Sheets don’t last forever, even the sheets you love the most. How do you tell when it’s time to replace your sheets, and where do you begin?
A Guide to Answer Your Sheet Questions
We often receive questions from customers about their sheets, including what to look for when it comes to replacing them. The following are some of the questions we’ve received the most often and our best answers.
1. What Should You Consider When Choosing New Sheets?
Your bed is the centerpiece of your bedroom, so your sheets must be beautiful. You’ll be wrapped within them while you sleep, so they must be comfortable. Once you’ve invested in them, you’ll want them to last.
Sheets vary depending upon material, thread count, weave, size, and style. down etc has accounted for each of these factors in creating its 100% cotton sheet sets.
a. Material matters when choosing sheets
Cotton is the most widely used fiber for making bed linens. Staple length is the average length of a group of fibers, and the longer the “staple length” of the cotton, the finer the yarn, and the smoother, softer, and stronger the bed linens made from it. Our sheet sets are 100% ultrafine, long-staple cotton, so they are breathable, comfortably cool, durable, and easy to launder. Our d.o.e. down on earth® line is made with 100% certified organic cotton and exemplifies the journey to conscious luxury from seed to sleep.
Silk is a wonderful fabric for pillowcases as it protects the skin and hair from friction and breakage. We have maximized the beneficial characteristics of silk in our tiara silks® collection of silk pillowcases. As an added benefit, these pillowcases have a hidden pocket for a sachet filled with lavender or chamomile potpourri so you can also enjoy the benefits to sleep of aromatherapy.
b.Thread count is just one factor in selecting your new sheets
The term “thread count” is often the first, and sometimes only, factor considered by consumers in selecting bed sheets. However, other factors, including the quality of yarn and type of weave, can be equally important in determining the comfort and quality of bed linens.
The thread count refers to the number of horizontal and vertical threads (or yarns) per square inch of fabric. Higher thread count generally results from finer threads woven more tightly, which creates a sheet that wears more evenly over time. However, the quality of linens also depends upon the quality of the raw cotton and the yarn it produces. In fact, the quality of yarn used can be more important than the thread count. Sometimes, lower quality, shorter yarns are twisted together as one. Instead of counting this as one thread, the manufacturer will count each ply as a separate thread to market a higher thread count sheet that is neither as soft nor strong as a sheet with a lower thread count made with a finer yarn. down etc's sheets are all manufactured using single ply yarn so the thread count is the true thread count.
A high thread count will, in fact, make for greater comfort and longevity of your sheets so long as the yarn itself is of high quality. Long-fibered cotton feels softer, lasts longer, and maintains structure better than other types of cotton. So, apart from settling on a thread count, it pays to know what you are getting in terms of materials. Materials vary from brand to brand and collection to collection. Look for long-staple cotton, single ply yarn in your sheets.
c. Weave affects the feel of your new sheets
Sateen is an elegant weave in which three threads going in one direction go over and one thread goes under the thread going in the other direction, which places more threads on the surface of the cloth giving the fabric a silky sheen and smooth feel. The distinctive weave traps air and holds in warmth, so it is especially inviting in winter. Although a sateen weave makes for a supremely soft and comfortable fabric to sleep under, it also makes it more susceptible to wear. Our best-selling classic fresh sheet set and regal sateen sheet sets are made with a sateen weave.
Jacquards are patterns wherein the vertical and horizontal threads are set up to provide highs and lows. Jacquards are woven on a special loom to create multi-dimensional patterns of sateen (raised threads) and matt (flat), usually in a stripe, check, or floral design. In a solid jacquard, the fabric often looks like the pattern is shaded and slightly indented. Jacquard patterns include paisleys, stripes, checks, florals, and abstracts. Jacquards provide patterns and texture without printing. The jacquards of our masquerade and tuxedo sheet sets were designed specifically for us by textile designer Marcia Brandwein. Our hexagon sheet sets and microcheck sheet sets are also jacquard weaves.
A dobby weave is produced on a special loom to create small, geometric patterns in the fabric. This weave also adds a bit of texture. Our tone-on-tone sheet set uses a dobby weave to create a subtle white-on-white stripe.
The type of weave you choose can depend on the look and feel of the bed you’re creating. Our masquerade and tuxedo duvet covers are manufactured with a jacquard weave on the face of the covers to achieve the beautiful look and heftier hand but use a soft, silky sateen or a twill weave for the back of the cover that is against your skin. It’s the best of both worlds.
d. Your Mattress Size Determines Your Sheet Size
Each type of bed linen comes in a variety of sizes. It’s not enough these days to know whether you have a queen-, king-, or California king-size mattress. With pillow-top mattresses and other mattress features, the dimensions of your bed could end up being far from standard size. You might need deep pocket fitted sheets to ensure the corners do not pop off or you might want to go up a size with your flat sheets to get extra length or width for tucking. Some brands sell sheets separately so, if you can’t find what you’re looking for in a set, do not despair. Just make sure to have measurements in hand when you go shopping or start perusing sheets online.
2. Why Should You Consider Using White Sheets?
Hotels choose white sheets because they provide guests with a sense of well-being and hygiene to guests as it is difficult to hide stains. Investing in white sheets for your own bed brings that luxury to your everyday life. In addition to a feeling of cleanliness, white sheets provide a great background for pops of color in throw pillows and blankets that you can change with the season and use to personalize your bedroom.
3. Does Your Bedmaking Style Affect Your Choice of Sheets?
It’s up to you. You can decide whether to use a fitted or flat sheet as a bottom sheet and whether or not you use a top sheet under your duvet.
The bottom sheet is either a fitted sheet with elastic corners or an extra-long flat sheet that can be tucked to keep it secure around your mattress, mattress pad, and feather bed when you move in your sleep. The sides should be deep enough to fit your mattress, topper, and pad. If your mattress is extra deep, use a flat sheet and fold the corners underneath.
If you make a bed with a blanket, you need to use a flat top sheet. You can also use a flat top sheet with a comforter to give your bed a more tailored look. A top sheet may have a decorative “cuff” for display when you fold the sheet back over the top of the blanket. In a method of bedmaking called three-sheeting, hotels will use three sheets: a fitted sheet over the mattress, topper, and pad; a flat sheet under the blanket; and a second flat sheet over the blanket. The two flat sheets are folded in a way to keep the blanket surrounded and clean.
There is a lot of debate about whether you need a top sheet. Those who insist upon using a top sheet under the duvet often claim the decision is based upon cleanliness. However, if you’re removing your duvet cover each week when you wash your other linens, there is no cleanliness reason requiring the use of an additional top sheet under the duvet. It’s all a matter of preference.
4. How Should You Care for Your Sheets?
Sweat, drool, dead skin cells, and cosmetic products, in addition to spilled food and drinks, accumulate on your sheets, creating fertile ground for dust mites and bacteria that can aggravate allergies and make you unwell. Maintaining a clean bed means washing your sheets (and this includes your comforter/duvet cover) at least once a week, particularly if you shower in the morning, sleep in the nude, or have kids or pets jumping in bed with you. In between washes, you may want to let your bedding breathe while you get ready for your day so that any moisture from the night before has evaporated before making the bed for the day.
Wash your down etc sheets on the warm setting and tumble dry low. Remove your sheets promptly from the dryer to minimize wrinkling. Be sure to wash linens together and separately from towels as the roughness of the towels can be tough on your linens. Additionally, they dry at different rates with terry taking more time to dry than linens.
5. When Is the Right Time to Replace Your Sheets?
If they’re getting washed regularly, you’ll likely get a couple of years out of a quality set of sheets. Once they become stained or pick up an odor that can’t be removed with laundering, it’s time to replace them. It’s nice to keep a couple of sets of sheets so that your linens can rest between laundering and use. Resting allows them to regain moisture removed during laundering to improve softness. This will also extend their useful life. This method of first in, first out of the linen closet is what we recommend to our hotel clients.
6. What Should You Do with Your Old Sheets?
Once you’re ready for new sheets, what should you do with the old ones? Before you throw them in the garbage, consider some of these suggestions for repurposing them:
Donate: If your sheets are in good shape, consider donating them to charities like the Salvation Army and Goodwill, homeless shelters, or animal shelters.
Drop cloths: You may not need them at this moment, but old sheets make great drop cloths when you’re painting or doing some other work around the house. Eliminate the need to purchase something new for those jobs when the time comes by folding up your old sheets and storing them with your toolkit.
Garden: Use your old sheets in place of buying new landscape fabric. They’re also great when you’re cleaning up leaves in the fall or covering new plants to prevent freezing during cold snaps in early spring or fall.
Pets: Use your old sheets to create comfortable pet beds.
Enjoy every minute of getting cozy in your new sheets.
-The Team at down etc
Read more:
Why Do Hotels Use White Bed Sheets?
How and Why Should I Line Dry My Sheets?
What Is It About Sliding into Fresh, Clean Sheets that Feels So Good?
Do You Need to Cleanup Your Bed for Better Sleep?
About down etc
For over twenty years, down etc has worked with hoteliers and professional housekeepers in hotels around the world to manufacture and provide the pillows and the bedding that will offer hotel guests memorably great sleep. Through our retail website, we seek to provide products that will result in the same quality sleep for our customers at home. We believe in the restorative power of a great night’s sleep, whether at home or away. That’s the reason down etc wrote the book on it, Roll Into a Perfectly Made Bed: All You Need to Know About the Art of Bedmaking.
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