Quick Tip: Bed Sheets Seams

There are some little technical details that sets quality Bed Sheets apart from the ordinary and can make a real difference.

One single, often overlooked, yet important aspect to evaluate the durability of sheets is how accurately they have been sewn and the actual quality of its seams.

It is important to always check:

- the seams that hold the elastic inside the edge of the fitted sheet.

- the seams that hem the border of the flat sheet.

- the seams around the edge of the pillow case.

The seams should be sewn with tight, straight stitches and one should hardly be able to see the sewing thread.

On the contrary if the stitches are long and the sewing thread is exposed it is much more likely to pull off or break after washings or on linens daily usage.

The more stitches the longer it takes to sew each piece (and the more it costs!) the stronger and more durable are the linens that will hardly fray or come unstitched even after many years of repeated use and endless washings.

Remember, the devil is in the details!

Anatomy of the Perfect Bed

A quick visual guide to what a “Perfect bed” should look like:

1. SHEETS > A bed sheets set is made of a flat top sheet, a fitted bottom sheets and a pair of pillow cases. It’s the basic bedding item to actually sleep in.

2. DUVET COVER > A duvet or comforter cover is a giant pillow case that hold inside a down comforter. It is usually sold as a standalone product or packaged as a set with a pair of accent pillow shams. It can be used either with or without a flat sheet.

3. ACCENT PILLOWS > Additional decorative pillow shams to match. They have a flange around the four sides or some kind of embellished border. Available in several different sizes from small Boudoir pillows to Standard/Queen size to Euro squares (a.k.a. Continental shams) up to the large King shams used on King sized beds.

4. QUILTED > A Quilt is a bed cover made of two layers of fabric stitched together, with an interior padding held in place by decorative intersecting seams. A Coverlet is a decorative, top of the bed cover that does not cover the pillows. Matching quilted pillows shams, usually in the Euro square size, are placed on top of the coverlet against the headboard to beautifully frame the bed.

5. BEDSKIRT > A bedskirt is used when the boxspring of the bed is showing or when the top of the bed cover, like a bedspread or comforter, does not extend all the way down to the floor. Bedskirts fit under the mattress and on top of the boxspring and decorate with fabric to the floor.

Top 3 reasons to shop for Luxury Linens

What Luxury Linens really mean?

It’s not just any overpriced, designer branded sheets you may find at high-end malls.

Real Luxury linens stand out for their exceptional quality with unique technical features that translate into actual benefits, making Your housekeeping easier and Your home more comfortable and good-looking.

That said, here are 3 very good reasons to only shop for luxury linens:

1. More comfort makes You feel better

High quality bedding can make a big impact on how well you sleep at night. Soft-as-butter snuggly sheets will greatly enhance you sleeping habits and cuddle you lovingly all night long. You will wake up feeling refreshed and rejuvenated with the right mood to start a new day.

Just like having at hand plush towels and bathrobes can set you up for a true spa experience every time you step into your bathroom.

2. Make your Home beautiful

Linens are a great accent to enhance your interior decor.

Much of the focus in your bedroom is on the bed itself and you can spruce up the whole room with a fabulous bedding ensemble and a vibrant quilted coverlet to match. Make your bedroom a special place to get away from it all!

You can easily revamp your bathroom as well, with just some attractive towels hanging on your rack or neatly folded and piled on the vanity top.

As a perfectly well dressed table with a great looking tablecloth and matching napkins will make a stunning dining room to really enchant your guests.

3. Get more value for your money

Household Linens are heavy-duty stuff subject to a hard physical stress in their daily usage as well as in their maintenance/care.  Beside being used on a daily basis your linens should be machine washed, tumble dried and ironed over and over again.  Quality is really a top priority if you don’t want them to be piling and look worn right after the first wash. 

When you take into account the fact that high quality linens are so well made that they last for a decade or more , you can see that luxury linens is always a worthwhile investment, especially when you also consider that poor quality goods can easily wear out after 3 washings or less.

That makes quite clear that even if it costs more to buy luxury linens you will have more bang for your bucks later on. It’s a high R.O.I. investment that will pay you back again and again with spectacular comfort for years to come.

Luxury Linens is an Investment to improve the Quality of Your life.

Trading down here is definitely not a good option!

Luxury Bedding : Egyptian cotton sateen or Pima cotton percale?

When choosing for some new luxury linens one of  the very first thing to consider should be the type of weave of the fabric. This is the actual way each and every single thread is woven into a fabric fine texture. It is an often overlooked feature that can make a big difference on the way made up luxury bedding products look and feel.

Percale and Sateen weaves are the most common type of weaves  and are the two main options  available in the luxury linens market.

Sateen weave add luster and drape to luxury bedding  for a soft silky hand. The fabric has a lustrous and smooth surface, with a luminous sheen, while the back side shows  a slightly rugged texture.

Percale is a plain weave with a matte finish and a supple lofty hand. Percale cotton luxury linens are light and crisp yet incredibly soft. Both the top and back sides of the fabric look and feel exactly the same showing a textured surface.

The choice depends basically on the individual preference for luxury bedding  with a soft-as-silk touch and a luminous shine or rather a crisp hand with a matte surface.  Percale fabric is also lighter in weight and more breathable making it suitable for the summertime or the hot climate. Sateen is usually a little thicker and more tightly woven showing the highest thread counts. 

While 100% cotton luxury bedding is mostly recommended for the understated quality of a natural fiber, still not all cottons are created equal.

Among the finest quality available worldwide are Egyptian cotton, mostly woven into Sateen, and Pima cotton for Percale weave.

Egypt produces the best quality, longest fiber and most valued raw cotton worldwide. It is grown and hand harvested along the fertile banks of the Nile river delta where unique climatic conditions give rise to the finest long staple and extra long staple cotton fibers that are woven into world’s softest luxury linens.

Sea Island or American Pima cotton is a very strong, high-grade, long staple cotton quality developed from selected Egyptian cotton crops in the southwest of the United States. Because of the fineness of Pima cotton, more fibers can be spun into a yarn of a given count, which will enhance the feel, softness, drape and brilliance of a luxury bedding fabric. It is named after Pima County in southern Arizona, location of the experimental farm on which it was developed in the early 1900s. It now accounts for only 3% of US annual cotton production and is mainly cultivated in the San Joaquin Valley, California.

There’s not really one best choice in luxury bedding between Sateen or Percale as it is left to the personal preference of the individual shopper. It’s  important here to be aware of the substantial difference among  the two types of weave to get the maximum return on the investment in high quality luxury linens.

Does Thread Count really count?

Thread count is the most widely used indicator for quality of fine fabrics. That’s for a good reason. It is a concise, straightforward figure that give you a reliable quality grade.

Thread Count is still pretty good to give you a rough idea of quality yet it is not enough in itself to determine a purchasing decision.

Many other factors  should be taken into account such as raw cotton origin, gauge of spun yarns, weaving techniques and quality of all the necessary finishing processes to get fabrics ready for manufacturing. Learn more about luxury linens quality.

In general higher thread counts are achieved spinning premium long staple raw cotton fibers into the finest cotton yarns then woven in outstanding quality fabrics. Sounds good right?

Still very often a high thread count is achieved weaving thick yarns made out of impure raw cotton fibers resulting in a heavyweight, rough, pilling likely fabric. Definitely a poor quality.

For an easy reference when it comes to choose your bed linens :

Below 180TC is poor quality > It can be even uncomfortable –  I suggest to avoid this.

180TC to 300TC is good quality > Best choice for value bedding.

300TC to 500TC is luxury quality > Verify cotton quality. It should be only Long staple Egyptian or Pima cotton.

500TC to 700TC  is superior luxury quality > Verify cotton quality as it can only be made out of Extra Long staple Egyptian cotton yarns. Verify country of production as only premium manufacturing countries such as Italy, France and Germany have developed state of the art technology to weave such fine fabrics.

More than 700TC > It’s a waste of money as price grow exponentially for such a high thread count and quality performance is not really improving. This is the range of thread count where we see the highest scam density.  Be very careful before purchasing bed linens in this thread count range especially when it goes over 1000TC. You should only purchase this linens from reputable, well known vendors that give you full guarantees  or risk to get hurt.

Those are the only real information you can gather  from thread count figures. We assume of course that thread count listed in the product features is true and honest. It might not always be the case but that’s  just another story. it’s consumer fraud!