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We have a king size bed with a really thick and heavy mattress.

Before going to bed, I ensure that the fitted sheet is pulled tight around the mattress.

Every morning, without exception, the sneaky fitted sheet has crept out from underneath the mattress. The sheet has lost all of its tautness around the mattress and it feels messy and less comfortable than it would if it had stayed tight around the mattress.

Keep in mind that the mattress is incredibly heavy and lifting it out of the bed frame more than a few centimetres requires 2 people due to the awkwardness of the weight and size.

Any recommendations about simple ways to keep this sneaky fitted sheet in place?

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    Sounds like you just have the wrong size sheet. They usually say what depth mattress they're for.
    – Hank
    May 13, 2015 at 23:28

8 Answers 8

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Safety pins, invented by Walter Hunt in 1849, are one of many tools that exist for attaching soft things to other soft things without slipping or doing significant damage. Since you also desire to attach a soft thing to another soft thing, these could work for you.

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When placing the pins either orient them along the lines of force with the hooks at the bottom to reduce bends, or orient them perpendicular to the force to prevent tears and somewhat reduce bends, or if your sheets are very fragile double it up with some scrap cloth, or pin through the hem, etc. you get the point (I hope). There are also nappy pins. Feel free to double them up, too - the sky's the limit. In general, remember that stuff happens, imagine it happening, then look at what you've done and judge it and you should be fine.

You could opt for a more "hack"-like or difficult solution, but it likely won't be as good or convenient a solution as using the right tool for the job.

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  • Saftey pin technique sounds promising +1 will give that a try as I didn't see this already existed and opened a duplicate question!!
    – Facebook
    Sep 20, 2017 at 18:02
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What you could do:

  • Get double sided clips and use on all four corners of the sheet, then get a strap and string those clips together so the sheet is strapped on. There are actually clips made for this, but they work differently but still may work.

The problem, probably:

  • Your sheet is not made to accodomate the depth of your matress so that if fits properly. Because of this its fits on improperly and eventually falls off. Solution: Get a sheet fitted for the bed, you can do this by measuring it your self or asking someone else how to do it, probably a matress store might help.

Other Solutions:

  • Use Velcro. Sew velcro or stick it to your matress and sheets so that they are stuck together.
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We solved this problem by sewing (rather large, like half dollar coin (USD) sized) buttons to the corners of the fitted sheets. We have elastic straps that cross underneath the mattress, and slip them over the buttons when making the bed after washing sheets. This causes the four corners to get extra pull towards the center.

The only thing that has managed to undo this is a toddler who thought our bed was a trampoline. We then stitched the buttons back on with significantly more thread and thicker backing material, nothing has inadvertently undone it since.

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We had this problem with cheap sheets I bought which were not deep enough for the thick mattress. I cured it by inserting a stripe of sheeting material. I used a different colour, and actually it looked rather smart.

You need a sewing machine for this, may not count as a hack...?

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    Definitely a hack :)
    – Mooseman
    May 12, 2015 at 14:33
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This may take a little bit of work, but the first thing that came to my mind was to make the sheets have a drawstring. As long as the sheets are deep enough cover your entire mattress and fold slightly underneath, you could cut a small slit in the seam where the elastic is, attach a safety pin to a long cord and use it to feed the cord through the elastic channel and out the other side. Pull it tight, and then tie a slip knot (or some other easy to remove knot) and voila, no slippage.

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    I did this and it works perfectly! I used shoelaces. Cut a small hole in the seam of the fitted sheet, about 8 inches down from the corner on each side. Then I fed the shoelace through. Now when I put the fitted sheet on, I draw and tie the shoelace under each corner...works beautifully
    – J Benjamin
    Sep 12, 2016 at 11:27
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Does the fitted sheet always creep out from underneath the same side or corner of the mattress? If you reverse the orientation of the fitted sheet, is it the same side of the sheet that comes out of place, rather than the same side of the mattress? If so, the elastic in that side of the sheet may have worn out. You can solve that by sewing in some new elastic.

If you conclude that the problem isn't in a specific part of the sheet, it might have to do with the mattress, or the particular way you lie in it—but even so, reinforcing the elastic may be easier than replacing your mattress or sleep habits.

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    No is isn't always the same side. Sometimes it's from my side of the bed, sometimes it's from my wife's side. I suspect it has something to do with who has a more disrupted sleep that night :-)
    – LeopardSkinPillBoxHat
    May 12, 2015 at 3:27
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    The really scientific approach would be to record a night-long video of yourselves sleeping. It worked out great for the people in Paranormal Activity!
    – Ryan Veeder
    May 12, 2015 at 3:44
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I had a creeping mattress topper (memory foam). I solved it with double sided carpet tape. This works but of course I don't have to remove the topper to wash it and you would with the sheets.

You can also buy rug slip stoppers. They are not adhesive so you can remove and replace the sheet. They are designed to stop sideways travel. They are also breathable. One problem comes if they prefer sticking to the sheet rather than the mattress! You then have to use double-sided tape to fix the rug-grip to the mattress! The real problem comes if the fabric of the sheet or the mattress cover won't grip or suffers from pilling.

Not sure if I am recommending these ideas but at least you are aware of the pluses and minuses!

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You're looking for adjustable sheet straps.

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