Loose Sheets

I like a tight fitted sheet.   I want to get in bed and have a completely smooth surface underneath me.   Conversely, I hate when the fitted sheet is slightly too large for the mattress, resulting in almost a non-fitted, fitted sheet.

We had some sheets we got several years ago.   I liked them a lot the first day I put them on the bed but by the second day I would do that thing where you try to pull the sheet to the edge of the bed and stuff it under the mattress.   This lasts for maybe an hour, less if you toss about a lot.

I got a sewing machine from my mother-in-law a few years ago.   She taught my husband how to sew. which seemed like an extension of the sewing machine gift, now that it came with a resident sewer.   Wait, that’s not how that word should be spelled, is it?   I don’t think ’sewer’ is the word I meant. How about, ‘resident sew-person’ instead?

I asked my husband if he could sew in the corners of the fitted sheet by an inch on each corner.   He did this with ease one afternoon in about ten minutes (which is a sewing minor miracle for those of us who don’t know how to sew).   And it did the trick.   The sheet which perhaps was meant for a mattress three or so inches taller than ours, now fit tightly on the first day and remained that way until wash time.

My daughter had a similar situation with her sheets.   I don’t know what type of mattress these full-sized fitted sheets were made for, but they had to be at least five inches taller than my daughter’s mattress.   I could pull them tight but by morning it was like swimming in a sea of folds.

I decided to do the sewing myself.   I mean I knew words like bobbin, needle and thread.   Surely learning the rest wouldn’t take that much time.   Besides, the sewing machine was already plugged in with the little foot pedal set up under the desk.   I had this…I hoped.

Things did not go as easily as I had hoped.   There were snags in the thread, rethreading everything more than once and then the bobbin ran out of thread.   Getting the bobbin up and going again wasn’t as easy as I had hoped.   But I eventually conquered the bobbin.

Did I mention there were two fitted sheets needing corner reductions?   That’s eight straight lines I had to sew.   I know, it’s a lot.   But I did it.   And actually by the time I was done, I was sort of having fun.

The Big Boy Update:  My son was telling me about his plan the other day.   He didn’t specify what the plan was going to help him accomplish, but he told me the plan had three steps.   He explained, saying you just: “Tell yourself you can do this.   Try as hard as you can.   And stay positive.”

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Blake was over watching my daughter this afternoon.   She got a lot cards and toys out and then wanted to do something else.   Blake told her before they could do the next thing, they had to clean up.   My daughter apparently didn’t want to clean up because she told Blake (who was already starting to put things away), “I know you don’t know this, but in life, people help each other.”