Small Home Gazette, Summer 2017
Letter From the Editor: cotton sheets
In the summer, a middle-aged man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of…sheets.*
Some aspects of modern households are clearly superior to the households of those who first occupied our bungalows. Vacuum cleaners, for example. From what I’ve seen in vintage recipe books, today’s food is better and healthier. And I’m sure that during my lifetime, I’ve slept on mattresses that were as old as my bungalow. Modern mattresses are far superior.
But we know not everything that’s new is better. My thoughts turned to sheets recently when some folks I know unearthed a vintage sheet, still in its original plastic package, in the basement of an old building. The fabric felt splendid—crisp, cool and substantial. Just the sort of thing you’d want against your skin on a hot summer night.
Touching it reminded me of something I’d read in Home Comforts: The Art & Science of Keeping House, by Cheryl Mendelson. The book has an extensive chapter on beds and bedding, including many pages on sheets, where she writes:
“Do not be deceived into thinking that the higher the thread count, the better the sheet. This is an oversimplified and mistaken idea that is frequently purveyed by merchandisers and fashion writers. It may lead you into paying far more money for a sheet that will not last as long, feel as good, or launder as well as one with a lower thread count.”
Mendelson explains that until the 1980s, “…most sheets were muslin, a cotton plainweave cloth with a thread count of about 140.” Though her book details modern sheet fabrics and describes the plusses and minuses of each, she often returns to cotton muslin. “All-cotton sheets with lower thread counts are no longer sold, which is a shame because muslin sheets…excel in crisp comfort and durability.”
She describes discovering that her aunt had a stash of decades-old sheets still in their packaging, which she has been using in her own home for many years. “They are extremely comfortable, snowy white, and appear to be indestructible.”
I grew up in the era of 50/50 cotton-polyester bedclothes and assumed they were the future. But as a young man I was invited to an up-north cabin, where the beds were dressed with decades-old sheets. They were a revelation.
As Mendelson points out, the best you can do today is cotton percale with a thread count of around 250. But they’re not the same. I know people who haunt forgotten basements and estate sales in search of the old sheets. I’m often fortunate enough to sleep on their finds, and I know for certain that some aspects of bungalow living in the early 20th century were simply better.
* Apologies to Tennyson. And I doubt that I’ll live to 120, so referring to myself as middle-aged is a bit of a stretch.
