WOVEN STRETCHABLE FITTED SHEET
A woven stretchable fitted sheet is made of a woven material but is stretchable in one dimension. The fitted sheet is made of a single such material comprising the top wall and side walls combined together to form a skirt. The edges of the skirt have an elastic band attached thereto which bunches up the material slightly to allow it to be stretched over a mattress and to accommodate to mattresses of differing heights. The fabric preferably used to manufacture the fitted sheet includes a blend of a material such as cotton or cotton/polyester blend blended with SPANDEX® elastic yarn. These materials are made into a yarn using a core spinning technique. In the preferred embodiment, the blend of cotton or other fabric and SPANDEX® is from 2 to 20% SPANDEX® and the remainder cotton or other material, such as, for example, a cotton/polyester blend.
1 . A fitted sheet comprising:
a) a woven fabric made of a first set of yarns extending along a length dimension and a second set of yarns extending along a width dimension and woven into said first set of yarns to create said woven fabric;
b) one of said first or said second set of yarns being made of a material chosen from the group consisting of cotton, a cotton/polyester blend, and polyester;
c) another of said first or said second set of yarns being made of a blended material consisting of (1) one of cotton, a cotton/polyester blend or polyester, blended with (2) an elastic yarn;
d) said woven fabric being employed for a top wall of said fitted sheet and side walls of said fitted sheet, said side walls combining together to form a skirt;
e) an elastic strip attached to a bottom open edge of said skirt; and
f) said woven fabric being stretchable in a direction of one of said dimensions.
2 . The fitted sheet of claim 1 , wherein said one of said dimensions comprises said width dimension.
3 . The fitted sheet of claim 1 , wherein said elastic yarn comprises 2-20%, by weight, of said another of said first or said second set of yarns.
4 . The fitted sheet of claim 3 , wherein said woven fabric has a stretch ratio of 3 to 13%.
5 . The fitted sheet of claim 1 , wherein said woven fabric has a thread count of 200 to 1500 threads per inch.
6 . The fitted sheet of claim 5 , wherein said thread count is 300 threads per inch.
7 . The fitted sheet of claim 1 , wherein said top wall and skirt are made of a single piece of fabric.
8 . The fitted sheet of claim 1 , wherein said second set of yarns includes said elastic yarn.
9 . The fitted sheet of claim 8 , wherein said elastic yarn is made of two pre-polymers reacted together to produce elastic fibers made into said elastic yarn.
10 . The fitted sheet of claim 9 , wherein one of said pre-polymers comprises a flexible macro-glycol and another of said pre-polymers comprises a stiff di-isocyanate.
11 . The fitted sheet of claim 10 , wherein said stiff di-isocyanate contains at least 85% polyurethane.
12 . The fitted sheet of claim 1 , wherein said elastic strip is attached to said bottom edge of said skirt in a stretched configuration.
13 . The fitted sheet of claim 1 , wherein said first set of yarns comprise cotton yarns and said second set of yarns comprise a blend of 80-98% cotton and 2 to 20% elastic yarn.
14 . The fitted sheet of claim 13 , wherein said fabric has a thread count of 200-1500 threads per inch.
15 . The fitted sheet of claim 8 , wherein said second set of yarns are core spun with elastic fiber comprising a core thereof.
16 . A fitted sheet comprising:
a) a woven fabric made of a first set of yarns extending along a length dimension and a second set of yarns extending along a width dimension and woven into said first set of yarns to create said woven fabric;
b) said first set of yarns being made of a material chosen from the group consisting of cotton, a cotton/polyester blend, and polyester;
c) said second set of yarns being made of a blended material consisting of (1) one of cotton, a cotton/polyester blend or polyester, blended with (2) an elastic yarn, said second set of yarns being core spun with elastic fiber comprising a core thereof;
d) said woven fabric being employed for a top wall of said fitted sheet and side walls of said fitted sheet, said side walls combining together to form a skirt, and said top wall and skirt being made of a single piece of fabric;
e) an elastic strip attached to a bottom edge of said skirt; and
f) said woven fabric being stretchable along said width direction.
17 . The fitted sheet of claim 16 , wherein said elastic yarn comprises 5-12%, by weight, of said second set of yarns.
18 . The fitted sheet of claim 16 , wherein said woven fabric has a stretch ratio of 1.5 to 3.0.
19 . The fitted sheet of claim 16 , wherein said woven fabric has a thread count of 100 to 800 threads per inch.
20 . The fitted sheet of claim 16 , wherein said elastic yarn is made of two pre-polymers reacted together to produce elastic fibers, one of said pre-polymers comprising a flexible macro glycol and another of said pre-polymers comprising a stiff di-isocyanate.