Super Simple Bed Skirt How-To

Thought I'd share the secret of the bed skirts around our house.

They are not really bed skirts but simple strips of hemmed fabric which is safety-pinned to the mattresses. We have them on all beds and they work great. Cheap and (not so) nasty. Just measure around the bed's circumference and the height of the bed. Add for the hem at the bottom and ends.

  

I've stitched several parts together to make one looooooooong piece which just overlaps slightly at the head end. Lay the fabric strip on the bed. I like it to be about 2 cm / just under an inch off the floor to prevent dust from the floor getting caught on the skirt.

 

Fold in at corners and attach to mattress with safety pins. If you wish you can pleat the corners at this point but keep in mind to add quite a lot of more fabric for this. You'll want pleats that stand out and not look like you made a sloppy job at folding. I'm speaking if experience here, ladies and gentlemen. Continue by safety pinning all along the sides. I used about ten for the single bed in the boatroom.

 

Plop on the overlay mattress and bedding...

 

... add the bedspread and know one knows you've been cheating.

Comments

[Danette]

Oooooo I love this idea. Thanks.

[Lilla huset på prärien]

Wow vilken superbra idé - den ska jag testa vid tillfälle :)

Kram Jenny

[Ksenia in Canada]

Now I feel smug for not going and *buying* a bed skirt when your solution is so simple and easy. Thank you!

[Franziska]

nice idea! Thanks for sharing!

[Lindzi]

Brilliant Benita!!

[Linda]

Super smart!!!

[Cecilia]

Aah, ser verkligen supersmidigt ut. Jag har just kasserat en annan variant där kjolen är fastsydd på ett lakan. Det blir väldigt otympligt och svårhanterat till en dubbelsäng men kanske ett måste om man vill ha hörnveck, eller? Jag har haft stora veck på en halvmeter ca och tycker det är snyggt också.

[Karen]

Great idea. We need bedskirts and I have a new sewing machine. Sounds like an easy project to get started on. Tell me, did you make the white padded headboard? We have been toying with the idea of making one ourselves. If you did make it....might you think about a tutorial?? Thanks for all of the inspiration.

[anne]

Det här ska jag ta med mig till den dag då jag får en säng igen...

GOTT NYTT ÅR Benita till dig och dina män!
Anne

[E. Floyd]

Thanks for this post, great how-to. I like the clean lines and simple design.

[Carlos]

Karen, I did make it. I'll make a note to post a tutorial!

[Rachel]

This is fantastic! I've been looking for a simple skirt with clean lines for my guest room-perfect! I'll be linking as well.

[Not Your Goddess]

Oh thank you thank you thank you! I just love your simple easy ideas. I will definitely be doing this (some time this year) and linking to this post from my blog (right now!).
Thank you!

[Mia Blanche]

Fantasticly simple! I love it when good ideas are shared like here. Very nice photos you have. Wellcome to look into my ceramicstudio-blogg at www.complimenti.se Perhaps you like the white cups I give away in my competition to celebrate my new blog!
Ciao,
Mia

[Ali]

This is why I LOVE you Benita. Bed skirts have been annoying me big time around here lately and this is the perfect solution - thank you!

[Caroline]

the simplest ideas are always the most brilliant. how great this turned out!

[Jeannette]

Love, love, love it. Simple at it's best!

[inchmark]

I'm so glad I found your blog! I HATE big pleated bed skirts, but the look of the box spring is not so appealing either! Now I have to go try this immediately. And thank you for your kind offer to pick me up a calendar.. I will most likely take you up on it next year!

[Tin]

Hittade till din blogg när du just skrivit om madrasskydden du sytt. Jag hade precis gått och funderat vad jag skulle fixa till våra sängar när jag läste detta och det var en klockren lösning för mig. Åkte direkt och köpte tyg och sydde. Det blev kanonbra och jag är så nöjd! Tänkte blogga om det senare och länkar till dig i såfall hoppas att det är OK.
Tack för att du är så generös och bjuder på dina undebara lösningar.
Kram Tin

[ah]

I found your blog through a link from Design sponge the other day...I love this look (and that of your entire house!) but I'm truly confused as to how you sleep on it. The Larssons must be very docile sleepers, I would destroy that as soon as I laid down :(

[Carlos]

There's not just that one safty pin... I used about ten for the whole bed. Trust me it will stay on once the rest of the bedding is on! Unless you have a satin bedskirt ofcourse... Ours is heavy cotton :)

[foo]

It looks great, but I don't understand the mechanics of it. If the skirt is pinned to the top of the mattress and hangs to the floor, then what? You don't put a fitted sheet on the matress? What is that thin quilted piece on top? What am I missing here? lol.

[Carlos]

The quilted thing is the overlay mattress that goes ontop if the pins. That's then covered with a fitted sheet.And that's what you place your pillows on and the duvet over. I know, for someone not from Europe it's a weird way to make a bed but then again or beds/mattresses/box sprngs etc are a completely different story from yours. I think I'll have to write a post on making a Swedish bed :)

[foo]

Strange as it may sound, I'd like to read that post! lol. It's interesting to learn how things are done in other parts of the world. =)

[Jamie]

I just came across your site a few weeks ago. I've found so many of your ideas really helpful! I actually had some curtain panels my sister gave me that I was about to donate and thought they might work for this project. I was actually able to just lay one of them flat and fold under the corners and not do any other mods. So thank you so much! I love how it looks and will share photos if I ever get around to it. :)

[Account Deleted]

Sounds simple. Hope I can get good outcome of it.. craftmatic

[Ellen]

I am so glad to find this technique and will do this when our new mattress set arrives. It's difficult to find bed skirts in the right color. I plan to pin this directly onto the box spring, then lay the mattress on top of that. You can also buy special corkscrew-design pins the have a large plastic head. You can twist them downward into the mattress or box spring and hold the fabric on that way. It holds really well and will stay in place without any pulling or tearing of fabric or mattress.

[craftmatic]

Pure Pleasure, not only to look at but to spend time in there!!! I love how all the elements are carefully placed and selected but with an easiness that makes it both approachable and intimate!

[Carolina Jerez]

Benita, good idea... but. If the cover gets dirty, how do you wash it?
I hope without the matress! ;)'
Did you remove it?
Carolina (Chile)

[Carlos]

I just remove the pins and wash the fabric and the put it back again :).

[llohse@treatyoakbank.com]

Where did you get your fabric from? I abosolutely love this! Austin, Texas.

[Carlos]

Which fabric do you mean?