elastic where you cut it but can just pin it in place after that).

At a diagonal where the bottom fitted part is too big, you just cross this with one at the side and up about 1.5 ft, and the other to the bottom (about

1.5 feet). This will pull the sheet neatly in. Got too much elastic? Just back it over to 2ft.

Alternates, elastic that runs all the way under and goes just side to side. Hard to do a bit on a double bed, easy on a single.

Trick learned on Navy ships where sheets are for single beds but matresses are 4-6 inch thick and only about 1/2 to 2/3 as wide as a normal single. Gotta get creative to make a standard single fit right.

[cshenk]

There ya go. Same thing I was decribing only didnt have a link so showed how to make'em.

Guys are lovely, but ladies know this one ;-) Carol

[Peetie Wheatstraw]

Well, thanks are rendered to both of y'all.

But the main problem is not holding the sheets tight. It's getting the fitted one on and off the bed, which is against a wall on one side. Ya hafta reach way far under the mattress ... my bad back doesn't help ...

I'll try a super-duper-cheap sheet-set first. Hell, the Martex set was only $15 at the closeout store (and it's 15" deep and very substantial). Maybe I need a $6.98 set. :-)

Peetie

[knuckle-dragger]

I'm sure that those are not the sizes of the sheets. 54 * 75 would leave no fold under at all.

Read a book (or check it out on line) called "Home Comforts" written by a woman (Lyn something-or-other IIRC) who takes her old fashioned knowledge and applies it to household items like sheets. She sets out the standard sizes and explains variations such as for extra-long twin. She also bemoans the search for high thread count at all costs and says that 200 count percale is much longer lasting, easier to wash, etc. Apparently it's what the hospitals use.

On the subject of your fitted sheet not fitting, why don't you use a flat sheet for the bottom as well. The labor-saving of a fitted bottom sheet is minimal. I have the opposite problem: the bottom sheet won't stay tucked in at all (fitted or otherwise) so I've had to go to a one size up (Queen instead of Full) flat. It makes a lot of difference. In future I'll go for Queen for top and bottom on all my beds (They're supposedly Full size).

[cshenk]

"Peetie Wheatstraw" wrote

De Nada!

Ohh, not fun. I have a back like that. We shifted the bed so there's a small walkway against the wall so I can change the sheets. Also Don can get in easier without having to crawl up the foot or over me ;-)

Grin, yup! The other way (assuming shifting the bed away from that one wall a bit isnt workable for you) is to use those same bedsheet grabbers, but just on the open sides where you can reach, to hold the extra material on that side.

[Lee B]

You might also be able to find a "mattress topper" or a thick mattress pad. They could help to make the mattress taller, and hopefully more in line with the "newer" sheet sizes. I once bought a very "poofy" mattress pad and it almost made the mattress too thick, at least for the older sheets I had at the time. Eg -

[gpsman]

On Nov 24, 12:37=A0pm, Peetie Wheatstraw wrote:>

Keep buying them and taking them back. Nobody cares if they're in the original packaging.

I used to just buy oversize flat sheets myself. -----

- gpsman

[Pologirl]

Me too. If the sheet has enough tail to tuck under, it needs no elastic. But that works best if the mattress is very firm. On a soft mattress, the sheet may work loose pretty quickly. Another alternative is to buy sheets at estate sales or thrift shops, or at boutique shops. Anything but a big box store. In those places, you can measure everything before you buy.

Pologirl