Bed Skirt Styles for Sewing

Flat

• A flat bed skirt is as simple as it gets. The material hangs in a straight line around the entire bed and resembles an extended sheet. Sometimes designers pleat or gather the corners of a flat bed skirt to add dimension and help the material accommodate the curve of the bed frame. Other designers maintain the angular lines of the skirt by making each side of the bed a separate panel. Wrinkles, stains and rips are particularly evident on flat bed skirts, so be sure to keep them neat and pressed.

Wide Pleats

• Whether they are on your slacks or on your bed skirt, pleats can make three impressions: tailored, voluminous or fussy. Bed skirts with two or three wide pleats per side give your bed a crisp, tailored look. The combination of sharp folds and broad, smooth fabric is versatile and works well with many different room designs, though it is particularly well-suited to contemporary and art deco motifs. Usually designers opt for box pleats or double box pleats with this style of skirt. However, you can use knife or rolled pleats to give the skirt more volume and movement. Remember, spacing is crucial with any pleated design. So whichever pleat style you choose, be accurate. Even a 1/4-inch error will stand out like a sore thumb.

Narrow Pleats

• Increasing the number of pleats adds volume, drawing attention to the bed as well as the surrounding floor space, which is a good choice if you have a large room with attractive floors. But when your pleats begin to outnumber the stitch count in your sheet set, your skirt can turn into a fussy accessory. In most rooms busy bed skirts are distracting and add clutter, but they can be a charming addition to a shabby chic or English country design.

Gathered

• If you don't have the time or patience for measuring and marking pleats, a gathered style skirt is for you. Gathered skirts are inexpensive to make and are thus very common. Depending on the volume of the skirt, this style can suit any design from contemporary to French colonial. Before tackling this project, note that gathered skirts use a lot of material -- two to three times the perimeter of the bed. So, they are usually more expensive than the other styles. To offset this cost, choose a less expensive material such as a solid cotton print drapery cloth.

Layered or Combo

• Layered or combination skirts mesh flat, pleated and gathered styles to create an entirely new style. For example, you could sew a flat bed skirt with a ruffled edge, a wide-pleated skirt with narrow-pleated trim, or a three-tiered gathered skirt. Using this type of fusion you can make a fussy skirt tamer or jazz up a boring flat style.