How to Choose Cotton Bed Linen
Types of cotton bed linen & quality criteria
When it is time to buy a new set of sheets, you can easily lose yourself, since there are so many options. Cotton sateen or cotton percale? Egyptian or Pima cotton? When you learn to decipher these terms, it will be easier to choose the most comfortable and suitable sheets. There are three factors influencing quality and feel, when it comes to sheets: fibers of which is is made, method of weaving and thread count.
Ordinary, Egyptian and Pima cotton
The most common material for sheets is cotton. It has three main varieties: ordinary cotton, Pima and Egyptian. Ordinary cotton is the most common variety; it can be with short or very long threads (the longer the threads are the better the quality of the material becomes). If on the label it is written “100% cotton”, it most probably is ordinary cotton. Pima is exceptionally fine cotton with long threads and fabrics made from it are very soft. You can often see the word “Supima” on sheet label, manufactured from Pima cotton. It is a trademark of “Supima Association” which promotes Pima cotton in the world.
Linen & Silk
Other materials used for making sheets are linen and silk. They are luxurious and significantly more expensive from the cotton sheets and required special care when cleaning, but they are worth the investment. High quality bed linens are durable enough, for you to enjoy them for decades and are cooler than cotton, which makes them very popular in the regions with hotter climate. Silk sheets are durable and keep warm during winter. Have in mind that on the Bulgarian market, there are lots of bed linen sets, marked as “silk”, but in fact are 100% polyester. You can easily spot them by the low price.
Cotton sateen, Percale and Oxford cotton
The labels sateen, percale and oxford cotton on sheets refer to the manner of weaving the fabrics. Every method of weaving is with different characteristics. For example, sheets from cotton sateen are luxurious at look and touch. They are cotton, woven in a way in which two horizontal threads (those along the length of the fabric) interweave a vertical thread (on the width of the fabric). The result is a smooth, shiny and durable fabric. Percale is weaved simply, where the horizontal and vertical threads intersect each other once. The threads are very tightly weaved, which makes it one of the most durable and fine fabrics. The word percale comes from “pargalal”, a cloth used long ago in Persia. Oxford originates from Scotland in 19 century and it’s a soft and heavy fabric, which is less common in Bulgaria. It has several horizontal and vertical threads and it’s mostly used in making men shirts.
Thread Count
Last but not least comes the thread count or simply TC. The thread count is the sum of vertical and horizontal threads per square centimeter or inch. In general, the higher this value is, the more durable and softer the sheets are.
Although all these quality indicators are important when choosing new sheets, the most important are your personal needs and preferences. The best test is to take the sheets home, wash them and test them for some time.
All bed linen sets at homeslinen.com are made from natural materials!
