Typically when we go camping, our kiddos have slept in (or on) their sleeping bags rather than hassling with trying to put sheets on the bunk beds. Making a bunk bed is challenging, but keeping the sheets on the bed with acrobatic sleepers is nearly impossible. Although sleeping bags have been a simple bedding solution for camping, during the summer months our kiddos were often too hot in their sleeping bags but too cold just sleeping on top of them. So for our West trip I decided to buy sheets for each of their beds, but I needed a way to make the standard-sized twin sheets fit better and stay on the narrow camper bunks. So I did a little modification.
As I’ve mentioned before, I am not a trained seamstress and I tend to just tinker at my sewing machine until I get a result that works. So rather than go through detailed steps of how I created my fitted camper bunk sheets, I will share briefly, and then I have two resources that will do a better job of showing you the correct way how to do it.
I started off with inexpensive twin sheet sets from Walmart. They were $9.97, by the Mainstays brand, and came packaged in a matching cloth bag. (I wish I had taken a picture before I dismantled them–oops.) I had initially tried modifying the fitted sheet to make it more narrow (removing some of the excess fabric), but my modifications didn’t turn out how I was envisioning, so I scraped that plan.
For the flat sheet, however, I needed to reduce its width and length to better fit the narrow bunk, so I trimmed 12″ from one of the long sides and then another 12″ from the bottom. Then I hemmed both cut sides, folding over a 1/4″ and then another 1/4″ to hide all raw edges.
From there I added elastic around only the bottom two corners to create a partially fitted top sheet.
With the bottom fitted corners anchoring the top sheet to the mattress, it will at least stay on the bed when our kiddos are tossing and turning in their bunks at night. This will make it a lot easier for the kids to tidy their beds in the morning without having to get an adult to tuck sheets back in. And since I reduced the width of the sheet, there is less excess fabric to wrestle with, but still plenty to keep our kiddos comfortably covered on chilly nights.
For more details on turning a flat sheet into a fitted sheet, check out these sources: here and here.
For my bunks I took a top sheet sewed an L in then and made pillow case slip on sheets. They don’t come off and easy enough to switch out.
Hi Tina! Thanks so much for stopping by and reading. That’s a great idea–thanks for sharing! Happy camping!
I’m dumb sorry I don’t understand what you did. My full size bunks also have the bottom left corner cut off.
I found the best bunk bed sheets that also work for campers and rv’s. You can find them at https://www.bunkbedsbunker.com/product-category/bedding/bunk-bed-sheets/. They are attached at the foot of the bed and up one side so you only have to worry about tucking them in the front. They come in various fabrics and colors and they can be made to fit any mattress including small or odd shaped ones in campers and rvs. They also have bunk hugger comforters which made great camper bedding too!
Hi Beverly–thanks so much for stopping by and reading! And thanks for the tip! 🙂
Any suggestions for a bottom bunk that has a double but has a notch in the mattress. Right now it is covered in a thin fleece. For a fitted sheet.
That’s a great question–would those sheet clips work? The ones that look like suspenders almost, and you clip one to each end of the underside of the mattress to hold the sheet in place?
I measured bunk mattress, purchased a flat sheet, folded sheet width of mattress with a tad of wiggle room (seam), sewed down the length and across bottom … leaving the wide hem at top, therefore, you have a pillowcase to fit the bunk mattress. We would put the mattress in the large pillowcase. Worked wonders! No excess sheet – except at the opening…..you need to leave several inches at bottom where you sew across. Worked great!
Hi Terah–thanks so much for stopping by and reading! And thanks for leaving such a great tip! That’s a brilliant idea! 🙂
We just purchased a travel camper and it was already stripped out. What I was wondering do people use regular house curtain rods or something smaller? Also for bottom sheet for cots I used a flat sheet and cut to fit and sewed it like a large pillow case and tuck the top under the top.
Hi Evaline–thanks for stopping by and reading! 🙂 Yes, most people use regular house curtains for their RVs. Thankfully places like Walmart have a wide range of options and styles.
And great tip! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Have an outsidoor for storage under the bottom bunk. It has a frosted window, but lots of light still comes through., That is great during the day, but stumped as to how to apply curtains for night time. Any suggestions?
Hi Elaine–thanks for stopping by and reading! Yes, we have one of those frosted doors too! A couple possibilities: You could install a cafe curtain style rod and make custom-sized curtains to hang there. If you don’t want to sew them, you could pick up two matching kitchen towels and use the iron-on hem tape to create a “pocket” for the mini curtain rod to slip through. If you don’t want to drill holes for a curtain rod, you could use the 3M command strip hooks to create a place for a curtain rod to nest. Hope that helps–good luck!
Your tips are great Kristin, I tried different camper sheets but all of them come off my bed and I got really frustrated. Your blog gave me tips for the same, thanks for sharing.
You know what a few days back I covered my camper bed with a black-colored fitted sheet and it does not come off the bed. Finally, I got a perfect bed sheet for my bunk bed.