Luxurious Bedding or Not?

I don't know about you, but I want to wrap myself in luxurious bedding. After all, we spend one-third of our lives in bed, so, why not enjoy that time in comfort? When looking for the right fabric I found that linens can come in different styles and fabrics, not to speak of thread counts. So, without saying, it became a project to sort it all out.

I already knew that Egyptian cotton and bamboo were considered to be of high quality, but I also kept running across percale bed sheets. My original thinking was that percale was a type of fabric, much like Egyptian cotton. To my surprise I found that percale refers to a weaving process in which the fabric is woven and is not related to the fabric content that is used. A percale weave can be woven from almost any fiber and in bed linens it is usually woven from cotton. Cotton can be woven using various styles including percale, muslin and sateen. In percale, the yarns are woven one over one, unlike sateen where it's four over one. The one over one weave in percale creates a much more even, stronger, denser and softer fabric, which can stand the test of time. The more you wash it, the better it feels.

I also found that percale fabrics are used extensively for bed sheets. Percale cotton sheets have a thread count of at least 180 to 200 threads per square inch with the same number of threads lengthwise and width-wise. Percale is woven in a plain weave method that produces a checkerboard effect on the surface of the fabric. The result is a very strong, medium weight fabric that holds up well in the wash. The more it's laundered, the softer and more durable it gets. It stands to reason then, that with any type of higher thread you would get a stronger, denser and softer quality bed sheet.

Because the term percale refers to the weave of the sheets, not all percale sheets are 100 percent cotton. Some percale sheets are blends of cotton and polyester. You do need to check on the fabric being used. Egyptian or Pima cotton sheets are 100 percent cotton unless marked or described as a "blend" or a "mix".

I did find out that cotton percale sheets tend to shrink when washed for the first time, but not to worry if they fit loosely on your bed before your wash them.

After my research I do feel comfortable is saying that a percale sheet would fit the bill as luxurious bedding.

Mary Ann Onasch is the founder and owner of http://www.beddingforeveryone.com, an online specialty retailer of luxury bedding for the entire family. We are dedicated to offering quality products and stand by our vow to provide excellent customer service.

by Mary Ann Onasch