We use the king-sized bed configuration in our Independence model and sleep with our heads near the opening for ease of exit.    We have a super comfy princess and the pea thing going on because we put a 3″ 4 lb density heavy foam topper over the Casita foam cushions. Upon opening up the mattress, I allowed it to regain its size and then placed the existing Casita cushions on top of it, traced around the bed shape with a sharpie and sliced my foam topper with an electric carving knife –so it would fit the curves of the camper.  Wrestling the newly cut foam into the camper, once it was unbound, was a feat of strength and dexterity but I persevered.(https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004AR2NQI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

Then came the dilemma of sheet size.  Queen wasn’t quite big enough to wrap around the malleable foam and stay in place and king was a little too big –leaving lots of folds and give.  Add into the mix, a Bassador who loves to dig a nest before lying down and you have sheets that just won’t stay on the foam!

So, harkening back to my days as an antique dealers’ daughter (where I collected antique and vintage dresses and prepared them for sale), I rembered the old fashioned garter hooks.  Low and behold, they can still be purchased cheaply in bulk on Amazon.  Using these clips and 1″ wide elastic tape, I measured the full length and width of my foam pad.  From each dimension, I subtracted 10″ and cut a piece of elastic to that size.  Then, I just sewed each end of elastic onto a garter clip.  This provided enough tug to keep the sheets taught and resistant to even the most serious of rolls and dog pawing. I found I needed two on the length and only one on the width.

So, as I went to make the bed, I realized the garter straps could get lost under the foam because they are 10″ shorter than the mattress and can retract, so I tied on an 18″ red satin ribbon (I had that ribbon but any color will do) to each end and leave it extended under the foam.  Makes changing the sheets a lot easier.

Now, if I had had buckles on hand I might have made the straps adjustable in case sheets vary too much, but so far, this has worked fine.  It’s nice to still have the give the elastic on the King sheets provides but still have a tidy bed.

Little fixes like this can make a big difference because little irritations like sheets not staying put can add up and start to put one in a little homesickness mode–where you just want everything to be easy.

Note:  I have since been told that that there is a short version of these straps that straddle the corners.  They are called sheet garters (cute name).  I don’t think they would have worked in this case because as much as it is an issue of sheets staying on the corners, it was also the problem of pulling back slack.  But if you don’t have a digger dog, they might work for you.

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