Thread count bull sheet.

October 31, 2024 11:35 AM

Thread Count Doesn't Matter (much) When Buying Sheets. "If the sheets aren't 100% cotton with single-ply weaves, chances are thread counts are either misleading or irrelevant. In fact, some brands may not even specify the percentage of cotton or the ply when you shop, which creates even more confusion. Here's why thread count doesn't matter for other materials...."
posted by storybored (38 comments total)

LL Bean Percale sheets get recommended a lot (including this article!) but while they feel great, both times I bought a set they lasted me slightly less than two years. Based on last year's AskMe, I switched to Macy's Hotel Collection, but only on year 1 so I can't report on their durability yet. And Macy's in general is closing like 30 percent of its stores in the next three years.
posted by pwnguin at 12:08 PM on October 31, 2024

I remember the time I fell for the high-thread-count-synthetic-fiber scam.

I sleep on an old-school waterbed and to get sheets I typically buy loose flat ones, or flat ones in 6-packs. 100% cotton and 300-ish thread count seem to be good heuristics for getting ones that don't suck.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 12:15 PM on October 31, 2024

IKEA that is all
posted by robbyrobs at 12:20 PM on October 31, 2024 [3 favorites]

I'm waiting for my upcoming birthday to "treat myself" to a new set of sheets. This will be my fourth or so set of Kirkland sheets from Costco and while I have loved them when they're new I stopped buying them after the second set failed in an unexpectedly short time in exactly the same way the first set did. The "new" set has been sitting untouched in my closet waiting for set number three to fail in the same manner as the first two sets, which is currently well underway. Costco has been good about replacing them but I live hundreds of miles from the nearest store and besides, who wants the hassle?

Once I put the last spare set I have into service I'll need to start looking around for something that will last, so this post is a timely one for me. I'm looking forward to finding out what it takes to find a sheet that lasts for years and years, the way my parents' linens did.
posted by Nerd of the North at 12:22 PM on October 31, 2024 [1 favorite]

both times I bought a set they lasted me slightly less than two years

Curious: what did failure look like? I think I've had some of theirs longer than that, but did they just come apart at the corners, or....?
posted by praemunire at 12:34 PM on October 31, 2024

We've had very uneven luck with IKEA sheet sets. Some last well, others tear and wear poorly.

The LLBean precale and flannels however, have been very very good.

Its very much a Vimes Boots issue. IKEA is a fraction of the LLBean price.
posted by bonehead at 12:42 PM on October 31, 2024 [5 favorites]

I am on a long-term journey overcome my inherent cheapskate nature and buy nice things that will last longer than crappy things. I undertook this project a few years ago with sheets.

Winners: Brooklinen Luxe Sateen (which I'm pleased to see Good Housekeeping found to be #1.) I'm replacing all our sheets with these sheets. Best thing is they have no-flat-sheet sets, just the fitted sheet and two pillow cases.

Runner up: I got a 200-ct Percale sheet from Land's End and it has worn well but is not very soft.

Surprise Standout: I got some plain white supima sateen pillows from L.L. Bean 5 years ago which were crazy on-sale. I thought I was getting 2 of them for $26 and I was actually getting 2 sets of two! Like, $7 a pillowcase! they are my favorite pillowcases and have held up well. I haven't gotten any more sheets from there because they discontinued that line, and their color selections are pretty boring.
posted by BrashTech at 12:42 PM on October 31, 2024 [5 favorites]

I bought a set of sheets off Amazon once, and while I kept them, and for that matter still have them, I really wasn't happy with them. Now I shop in person for linens, and I mostly go by the look and feel of the fabric. Does it feel nice to the touch? Does the fabric feel strong and look tightly woven, or is it thin and flimsy? I haven't found the thread count matters much when it comes to comparing, say, 300 count to 700 count, although I have definitely found the look and feel of 300 or 400 count sheets to be superior to 180 count.

For a long time now my practice has been to have two sets of plain ivory linens for my bed, and replace the different components as they wear out. A few months ago, when one of my fitted sheets acquired a 23" rip, I shopped around and came to the reluctant conclusion that my best option was to buy a whole new set of good quality sheets rather than just a yucky quality fitted sheet. I had a top sheet and two pillowcases to spare after I put the new set of sheets into service, and I made a new set of four pillowcases from the torn fitted sheet (I have six pillows on my bed), so I found myself just one fitted sheet away from having *three* sets of linens for my bed. I've been looking into making a fitted sheet with the idea that it must be cheaper than buying one, but I haven't been able to find suitable sheeting fabric for it.
posted by orange swan at 12:56 PM on October 31, 2024

The best sheets are:

Ralph Lauren percale
Vermont Country Store percale
Garnet Hill percale

I grant you that I know these sheets only through close-out purchases on eBay and that all are pretty expensive new from a store. Probably the Vermont Country Store ones are the most durable, followed by Garnet Hill and then Ralph Lauren.

The most overrated sheets:

West Elm, Pottery Barn

These are extremely thin and flimsy and you pay as much as for much much better ones if you buy new. You are absolutely paying for fun on-trend prints, and you might as well get genuinely cheap ones.

Also overrated:

Company Store (icky name!) percale. I have experience of two sets - both are poorly sized and one wrinkles like the cheapest crummiest thing you've ever seen.

When I was little, we had all these old sheets in a default sheet fabric that you can't get anymore - it was like a 180 threadcount all-cotton percale and it was so very crisp and cool. It used to be a default kind of sheeting and it wore like iron. I read an article about this once a few years ago and remembered immediately.

Satiny slippery high thread count sheets give me the ick and also they are clingy.
posted by Frowner at 1:07 PM on October 31, 2024 [2 favorites]

On the subject of sheets, if you ever want to do a no cost/effort-only thing to make yourself feel like a goddam spoiled monarch, iron your sheets. My spouse and her mom do it occasionally and while it only lasts one night before it starts to wear off, not one other bedding-related thing will make you feel as fancy and pampered.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:11 PM on October 31, 2024 [3 favorites]

Allergy sufferer - so yes iron the sheets.

If you have a good sewing machine/friend with a sewing machine - flat sheets can have the corners sewn so that they become fitted sheets. You actually don't need elastic to make a fitted sheet. My mother taught me how to do a double seam along the edges and then fold and sew the corners. The idea is that you create a folded edge with some rigidity which is a bit smaller than the mattress so that the edge tucks under the mattress. Also works if the elastic on a fitted sheet deteriorates.
posted by Barbara Spitzer at 1:41 PM on October 31, 2024 [4 favorites]

At one point I had connections in the high-end bedding world and got a bunch of Anicini sateen sheet sets for dirt cheap. They were absolutely amazing. I don't know what the thread count was. It took me a long time to get over them and accept other sheets into my life, but these days I'm in super cheap stuff and happy with it.
posted by grumpybear69 at 1:51 PM on October 31, 2024

You should only have cotton or linen (or a mix), but apart from that, I think maintenance is the most important issue. Don't use a dryer for your bed linen. If you can, dry it outside on a line. Second best dry it on a rack indoors. If you wash and dry it correctly, it should last for generations. Cotton can be washed at 100 C, linen not more than 60 C. Ironing or rolling is good, but not essential.
I have some of the luxury Egyptian high-thread-count stuff, and it is nice, but in my view only really different the first day or two, and I don't change my sheets every day (but it does make an impression for guests). My personal favorite bedlinen is from respectively muji and some discount offer, both half and half cotton linen and neither a particularly high thread count or price. I have one wonderful sheet made from 100% Lithuanian linen, but it is 25 years old, and I don't think you can even get that quality today.
posted by mumimor at 2:18 PM on October 31, 2024 [3 favorites]

It's really hard to find the trifecta of soft, durable, and not crazy expensive, at least if you are an all-cotton person like me. I'd be willing to go expensive, but my experience is that quality does consistently go up with price, and I get annoyed when I put out a lot of money and get sheets that die quick. The last few years I've been using California Design Den sateen. They don't last as long as I would like, but then I am rotating two sets only, so they do get a lot of use, and they are only about $50 a set.
posted by tavella at 2:33 PM on October 31, 2024

Jersey-knit sheets for life.
posted by straight at 2:41 PM on October 31, 2024 [3 favorites]

What straight said.
posted by Melismata at 2:46 PM on October 31, 2024

Props to the title. I've seen like a half dozen people wearing comical Halloween shirts implying swears in public in the past month, several involving sheets - I approve.
posted by The_Vegetables at 2:55 PM on October 31, 2024

my experience is that quality does consistently go up with price

Er, that should have been "does not".
posted by tavella at 2:57 PM on October 31, 2024 [4 favorites]

If you are the kind of person that gets hot/sweaty/uncomfortable throughout the night, might I recommend all cotton sheets and, if you have a foam bed, a mattress topper made of natural fiber.

The cotton is breathable and wicks away sweat in a way that plastics cannot. It made my nights much more comfortable. My blankets are also natural fiber now.
posted by chromecow at 3:31 PM on October 31, 2024 [5 favorites]

LL Bean Percale sheets get recommended a lot (including this article!) but while they feel great, both times I bought a set they lasted me slightly less than two years.

Lol ever read a sentence and suddenly have a bunch of questions about how you live your life. One of the comforters I use in winter, is one I had when I was a baby, and it may not have been new even then. I've replaced a few quilts from getting torn, but even then slept with em torn for quite a while, even washing them regularly in that state lol. I bought the two sets of sheets I rotate between.... well over 6 years ago at least, I assumed I would be using these same two sheet sets forever unless I get a different sized bed. Never even occurred to me that sheets had any kind of limited lifespan.
posted by GoblinHoney at 4:11 PM on October 31, 2024 [7 favorites]

My sheet peeve is when the wide hemmed edges (that go at the head of the bed) on flat sheets get creases. I don't mean wrinkles, but permanent creases that come back even with ironing and following the care instructions. I got a set of pricy Thomas Lee sheets that were wonderful - crisp, cool, substantial - but creased after the first wash and line dry.

Have had the same experience with Brooklinen and Target Threshold. I wish I could find crisp percale that doesn't do that.
posted by Preserver at 5:27 PM on October 31, 2024 [6 favorites]

I’m sorry your lordships, I thought you all slept between old copies of the New York Times and Parade Magazine like me.
posted by misterpatrick at 7:10 PM on October 31, 2024 [4 favorites]

Like GoblinHoney, I feel like I'm peering into another world. I have... I think four sets of sheets, two for winter and two for summer. None of them are less than five years old, and the only reason I bought them is that I replaced my bed with a new size, not because the old ones wore out. I guess I realized that sheets can wear out, but I would have thought that would take decades. Or, like, until you spilled lasagna on them or something.

Not that I make it a habit of eating lasagna in bed, but since none of my sheet sets are that expensive I feel like I have the freedom to if I want...
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 8:35 PM on October 31, 2024 [2 favorites]

My mum had a neat way of resurrecting old sheets. The sheets usually wear out in the center so she would cut them down the middle and then sew the two outer (long) edges together. Voila new sheet! Of course it would have this little sewn track down the middle but hey, it's a little dopamine rush when you brush against it at night :)
posted by storybored at 8:55 PM on October 31, 2024 [2 favorites]

“Turning the sheets”, classic.

Did you notice the seam even in the top sheet?
posted by clew at 12:28 AM on November 1, 2024 [1 favorite]

Wow. Sheets? Would they be that thin cover on the mattress? Usually, so crumpled that they look like the spreading roots of an old tree breaking the surface? And they are not a sort of spontaneous eruption from the mattress but are bought from shops? even chosen? And they fail? Wow. What does that look like? They hit a bum note? Can't go to college? Won't stay on the bed? (But there again they often don't as it is.)

I'm not sure what to make of all this. Next you'll be telling me that people make their beds? I thought that was the whole point of the duvet revolution when my lovely old woollen blankets were ripped from my hands in the 1970s. You never had to make the bed ever again, no more of that tedious, straightening, smoothing, layering, pulling and tucking in, just find a corner or even an edge in the undisturbed duvet mound in the middle of the bed, a convenient access point and dive in like a submarine pot holer.

Ah well, we live and learn. Now if anyone could crack the mystery of all those old discarded t shirts and thermals that lift the pillow a foot or two off the bed, not to mention the assortment of odd socks, cast off shorts that any bottom of the bed I know spontaneously generates, I would be very grateful.
posted by dutchrick at 2:50 AM on November 1, 2024 [1 favorite]

It's linen for us, but the biggest problem is that I have carnivorous (well, sheet-ivorous) toenails. They stick out, and no matter how well I keep them trimmed they eat holes in the bed linen. We have become proficient at darning.
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 3:00 AM on November 1, 2024 [1 favorite]

I am not sure I’ve ever seen a sheet wear out. A pillowcase, yes, after something like forty years. What does a worn out sheet look like?

Also, people hate top sheets? Bedding culture must have moved while I wasn’t looking. I like top sheets; then I don’t feel I have to wash my duvet covers every time.
posted by eirias at 3:38 AM on November 1, 2024 [3 favorites]

Worn sheets become thin in the spots that you sleep on and eventually tear. This takes years in our case and it’s always the bottom sheet. I usedto like Wamsutta brand but not sure it truly exists anymore outside of a name slapped on generic stuff. We buy midrange all cotton and are happy. Super high thread count feels like drapery to me so I don’t even like it. This sounds lightweight but I have bought mid price Martha Stewart brand online the last couple times and have been very comfortable. We tried inexpensive sheets from Target once and really didn’t like them: very scratchy. And im a weirdo who likes scratchy stuff sometimes.
posted by SoberHighland at 4:14 AM on November 1, 2024

Or sometimes you have a giant dog with sandpaper feet who likes to scrabble around in bed before he settles down, occasionally tearing things up.
posted by PussKillian at 7:05 AM on November 1, 2024 [3 favorites]

When I've had sheets "fail", it's been because they wore thin enough to tear - a fitted sheet can actually wear thin enough to tear when you put it on the bed, and it can be a long and unmendable tear. I did also give away or scrap a few sheets that had become faded and thin enough to be demoralizing to sleep on (that is, I gave them away knowing they would be used as camping sheets or rags; I didn't give them away in a "these are not good enough for ME but they are good enough for YOU" way).

A person I know has worn sheets to "failure" simply by not changing them often enough - synthetic sheets in particular can get pretty gross and smelly if they are on the bed for a month or two at a time between washings. With all-cotton sheets you can sometimes rescue them using oxyclean, but poly-cotton is ruined forever. Also, if people fail to wash their cotton sheets enough, even oxyclean and a good hot-water wash can't get all the yuck out.

I am not of the school where you have to wash your quilt and your pillows and your blankets weekly or else you're unutterably filthy (for what then are pillow covers and top sheets?) but my general feeling is that sheets should be changed weekly assuming normal use just to keep them in decent condition.
posted by Frowner at 7:10 AM on November 1, 2024

Did you notice the seam even in the top sheet?

Had to think about that, but no I didn't feel it!
posted by storybored at 7:52 AM on November 1, 2024

I like percale. Low thread count that's a little rough is fine. Mid that's nice and crisp is fine. Best is percale that's been washed so often it's supersupersuperheavensmooth and soft. Grandma's old Sears sheets, whatever luxury sheets I got at a garage sale, as long as they're cotton percale and they've been washed a million times, they feel great. I don't care if old percale has a hole or two or countless, it's my favorite. Sateen is all unctuous and clingy and familiar in a way that it has not earned. It feels dirty after one night. It's hot. If it's not obvious, yet, I hate sateen with a passionate fury. Jersey? Getouttahere. How much worse than even sateen sheets t-shirt sheets might be I do not want to imagine.
posted by Don Pepino at 9:46 AM on November 1, 2024 [2 favorites]

I am on a long-term journey overcome my inherent cheapskate nature and buy nice things that will last longer than crappy things.

My grandfather used to tell me, "Johnny, sometimes I cannot afford a bargain." He was right.

I have sheets my gf brought me after she refused (rightly so) to sleep on the bed and bedding from my marriage. I am not sure what brand they are, but I have taken to ironing them. It takes a while to iron a set of King Size sheets and 6 pillow cases, but it is soooo worth it. I will never go back to un-ironed sheets.

Not sure of the thread count, but they are 100% cotton. Iron! (A little starch on the edges too.)
posted by JohnnyGunn at 11:08 AM on November 1, 2024 [2 favorites]

They’re really too big for small families and dwellings, but I miss mangles. Mostly for pressing washed yardage before sewing (such a pain), but if you have one ironing the sheets is quick. And ironed percale really is delightful.
posted by clew at 12:18 PM on November 1, 2024

I recently became a fan of tencel/ lyocell and upgraded all of my linens. It's like sleeping inside of a fluffy cloud.
posted by porpoise at 2:51 PM on November 1, 2024

We have two sets of “Hotel” sheets from Bed Bath and Beyond that have lasted 10 years (and they feel sooooo nice and smooth and rich). They did develop a few small holes/worn areas but I darned those areas and no more developed… I’m afraid of never finding their equal and I have no confidence googling the brand “Hotel” will get me there….
posted by Tandem Affinity at 9:43 PM on November 1, 2024

Or sometimes you have a giant dog with sandpaper feet who likes to scrabble around in bed before he settles down, occasionally tearing things up.

Many of our have been damaged by cats playing the pounce game with their claws out. Catches the weave and starts a pucker if you're not careful. That then develops into a tear.
posted by bonehead at 9:48 AM on November 7, 2024