Where I lay my head

I've always had a dream of owning the "hotel bed". Those big fluffy white clouds, ten pillows, and a swathing of sheets and comforters that keeps you warm, yet magically cool at the same time. The only problem...there's a reason those beds are reserved for luxury hotels ($$$$). While I may have to add to my dream linens in small, more economically wise increments, I did decide to take a little trip down thread count lane today with Paul. So where do the number of threads begin to separate the twine sheets from the good sheets? Unfortunately, linen quality is only one of the four things to take into account when choosing sheets, like diamonds...only sewn into threads.



(Source: Frette)

A few helpful tips...

1. Fabric: 100% cotton is the norm, but bamboo is another surprisingly soft choice. The cotton is measured by staple length, Egyptian cotton having the longest staple.
2. Yarn size: the higher the yarn size/ finer the yarn, the softer the sheet.
3. Finish: Singeing burns all of those little pills off of the fabric and mercerizing increases strength and gets it ready to be dyed. Make sure your sheets have been through both of these processes.
4. Thread count: This counts the number of threads per square inch of fabric, so generally, the higher the thread count, the softer the sheet, but "single ply" will give you the best softness because it counts one thread woven horizontally and one thread woven vertically. When you get into 2ply, 3ply, and more, the thread count is actually less because it takes into account 2 threads woven as one (i.e. a 2ply 600 thread count sheet is really 300 thread count.)
(Source: Linenplace)