thread count

What fitted sheet is best?

June 4, 2020 by Forgotten Cotton

Spend the most you can afford on your bottom sheet as this will be the piece that bears most of your twisting and turning during the night. Try for a percale fitted sheet as it will wear better. A well fitted bottom sheet will reduce the wear on the sheet and add to your comfort also. So check you have the correct width and depth fitted sheet for your mattress. Remember not all mattresses are the same depth. They can range from 6 inches up to 24 inches. If you choose to use a flat sheet for top and bottom sheets make sure to alternate which sheet you use as the bottom sheet when you change the bed to ensure the set wears evenly.

Most importantly make sure you like the feel of the bed linen. Different weaves will have different textures and beware of coatings made to improve the shop floor texture that will wash out later. This way you will get sufficiently good bed linen, if not better than expected.

What thread count do you need for good sheets?

May 26, 2020 by Forgotten Cotton

Anything over 180 thread count is considered a superior weave and should give years of wear assuming the cotton thread used is a reasonable quality cotton. The term percale refers to a closely woven fabric with a thread count of 180 or greater using a good quality cotton. A percale sheet should be smoother and more durable than regular cotton sheets. I would always recommend a percale for the bottom sheet if it is within your budget as this takes the most wear. Remember the percale label is used for polycotton duvet covers and bed sheets as well as cotton duvet covers and bed sheets.

percale cotton on left versus regular cotton on right — percale cotton on left versus some regular cotton on right

In this photograph I have put a percale sheet, which is a 200 thread count, on the left and a regular cotton pillowcase on the right. Both have been in use in my own house for in excess of five years, (and probably a lot longer) so they will have been through the wash many times which means the threads will now have “fluffed out”. If you look closely you will see the difference in the weave. There are about fifty or sixty threads per square inch more in the percale. The percale is using a finer thread so more threads will fit in a square inch. The percale has a crisper feel to it whereas in the regular cotton on the right, the cotton is much softer and pliable, though it may not look it up close. In case anyone is wondering, the colour difference is nothing to do with the quality of the cotton. They just happen to be from two totally different suppliers and batches. If it was paint I was talking about, I would probably describe the regular cotton as a soft white or winters white or some such colour.

Thread counts in bedlinen explained

May 23, 2020 by Forgotten Cotton

What does thread count mean in bed sheets?

Most people have a vague idea that thread count matters when buying bed linen. Equally some people may be unsure exactly why. Put simply, thread count is a term used for the total number of threads that make up any woven piece of fabric. The thread count in bed linen usually refers to the total number of warp and weft threads woven together in either a square inch or in 10 cm squared of fabric. The vertical threads are called the warp and the horizontal threads are called the weft.