What do you do with top sheets?

[Janeway]

What do you do with top sheets? I have various top sheets from over the years where the bottom sheets are worn out so long gone. I am trying to decide if I should donate to a charity or store them for just in case in the future (daughter likes to sew so maybe they could be used as fabric or something). Is there anything else? What do you all recommend?

[Pawz4me]

I keep a few around for when we need to cover up a big item or put one down over the floor while we work on a project. If we use one for either of those things or something similar and the sheet is more than lightly dirty then it goes in the trash. 

[regentrude]

What makes a top sheet different from a flat bottom sheet? You could use it as such, or replace the fitted bottom sheet and simply keep using the top sheets as lo g as they are intact. I don't understand. 

Edited April 5 by regentrude

[HomeAgain]

Our MSPCA is always looking for flat sheets and towels.  I would donate there if I had extras.

 

[Arcadia]

I donate top sheets and flat sheets since I don’t like sewing that much to be able to make use of them but others could sew a few stitches at the corners and use them 

[Clarita]

My kids are in the blanket for building stage of life and the top sheets are great for that.

[Innisfree]

I’m not committed to everything matching, and many of our sheets are white, so it wouldn’t occur to me that I needed to do anything with top sheets that are no longer part of a set. They get used just like they always have been, with sheets that look good with them.

[mommyoffive]

Mostly for the dogs.  We might have used them for moving things in the car or wrapping a huge Christmas present. 

[Carol in Cal.]

If they are cotton I sometimes use them for pizza gardening with heavy mulch on top.  They are a better weed barrier than plain mulch, and let rain water through very well.

[Beth S]

Over the years, I just buy more fitted bottom sheets at Walmart.  They're not sold in sets.
I never matched sheets for the kids, & in fact, took lots of sentimental sheets from my parents' house when we emptied it.

[Tap]

I use them for paint drop cloths

[Katy]

They’re great for covering crops when there’s a frost warning. You just have to be careful to pull the covers off when the sun rises. 

Otherwise animal rescue organizations might take them. 

[Carrie12345]

I put top sheets on as a second layer for my fitted sheet so I can change out more frequently when a dog sleeps on my bed, lol. 

[TexasProud]

1 hour ago, regentrude said:

What makes a top sheet different from a flat bottom sheet? You could use it as such, or replace the fitted bottom sheet and simply keep using the top sheets as lo g as they are intact. I don't understand. 

I guess I don't understand.  The fitted sheet has elastic on it that keeps it on the bed, a top sheet does not.  So I mean, I guess you could use the top sheet as a fitted sheet, but it has no elastic to keep it on.  Plus, they wouldn't be the same color/match.  Typically fitted sheets and top sheet sets are the same color. 

[regentrude]

18 minutes ago, TexasProud said:

I guess I don't understand.  The fitted sheet has elastic on it that keeps it on the bed, a top sheet does not.  So I mean, I guess you could use the top sheet as a fitted sheet, but it has no elastic to keep it on.  Plus, they wouldn't be the same color/match.  Typically fitted sheets and top sheet sets are the same color. 

For ages, before the invention of elastic, people made up beds using flat sheets tucked around the mattress and into the frame. It works just fine, just needs straightening when you make the bed.

The idea that top and bottom sheet must be of the same color and need to be discarded otherwise strikes me as absurdly wasteful.

[Anne]

All my sheets coordinate, so if one sheet becomes unusable for some reason, I just coordinate.  I don’t like using top sheets as a bottom sheets b/c it’s hard on my arthritic hands, and b/c we apparently roll around too much to keep them tucked in.  🤷‍♀️

 

 

 

[Pawz4me]

45 minutes ago, regentrude said:

For ages, before the invention of elastic, people made up beds using flat sheets tucked around the mattress and into the frame. It works just fine, just needs straightening when you make the bed.

The idea that top and bottom sheet must be of the same color and need to be discarded otherwise strikes me as absurdly wasteful.

I don't read the OP (or anyone else) stating that. To me the question seems clearly to be "how can I repurpose them?"

 

18 minutes ago, Anne said:

All my sheets coordinate, so if one sheet becomes unusable for some reason, I just coordinate.  I don’t like using top sheets as a bottom sheets b/c it’s hard on my arthritic hands, and b/c we apparently roll around too much to keep them tucked in.  🤷‍♀️

Ditto. My hands are pretty much wrecked by RA and OA. Lots of things are difficult and painful, and putting sheets on a bed is very near the top of that list.

[regentrude]

10 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

I don't read the OP (or anyone else) stating that. To me the question seems clearly to be "how can I repurpose them?"

Yes, but why do they have to be RE-purposed in the first place, if they are still perfectly serviceable? Using them to mulch or as drop cloths for paint is downcycling and  would make sense to me if they were beyond mending.

I bow out of the discussion, because I obviously don't understand the culture that requires no longer using a sheet because of its color...

[happypamama]

If they're still perfectly useful and serviceable, can you get some coordinating bottom sheets to go with them? 

[marbel]

I have always only bought sheets in neutral colors so when, inevitably, a bottom sheet wears out before a corresponding top sheet, it doesn't really matter. Sheets are easily purchased open stock so I can buy new bottom sheets as needed. If the colors/fabric are not perfectly matched, no one sees it but my husband and me anyway. 

[SKL]

56 minutes ago, regentrude said:

Yes, but why do they have to be RE-purposed in the first place, if they are still perfectly serviceable? Using them to mulch or as drop cloths for paint is downcycling and  would make sense to me if they were beyond mending.

I bow out of the discussion, because I obviously don't understand the culture that requires no longer using a sheet because of its color...

So far, every time I have needed to replace a worn-out bottom sheet, the replacement has come in a package with a new top sheet.  Meaning you end up with numerous top sheets, because they take super long to wear out.

I haven't bought sheets in a long time.  Maybe now, you can just buy the fitted sheets by themselves.  I hope so.  Right now, I still have one or two sheet sets in my closet that were gifts, so it will be a long time before I buy any.

I don't throw away the top sheets.  But I don't really have any use for them.  In fact, with the sheet set I'm currently using (which was a gift), the top sheet is so hot that I get overheated using it.  I folded it up and put it in my closet.  My kids also don't use their top sheets.

If the sheet is flannel, it is more comfy and versatile.  I have used them as thin blankets, and as covers for upholstered chairs.  Extra non-flannel sheets are just not good for much.  But, I still have them.  Most likely I'll donate them someday.

(Well, I suppose I could tuck them in and use them like fitted sheets.  But I have no pressing need nor desire to do that.)

[MEmama]

This thread is a good reminder for me take them to the animal shelter. They are always grateful for towels, sheets and so on, and I'd love to get them out of my closet since I have no use for them. Flat sheets would last about 10 seconds on our bed if used instead fitted, lol! 

[TexasProud]

2 hours ago, regentrude said:

For ages, before the invention of elastic, people made up beds using flat sheets tucked around the mattress and into the frame. It works just fine, just needs straightening when you make the bed.

The idea that top and bottom sheet must be of the same color and need to be discarded otherwise strikes me as absurdly wasteful.

LOL, yeah you are obviously a more sedate sleeper than I am.  I have trouble sometimes keeping certain elastics on the bed.  I would have no sheets on my bed if I tried to do that.  I don't see how they would stay put in any way, shape or form.

That said, I have always discarded whole sheet sets and have never had a bottom wear out before the top

[Hilltopmom]

I don’t use top sheets ever but if you know any quilters, they can use them as backing fabric since it’s a nice large piece.

[Kalmia]

I use them to cover plants if it looks like a frost will come up in the night. And I have one queen size white top sheet I use with my UV moth lights that the moths land on and I photograph and identify them. I am the only one in the house that uses a top sheet. None of my bedding matches so I just use the top sheet in the clean pile. If the others wear out their bottom sheet, I would just buy them a new fitted sheet rather than a set.

 

[katilac]

9 hours ago, regentrude said:

For ages, before the invention of elastic, people made up beds using flat sheets tucked around the mattress and into the frame. It works just fine, just needs straightening when you make the bed.

People used chamber pots before the invention of indoor plumbing, but I'm still over here flushing away. 

7 hours ago, TexasProud said:

LOL, yeah you are obviously a more sedate sleeper than I am.  

Ayup, I'd be remaking the entire bed from scratch every morning, and I do not have that level of dedication. 

 

[J-rap]

I sometimes use top sheets in place of fitted sheets.  Or, folded in half, a top sheet can be used for a makeshift bed on a cot or sofa, or camping.  I also use them to cover up things when I have a visiting pet who likes jumping on furniture.  🙂

 

 

[PronghornD]

I just use the new top sheet AND the old top sheet at the same time. I figure it keeps the blankets cleaner to have a doubled top sheet on the bed. And in warm weather it gives another option for temperature regulation -- one top sheet if it is quite hot, two if it is less hot.

[history-fan]

I’ve sewn some of mine into pillow cases, it’s very easy

[Ausmumof3]

14 hours ago, TexasProud said:

I guess I don't understand.  The fitted sheet has elastic on it that keeps it on the bed, a top sheet does not.  So I mean, I guess you could use the top sheet as a fitted sheet, but it has no elastic to keep it on.  Plus, they wouldn't be the same color/match.  Typically fitted sheets and top sheet sets are the same color. 

My mum always used flat sheets only. She hates folding fitting sheets and she trained as a nurse so she was a brilliant bed maker!

[Corraleno]

12 hours ago, SKL said:

So far, every time I have needed to replace a worn-out bottom sheet, the replacement has come in a package with a new top sheet.  Meaning you end up with numerous top sheets, because they take super long to wear out.

I haven't bought sheets in a long time.  Maybe now, you can just buy the fitted sheets by themselves. 

You can buy separate fitted sheets pretty much everywhere — Amazon, Target, WalMart, Lands End, Pottery Barn, Company Store, etc. I've been buying fitted sheets separately for at least 30 years, since I started using duvet covers instead of top sheets. And even as far back as the late 70s, I used to buy individual flat sheets to make cheap curtains when I was a starving grad student, so I'm pretty sure separate fitted sheets were available then too.

[Ausmumof3]

3 hours ago, Corraleno said:

You can buy separate fitted sheets pretty much everywhere — Amazon, Target, WalMart, Lands End, Pottery Barn, Company Store, etc. I've been buying fitted sheets separately for at least 30 years, since I started using duvet covers instead of top sheets. And even as far back as the late 70s, I used to buy individual flat sheets to make cheap curtains when I was a starving grad student, so I'm pretty sure separate fitted sheets were available then too.

I’m almost having the opposite problem now. So many younger generation don’t use top sheets that last time I went to buy a sheet sheet it was hard to find one that wasn’t just fitted sheet plus pillowcase. (This was for a single - the double beds and larger seem to still come with a top sheet).

[Eos]

We end up with a lot of extra top sheets when guests ruin the bottom ones, which is often. We use them for political banners and art projects. I also cut them in strips and use them to tie up plants.

[gardenmom5]

1dd used them for fabric when she was younger.
now - I only keep so many, the rest go.

[Drama Llama]

I don't use them on the beds.  We all sleep with a bottom sheet, pillow case, and a duvet.  

I've made duvet covers with them, and curtains.  One of my kids is very allergic to dust so we have simple cheap curtains we can wash every time we wash the sheets, as opposed to fancier ones.  

Otherwise they become drop cloths for painting, or art, or under the highchair if we're eating at my in laws who have a rug in the dining room.  There is also one whose purpose in life is to be made into forts.  

 

 

Edited April 6 by Drama Llama
Grammar

[Lecka]

I don’t have room to store these, so I always donate the old ones when I get new bedding.  

[Drama Llama]

20 hours ago, regentrude said:

Yes, but why do they have to be RE-purposed in the first place, if they are still perfectly serviceable? Using them to mulch or as drop cloths for paint is downcycling and  would make sense to me if they were beyond mending.

I bow out of the discussion, because I obviously don't understand the culture that requires no longer using a sheet because of its color...

As an American, I can think of many legitimate things to judge my culture for but using the flat sheets for drop cloths or curtains isn’t on the list.

 

[KungFuPanda]

On 4/5/2024 at 11:06 AM, regentrude said:

What makes a top sheet different from a flat bottom sheet? You could use it as such, or replace the fitted bottom sheet and simply keep using the top sheets as lo g as they are intact. I don't understand. 

Nobody in this country, outside of people who served in the military, have experience with flat bottom sheets. I’m +50 and have never seen one outside of army barracks. I’m sure my grandmother must have used them, but switched when elastic became available. 
 

Even if someone learned to use a flat bottom sheet, it would probably be impossible with today’s thick mattresses. You could use a queen sheet on a full bed and it still might not be large enough lengthwise to tuck securely.   
 

Now I’m curious and will ask my mom when everyone made the transition. My family is from rural Appalachia and generally adopted things like this later than most. 
 

ETA: additional thought . . . I can never get the math yo work out right for using a duvet cover in lieu of a top sheet. There is no time saved when it comes to weekly washing and bed stripping. Those extra steps undoubtably lead to people laundering less often. 

Edited April 6 by KungFuPanda

[KatieJ]

46 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

Nobody in this country, outside of people who served in the military, have experience with flat bottom sheets. I’m +50 and have never seen one outside of army barracks. I’m sure my grandmother must have used them, but switched when elastic became available. 
 

Even if someone learned to use a flat bottom sheet, it would probably be impossible with today’s thick mattresses. You could use a queen sheet on a full bed and it still might not be large enough lengthwise to tuck securely.   
 

Now I’m curious and will ask my mom when everyone made the transition. My family is from rural Appalachia and generally adopted things like this later than most. 
 

 

I got married in 1975. My Mil gave me 2 flat sheets and several hand embroidered pillow case sets. She was an RN and “hospital corners” which is what a flat sheet needs to fit the bed, were part of her life. Elastic fitted bottom sheets were in use, altho I did know what a hospital corner was. I needed sheets so,I purchased printed fitted sheets to match the pillow cases.

 

I agree todays mattresses are probably too thick to accommodate a “hospital corner” flat sheet. 

 

[KungFuPanda]

2 minutes ago, KatieJ said:

I got married in 1975. My Mil gave me 2 flat sheets and several hand embroidered pillow case sets. She was an RN and “hospital corners” which is what a flat sheet needs to fit the bed, were part of her life. Elastic fitted bottom sheets were in use, altho I did know what a hospital corner was. I needed sheets so,I purchased printed fitted sheets to match the pillow cases.

 

I agree todays mattresses are probably too thick to accommodate a “hospital corner” flat sheet. 

 

I forgot about hospitals! Yes, hospital corners and military corners are the exact same thing. In a large institutional setting with central laundry (and where the person doing the work has no say) it’s just logistically easier if all the sheets are identical. 

[KatieJ]

Just now, KungFuPanda said:

I forgot about hospitals! Yes, hospital corners and military corners are the exact same thing. In a large institutional setting with central laundry (and where the person doing the work has no say) it’s just logistically easier if all the sheets are identical. 

Someplace between 1955 and 1975 fitted sheets were invented. I remember making beds and my mom called it a hospital corner. (She was neither a nurse or military, it’s just what they were called)  I was happy to ditch that skill when elastic  sheets were invented. However, I still  put my top sheets on with that word stuck in my head..

[Clarita]

1 hour ago, KungFuPanda said:

ETA: additional thought . . . I can never get the math yo work out right for using a duvet cover in lieu of a top sheet. There is no time saved when it comes to weekly washing and bed stripping. Those extra steps undoubtably lead to people laundering less often. 

DH and I use it all, or more accurately I use it all. I use a duvet cover and a top sheet. I feel like a duvet cover in lieu of a top sheet just results in more work. 

In terms of using the top sheet instead of a fitted sheets isn't going to work with my mattress because the fitted sheet barely encompasses my giant US mattress. I think my grandma's mattress was a tenth the thickness.  

[SKL]

Am I the only one who was taught how to tuck in a flat sheet even when one was using a fitted sheet?  People used to tuck in the bottom end of the flat sheet - maybe some still do.

It's a neat trick, but not high priority for my family IMO.  🙂

[Pawz4me]

18 minutes ago, SKL said:

Am I the only one who was taught how to tuck in a flat sheet even when one was using a fitted sheet?  People used to tuck in the bottom end of the flat sheet - maybe some still do.

 

Umm . . isn't that very common knowledge? I don't understand "used to." It's the way you make a bed. It's definitely how I taught my boys to do it.

[SKL]

28 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

Umm . . isn't that very common knowledge? I don't understand "used to." It's the way you make a bed. It's definitely how I taught my boys to do it.

I mean people are talking like fitted sheets did away with that.  I was wondering.

I usually am not fancy about bed making, but for the guest room etc., I will do this to try to make it neat.

[KungFuPanda]

1 hour ago, SKL said:

Am I the only one who was taught how to tuck in a flat sheet even when one was using a fitted sheet?  People used to tuck in the bottom end of the flat sheet - maybe some still do.

It's a neat trick, but not high priority for my family IMO.  🙂

I thought everyone tucked the top sheet at the foot of the bed. I’ll admit I skip it sometimes with rushed morning bed making, but when I make the bed while changing sheets I do it. It lasts most of the week. 

[Ellie]

On 4/5/2024 at 11:39 AM, regentrude said:

For ages, before the invention of elastic, people made up beds using flat sheets tucked around the mattress and into the frame. It works just fine, just needs straightening when you make the bed.

Boy, I was so glad when I left home and could buy actual fitted sheets for my bed, because my mother never did, and tucking in the bottom sheet every morning was a PITA!

[SKL]

10 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

I thought everyone tucked the top sheet at the foot of the bed. I’ll admit I skip it sometimes with rushed morning bed making, but when I make the bed while changing sheets I do it. It lasts most of the week. 

I stopped doing this because I find it super annoying when I want to roll around and adjust my covers in the night.

[SKL]

Right now - call me a hillbilly if you want - all I have on my bed is a fitted sheet and a fuzzy (washable) blanket.  The top sheet was too hot, even in the winter.  I used to have the whole shebang - comforter, decorative pillows, etc. - but all I ever did was push it around until I had to "make the bed" in advance of the maid's cleaning.  I finally just folded everything extra and stuffed it in my closet.  It will be there if I ever need to let guests sleep in my room.

My kids' beds are similar.  They just want a blanket to keep them warm.  A fitted sheet - flannel for comfort - is there to protect the mattress cover.

[We do have pillows, but I'm leaving them out of the discussion.]

[Pawz4me]

19 minutes ago, SKL said:

Right now - call me a hillbilly if you want - all I have on my bed is a fitted sheet and a fuzzy (washable) blanket.

I think everyone gets to do their bed however they want.

We do fitted bottom sheet, top sheet (tightly and neatly tucked in at the bottom) and two blankets that are easy peasy to wash. I need plenty of layering options 'cause menopause, and I need easily washable because I'm a bit of a clean freak and the doggos sleep with us.