Christmas Gifts 2020 Part 4

 

Half and half sheets for the bed

     The last of the gifts I made for Christmas 2020 was two sets of sheets for my son and daughter-in-law.  This was a special request from them.  My daughter-in-law loves flannel sheets for the winter while my son does not.  They picked out two sets of sheets which we then bought.  Then it was time to get to work.

Label for easy bed making

Tacking down the elastic

      First I pre-washed the sheets.  Then my husband and I placed them on our bed so I knew which was the top/bottom and which was the side.  After we did that and I was getting ready to start cutting, I found these labels in the elastic edge.  So smart of them as we always seem to put on our sheets the wrong way the first time.  Before I started cutting, I tacked down the elastic on either side of the cut so it wouldn't disappear.  

Cutting the sheet apart

     I carefully cut each bottom/fitted sheet in half which wasn't that easy with the elastic scrunching it up. 

Serged seam

     I then sewed a regular sheet half to a flannel sheet half with about a 3/8 inch seam allowance so as not to lose too much of the width.  I then serged the seam to prevent fraying.  After that, I pressed the seam to one side and top stitched it down to be sure everything was smooth.

Topstitching down the seam

     I then cut the top sheets in half.  After determining which side they each slept on, I sewed the two halves back together.  One set was easy as I used the left of one and the right of the other.  The second one was trickier as I had to undo the side hems, sew up those edges and then redo the side hems.  That kept the top and bottom hems in the right place.  The flannel top sheet was a little longer so I just folded up a little on the bottom to make them the same length.  

Sewing the edges together

     In the above photo you can see where I undid the side hems and pressed everything flat to sew them back together.  

     It may look a little funny on the bed, but they are enjoying their new custom sheets.

Bottom sheet and pillows on the bed

     Of course I couldn't not do some embroidery.  For the pillowcases I chose to embroider His and Hers.  I had a design in my stash that was for fall with leaves on it.  I used my software to remove some of the colors and it now looked more like some snow.

Before editing

After editing

     I pulled colors to match the sheets and embroidered the four pillowcases.  It was a fun project, one I wouldn't have thought of but it does make a lot of sense.

Embroidered pillowcases