This is the 2nd installment in our Guide to Modern Bedding series. Here, we discuss the how to measure bedding on the Quality-o-meter.

On a scale of 1-10, how’d you sleep last night?

Did you toss and turn? Did you sleep soundly? Did your sheets feel, soft or scratchy?

If your answer is 1-5, guess what? You could be sleeping better! Get this; together with the make and support of your mattress, the quality of your bedding also determines the quality of your sleep.

Besides silky softness and a better nights sleep, what “creates” quality? Turns out there are three key factors that influence the final price of a bed sheet:

1. Materials,
2. Finishing
3. Design.

Lets discuss them in that order.

Materials

Manufacturers make bedding out of everything these days.

Polyester, silk we even found spandex sets (yikes). But after testing most of them, we decided that COTTON is the best fabric for all-round use. It’s soft, it’s breathable, and it is natural.

When it comes to cotton Egyptian is the highest quality you can get. And here’s why, Egyptian cotton has long strands that are really strong. The stronger the yarn is, the less of it manufactures need to make a sheet. It also allows the yarn to be smaller in diameter, making for more yarns per inch in a product. The result? Lighter weight sheets with greater strength.

Because the Egyptian threads are smaller, they are time-consuming to weave and therefore more expensive. But the expense is usually worth it. The resulting fabrics are more breathable and will last longer.

Finishing

What’s the deal with thread count?

Cotton weaves can be very tight (more dense) or loose. The tightness of the weave is the thread count — the number of threads in one square inch of fabric.

Thread counts usually range from 128 to 310. We tested ones from 150-tc to 500. We noticed the softest feel for counts above 250-tc. We also found anything less than 175-tc to be scratchy and thin like a cheap t-shirt.

Usually, the higher the count, the finer the quality of the sheet, but this isn’t always the case. Finishing, the process of taking threads, dying them, and producing a sheet can render low thread count sheets superior to high thread count ones. Why? Because poorly finished high thread count sheets often simply double-twist their threads. This makes a sheet thicker, not softer.

Italy is famous as a source of excellent finishing. When Italian craftsmen finish a 250-tc sheet using techniques passed down from generation to generation combined with state-of-the-art technology the sheet will feel softer and last longer than the 400-tc sheets available at your local bargain retailer. How much longer? About one year longer. The lifespan of a 250-tc sheet finished in Italy is two to three years, whereas the lifespan of a 400-tc sheet finished in Asia is one to two years. Crazy, we know.

We recommend asking about the finishing of a sheet before you jump to any conclusions about thread count.

Design

The final factor that influences bedding quality is product design.

You might think that there are only so many ways to design a sheet. We did, we admit it, but we were wrong. Most design innovation today occurs in the more complex products such as the fitted sheets. If you’ve ever struggled to get the corner of a fitted sheet on a mattress, only to have the opposite corner come undone, you are familiar with the limitations in fitted sheet design.

You see, there are ranges of mattress sizes, and the highest-quality sheets are designed to tackle more of these sizes by having deeper “drops” or pockets and better elastics. Of the brands that we tested, “drops” ranged from 10″ (very hard to make a bed!) to 20″.

It’s elastic! Less expensive fitted sheets typically only have elastic on the corners, whereas more expensive designs will wrap the elastic around the whole sheet like a shower cap. This results a longer lasting fitted sheet that won’t pop undone.

Feel and Purpose

So how to decide about quality?

If the feel of your bedding is less important to you, say because you will be using it for a dorm or guest room we recommend sacrificing on quality. If you can, make sure the cotton is Egyptian, but you can forget about finishing or design — after all you only aim to use the sheets for a limited time.

If, however, you are shopping for a set of nice sheets you’ll be sleeping in night after night, welcome to the world of quality bedding! It might cost a bit more, but when you think about the amount of time you spend in bed, it’s worth it to treat yourself.

Next lesson: It’s style time. Learn how to create a look that will impress!