Turning a flat sheet into a bedskirt

Have you priced bed skirts lately? I was finding it difficult to find a bed skirt to fit an 18-inch tall California King frame. I'm not paying $100 just to hide the crap under the bed.

Fortunately, I'm resourceful. I found a flat sheet in the right size (for $20) and here's how I tailored it:

First of all, IRON the sheet. It will look so much nicer. Wrinkles don't fall out over time, no matter how much you try to tell yourself that they will. 

Next, drape the sheet over the bed frame, wrong-side up. Line everything up where you want it. Mine happened to be the perfect size so that all the edges lined up with the floor.

On each corner, pull the bottom corner of the sheet out and pin the sides of the sheet together along the leg of the frame. Make sure the bottom edges line up.

Trim the excess, leaving a few inches of fabric to work with.

Remove the sheet from the bed frame. One at a time, lay each corner flat. Mark where the top and bottom pins are with a pencil. Move the pins over and use a ruler to line up with the marks. Draw a line, to mark where the pins were. Baste along the line. 

(Since the initial measurements were eyeballed, I felt more comfortable basting first. If you're confident in your pinning abilities, go for it with a regular stitch.)

Put the bed skirt back on the bed and, if necessary, make adjustments. Once you're happy with the fit, take it back off and sew using a regular stitch. Trim the excess fabric, then use a zig zag stitch along the raw edges to prevent fraying. Turn the corners right side out and press with a hot steamy iron.

I also added 4 ties (ribbon I had on hand) to the top of the sheet, so that it could be tied to the head of the frame to help keep it in place.

Look at how nice those corners look.

(I still needed to adjust that one corner when I snapped the picture.)

Stick the mattress back on the bed, adjust if it shifted, and you're done.