Elusive blankets and shifting sheets

January 22, 2007 10:59 AM

Bed Linen Trouble: Help me find a Velboa fabric blanket for regular sized beds and keep my fitted sheet on my mattress.

After feeling my 6mo old niece's baby blanket I'd like to purchase a Velboa fabric blanket that would fit regular sized beds, however, Google's results are mainly for infant/toddler blankets. Bed, Bath & Beyond also doesn't carry anything similar in stock. Am I out of luck?

In addition, any fitted sheets I buy have a problem where the middle sections of the sheets pull up and create a lot of slack on the sleeping surface, which I find uncomfortable. The curved parts of the sheets that are at the corner of the mattress stay on fine. It also happens with cheaper jersey sheets as well as more expensive high thread count sheets. How do I prevent this?

posted by MasD to home & garden (6 comments total)

If you end up not being able to find an adult-bed-sized Velboa blanket, you can easily make your own blanket using fabric sold by the yard and premade blanket trim.

Are the fitted sheets you are using elasticized all the way around? I've experienced the bunching problem when using fitted sheets that are only elasticized on the corners or when using deep-cut sheets on thinner mattresses.
posted by jamaro at 11:25 AM on January 22, 2007

I also have a similar dislike of sheets that bunch. Jersey sheets will (in my experience) always bunch in the middle and will get worse over time as the material stretches out, so just get rid of them. I've also experienced this with high thread count sheets that were really soft with a little bit of strech. Try and find some sheets that the material has less stretch to it. I'd recommend something with a middle of the road thread count (think JCPenny), the bottom sheet seems to stay nice and flat for me.

Also do you have a mattress pad/egg crate/memory foam pad on top? I've found that sheets slide less with a mattress pad and almost not at all on memory foam (more friction).
posted by notpeter at 12:41 PM on January 22, 2007

I bought these sheet suspenders, but I am lazy and haven't used them.

I also bought these sheet straps, but again, I'm lazy.
posted by KAS at 1:36 PM on January 22, 2007

Is velboa just fleece? If so, TJMaxx has a blanket made by Berkshire called Serasoft that is the best fleece blanket I have ever tried. 25 $ for a queen. 50 $ at bed bath and beyond.

I have given them to several family members and they LOVE them.
posted by vronsky at 3:39 PM on January 22, 2007

I like sheet suspenders. Once you get them on the first time, changing the sheets is not much harder.
posted by radioamy at 3:47 PM on January 22, 2007

I use the sheet straps, which are great if you attach them farther away from the corners than is pictured in the link KAS posted. I put them about 2 feet away from the corners on either side, and thus far they have worked wonders on my far too deep sheets. Also, washing your sheets and drying them at high temp can shrink them a bit, if that is the problem (and if they are non-preshrunk cotton).
posted by nursegracer at 5:33 PM on January 22, 2007