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Today I went around looking for sheets but could not decide. I found 1 Egyptian cotton sheets - Does cotton in them come from Egypt? 2 Pima cotton sheets - what is Pima cotton? 3 Jersey sheets some of which were cotton while others were a blend of cotton and polyster. What are jersey sheets? 4 damask sheets - I don't know what damask means? Can someone tell me please?. Which cotton sheets will feel more luxurious and what is the difference between all these? Thank you. This message was modified Apr 21, 2011 by helpme
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Thank you Budgy and Jimsocal! I love my 300 count sheets from Flobeds since they are 100% cotton, do not sleep hot and are silky to the touch. I also love some sheets I bought from JCPenney a few years ago. I felt the sheets in the store and was surprised that as long as the thread count was 300, then the higher thread count was no longer important. I found out the feel of the sheets was important depending on the type of cotton used and the weave. I think my other sheets are 400 thread count. I can not sleep on 250 or 200 thread count sheets since it is scratchy and uncomfortable. I printed out this thread due to the pictures and description that Budgy sent in that is a real help to all of us. |
| Wow thank you Buddy! Not only does that really helps explaining some diffrences,and the pictures, well are worth a thousand words. I too have opted for Egyption cotton sheets and generally find pretty good deals on Amazon for them. |
| Budgy, I know a poster on the Garden Decorating Forums that loves Sferra Sheets and now I know why since they use real Egyptian Cotton. I will have to watch out for sales of these type of sheets. I like having a lot of sheets so I can just do one big load of sheets at a time which is best when I am only drying sheets. I also go through a lot of sheets since I wash them often which helps with my allergies not acting up I have learned. I also sometimes get hot flashes and have to change my sheets in the middle of the night. |
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Sferra is notorious for their exquisite cotton sheets. Particularly the highest strand count ones they offer, supposed to be some of the best sheets in the world. For other really good sheets you can try to find Micro Modal, or real Linen (from flax). Linen is a little rougher than cotton particularly when it is brand new, but they are strong and last forever...what is particularly great about them is that it is the BEST fabric to use in the summer...if someone is a really hot sleeper than linen would greatly help in taking the edge off. It is far more absorbant than cotton, and also more breathable so it releases moisture quicker, however even if it manages to get damp it will not cling to skin. Good linen is expensive however, and it wrinkles easily. Modal fabrics are much softer than cotton, although not quite as durable...so they require a more delicate washing treatment. But from a luxury standpoint they are quickly becoming popular! St. Geneve and SDH both have some really nice modal sheets. |
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Thank you budgy but it still leaves some questions unanswered. 1. what are damask sheets 2. What are jersey sheets. Jim, I don't find jersey sheets hot. I don't know why you say that? Are you talking about some other sheets? 3. How do I identify if Egyptian cotton sheets are really of good quality. I got some from costco and I wonder if they are really of good quality. They are 400n thread count. 4. Pima sheets - I have seen in 600 thread count. I wonder if they would feel hot? Thank you budgy. This message was modified Apr 26, 2011 by helpme
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helpme wrote: Thank you budgy but it still leaves some questions unanswered.
1. what are damask sheets 2. What are jersey sheets. Jim, I don't find jersey sheets hot. I don't know why you say that? Are you talking about some other sheets? 3. How do I identify if Egyptian cotton sheets are really of good quality. I got some from costco and I wonder if they are really of good quality. They are 400n thread count. 4. Pima sheets - I have seen in 600 thread count. I wonder if they would feel hot? Thank you budgy. http://www.snuggledown.com/s/catalog/duvet_covers/agadir/ ^^ This Agadir fabric from SDH is a Jacquard (damask) fabric, the pattern in the fabric is there because of how the fabric is woven. http://www.snuggledown.com/s/catalog/duvet_covers/bregano_solid/ ^^ This Bregano duvet cover from St. Geneve is also a Jacquard fabric. The pattern is not only woven in the fabric it comes from using differently dyed yarns. This means that the yarns are dyed individually and woven right into the fabric so it will not fade over time. http://www.snuggledown.com/s/catalog/bonjour_of_switzerland/schlossberg_alena/ ** This Alena fabric from Schlossberg is a cotton print. It is still a pattern, but the fabric is woven in a normal percale or sateen weave, the colour is literally printed onto the cotton. Jacquard fabrics are much more durable than prints in terms of not having colour fading over time. However Jacquards are not typically used for fitted sheets, flat sheets or pillowcases, as after washing the patterns usually become more pronounced in feel and are not as comfortable next to the skin as a normal weave. Jersey refers to another weave type that allows the cotton to be much more stretchy. Jersey fabrics usually wear out very quickly unless very heavy, in which case they will sleep a little bit warmer. The reason they wear out is for the same reason that most cheap cottons wear out, the weave is uneven to begin with and with further use and laundering the weak spots of the fabric can break and wear very easily. At the end of the day the cotton fabric which is lightest is usually the most breathable. Real egyptian cotton fabrics can be woven very finely and still have lots of strength, resulting in usually lighter and more breathable fabrics when comparing similar thread counts. The lower the strand count the more breathable the fabric will be. Although not typically as smooth or crisp feeling as a higher strand count sheet (which will also be a little more durable). If you see 400TC sheets these are in all liklihood a 2 ply 200 thread count fabric, which would be using twisted yarns as illustrated in the first post I made. 600TC would probably be a 2 ply 300 thread count. Its too bad most manufacturers do not list these things as it is important to know. But realistically if Costco or Walmart is selling it....its not REAL egyptian cotton or real pima cotton, its likely just a small percentage of the cotton fibres used in making the threads. Price usually is the big indicator of quality. Egyptian cotton fabrics quite literally cannot be mass produced as easily as other cottons, it requires hand picking so the staples are not damaged, it is much more costly to mill. Look for fabrics that are woven somewhere in Europe, preferably Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland...somewhere noted for producing high quality fabrics. |
| Good stuff! |
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Thanks for the useful information, Budgy! It reminds me, I actually bought a set of so-called Egyptian cotton sheets for about $20 at one of the travelling expos a couple of years ago. When I got them home, they were super thin, slick and almost like a jersey - I hated them. They were translucent and totally lacked any body - almost like a filmy gauze. I saw them on sale again in a booth at another expo this year again. It wasn't a lot of money to waste, but it certainly was deceptive advertising. I hope you are right that price is the way to gauge quality, which makes sense, but I don't suppose it's any guarantee either, since it sure doesn't seem to hold true after reading some of the reviews of higher priced beds on this forum! Still, I should have been skeptical of "Egyptian cotton" sheets at $20 a set. Why is it that European manufacturers make better quality fabrics, I wonder? I'd hate to shell out $500 for a set of sheets ordered in from Europe, with a no-return policy, and no chance to examine and handle the fabrics in advance. Of course, I wouldn't be in the market at that price point, anyway, so it's a moot point for me! Anyways, thanks again! Very interesting and enlightening posts, as always, and much appreciated.
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Pima/Supima and Egyptian cotton are long staple fibers. Egyptian fibers average about 1 3/8 per staple. Pima is just a tad longer at 1.5 inches per. I personally think the weave and TC are much more inportant. I can tell you that my favorite sheets are a pima/bamboo blend that is the new micro cotton(very soft--essentially a supper combed cotton).
Expect to see a new, upgraded Pima--Supima is a brand/advertising name for pima. The new Pima is being test grown in Arizona(the cotton monopoly in California will not allow it to be grown here even though it was developed as a colored cotton in the late 1980's) and Argentina. It has a staple lenght of well over 2" and can be processed using traditional machines. Interestingly, this new cotton comes colored--mainly browns and tabacco's without any dyeing. This is the reason it isn't allowed in california, the farm industry is afraid it will combine with the white cotton grown here and interfere with the premium prices the farmers get. Last year's crop was purchased by a German manufacturer, all 150,000 bales. This message was modified May 7, 2011 by jeff8407
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jeff8407 wrote:
Pima/Supima and Egyptian cotton are long staple fibers. Egyptian fibers average about 1 3/8 per staple. Pima is just a tad longer at 1.5 inches per. I personally think the weave and TC are much more inportant. I can tell you that my favorite sheets are a pima/bamboo blend that is the new micro cotton(very soft--essentially a supper combed cotton).
Expect to see a new, upgraded Pima--Supima is a brand/advertising name for pima. The new Pima is being test grown in Arizona(the cotton monopoly in California will not allow it to be grown here even though it was developed as a colored cotton in the late 1980's) and Argentina. It has a staple lenght of well over 2" and can be processed using traditional machines. Interestingly, this new cotton comes colored--mainly browns and tabacco's without any dyeing. This is the reason it isn't allowed in california, the farm industry is afraid it will combine with the white cotton grown here and interfere with the premium prices the farmers get. Last year's crop was purchased by a German manufacturer, all 150,000 bales. Supima or 100% American Pima Cotton does get exported to mills around the world...but I have never heard of any of the European mills using it...this doesn't mean the cotton itself isnt of very high quality...but I have just never seen or felt really high quality cotton sheets from India and Pakistan which is where most Supima cotton is being woven, note that most cotton coming from these countries isn't even Pima cotton it is almost always Upland cotton (90% of the world crop). Im not sure who the best companies are to get something like this from....I believe Tempur in the US sells some high quality Supima Cotton sheets. My uncle just got a set of Supima sheets and he is ecstatic about the quality of them...not sure where he got them from. This message was modified May 7, 2011 by budgy
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