I am making a bedskirt from 45" fabric which I have in my stash. I have 9 yards so there is plenty of fabric, but what I want to know is, is there any reason I should not "railroad" the fabric rather than use the straight of grain? I'd rather not assemble so many pieces when I could just use two (it will be gathered). I wouldn't do this if it were a garment, but I do plan to wash it occasionally (I prewashed the fabric). I just can't find anywhere that says it's okay to use the crossgrain vertically in this application. I guess I want some reassurance before I go ahead with this project. Thanks!

I railroad for this application. I go farther, I simply fold the fabric in half, gather it onto a band (similar to a waistband application, and then use strong (e.g. glass headed) straight pins to pin it right onto the box spring under the mattress far enough in so it doesn't show and so the bottom of the bedskirt comes to exactly where I want it. Much easier that forcing something between the box spring and mattress (especially for a King), and when you want to wash it, just 'pull' it off and take out the pins.

This worked even better for a pair of beds we have with the frame the folds like a hospital bed - the skirt follows the lower part and doesn't slip off or get out of kilter.

Kathryn in MN

quote:

I am making a bedskirt from 45" fabric which I have in my stash. I have 9 yards so there is plenty of fabric, but what I want to know is, is there any reason I should not "railroad" the fabric rather than use the straight of grain? I'd rather not assemble so many pieces when I could just use two (it will be gathered). I wouldn't do this if it were a garment, but I do plan to wash it occasionally (I prewashed the fabric). I just can't find anywhere that says it's okay to use the crossgrain vertically in this application

I see no problem with a carefully grained cross grain for a bed skirt which wont take a lot fo tension or motion when beign worn so should hang nice and even.

Kaaren

Thank you both so much for your encouragement! Kathryn, I expecially like your idea of folding the fabric in half. This will give a fuller, more substantial look to the skirt. I bought some home dec snap tape which I'm going to staple to the support board under the mattress (no boxspring as the mattress is a Select Comfort air mattress). Then I'll sew the other half of the snap tape to the band along the bed skirt. This way I'll be able to remove the skirt for washing.

The skirt on my Select Comfort twin/single bed is sewn directly to a sheet of fabric that lies flat on the top of the mattress support. No snaps or pins to be concerned with, just pull the entire thing out and wash.