Resizing a Bed Skirt Tutorial

Note:  I start by explaining how I ended up needing to resize a bed skirt, but if you're not interested just scroll to the tutorial in bold.

I have such a difficult time finding new bedding.  I have a queen size bed, which since queens one of the most common bed sizes this shouldn't be the case.  However, there are a variety of reasons it's true for me.

1. Most bedding that says it is size Full/Queen means it will fit your Full bed wonderfully and look ridiculously small on your Queen bed
2. In recent years, they've started to make mattress that are higher, but the bedding industry hasn't quite caught up yet leaving bedding that is too short on the sides if you have a newer mattress.

Due to the above reasons, I often buy a King comforter for my Queen bed and just buy everything else in Queen size.  It has always worked out well for me until my most recent comforter buying trip.  I found an awesome Bed in a Bag that was cheaper and nicer than all the other comforters I had seen.

I was faced with a dilemma; buy the Queen and have everything fit except the comforter that will drive me crazy or buy King and have a nice comforter but not be able to use the rest of the set?  

I went with the King.  Although the sheets that come with the Bed in a Bag are nicer than most Bed in a Bag sheets, I just donated them.  However, I really liked the bed skirt, so I resized it.  It took me less than an hour and here's how.

Resizing a Bed Skirt (King to Queen) Tutorial

Materials:

Bed skirt, sewing machine, ruler, pencil, thread

Optional: quilting mat, iron, towel

1.  Fold the bed skirt in half with the right sides (sides that you normally see) touching and wrong sides out.

Now, when I did this, I noticed that my bed skirt had not been fold evenly, which is often the case.  This resulted in a pressed fold being between an inch and less off from where the center was.  I knew if I tried to sew it like this, I would eventually end up sewing along this fold and having an uneven bed skirt.  If this happens to you, go to Step 2.  If your bed skirt is folded evenly from the start skip to Step 3.

2.  Iron the midway fold into the bed skirt that you created in Step 1.  Some things to note, the material used in bed skirts is basically very thin plastic fabric.  This means if you place an iron on it, it will melt immediately creating quite a mess.  Place a towel between your iron and your bed skirt to prevent this from happening.

 3.  King bed skirts have dimensions of 78" x 80".  Queen bed skirts have dimensions of 60" x 80".  So, 18" need to be taken out of the bed skirt width to resize it.  With the bed skirt folded in half, you need to place your seam 9" from the edge.  I used my quilting mat and ruler to accomplish this, but a regular ruler and flat surface will work, too.  I placed my folded edge 9" over and my ruler at the 9" mark.  Then, using a pencil, I drew a line 9" over the whole length of the bed skirt moving my mat and ruler with me as need.

4.  With my line drawn, I matched by line up with needle of my sewing machine and ran one long seam until I got a few inches from the edge of the bed skirt that goes at the bottom of the bed.  Make sure your bed skirt stays evenly folded during this step or your bed skirt will be uneven.

5.  To hide the extra fabric at the bottom, you are going to do a simple box pleat.  My bed skirt already had a box pleat on it, so I created a double box pleat.  If your's isn't pleated on the bottom, you will be creating a single box pleat.  Flip the bed so everything is right side up.  Take the 18" of fabric inside your seam and lay it flat so that the seam you created is running down the center with 9" of fabric off either side but it will only appear to be 4.5" because it is doubled over.

6.  Pin your fabric in place being mindful to keep the center seam centered.

7.  Run a seam across the entire box pleat along where the hidden part of your bed skirts meets the fabric part of your bed skirt.

8.  Finally, your box pleat is set and you have a Queen bed skirt!

King to Queen is fairly easy since King and Queen beds have the same length of only different width.  If the size bed your resizing to has a different width and length, you will need to make a lengthwise and a widthwise seam.  You will also need to make a box pleat on each side of the bed skirt.