Sheet Happens: Sewing Dresses from a Single Bed Sheet

I have a queen-size bed, but picked up a single sheet set on sale at Target. Still, the fabric felt soft and pretty, it inspired me to sew. Two wearable dresses later, I’d say it was a happy accident. Here’s how I mapped out the pattern and used most of the cozy fabric.

Fitted sheet > Tiered dress

The entire dress, apart from the contrast waistband, was cut out from a single fitted sheet:

The dolman-style bodice follows the same pattern and steps as my Yukata Summer Dress:

For the skirt, I loved how the vertical stripes played with volume, so I went with a three-tier design, similar to this:

Compared to the tiered skirt I made previously, the top tier isn’t as wide. This was done intentionally so that the contrast waistband could be attached with minimal stretching. The reduced gather at the waist also keeps it from looking too bulky, though a fuller top tier definitely gives a more dramatic spread.

I like this dress a lot, but I’m toying with the idea of converting it into a tiered skirt. The subtle vertical stripes would look great paired with darker tops, and I think it’d be more versatile that way.

Flat sheet > Gathered yoke dress

The bodice and pockets for this dress were cut from the flat sheet:

It follows the same pattern and steps as my Everything Dress:

Initially, I hemmed it up by 5 cm, but the weight of the hem threw off the flow. I ended up undoing it and went for a rolled hem instead—with the back hemline 1.5 cm longer than the front. (The side seams were trimmed on a 30 cm diagonal to make this happen.)

Here’s a visual summary of how a single-size flannelette bed sheet set was upcycled into two dresses 🙂