Bed sheets have come a long way from being merely utilitarian. They have evolved to statements of personal style and taste, reflecting our moods. A bed is generally the single biggest canvas in a bedroom where we can go all out with colors, designs, styles, fabrics and other elements. And a well-chosen bed sheet will always add character to your bed room.
Choosing a bed sheet design
One of the most important factors in choosing a bed sheet will be the ambience of the room. If you have plain walls and floors then a bed sheet will give you a lot of scope to experiment with colors and designs thus adding vibrancy and life to an otherwise staid room. Similarly if the room has lot of colors, a simple yet elegant bed sheet will help bring a subtle charm and provide the perfect foil for the riot of colours.
Broadly speaking bed-sheets could be in solid colours, checks, stripes, florals, abstract and specialized designs like Damask and Jacquard etc.
What kind of fabric
These days a lot of fabrics are available in bed sheets starting right from the all-time basic favorite cotton to poly cotton to polyester to various blends, weaves and GSM (weight i.e. grams per square meter) or TC (thread count), In our context a bed sheet with anything over a 110 TC is good to be used or the GSM should be at least 90- 100
A general fine quality bed sheet in India would start at 150 TC. So a balance of price and TC needs to be achieved to derive the best value for money.
Cotton bed sheets are best suited for a climate like ours. They are slightly more expensive than the poly cotton or polyester versions but are unbeatable in comfort and durability.
A poly cotton bed sheet is cheaper than its cotton counterpart generally but over a period of time there will be problems of pilling and color inconsistency due to the inherent differences in characteristics of polyester and cotton.
A 100% polyester bed sheet is the cheapest option but it is not suited to a lot of climatic conditions. The quality is generally of concern if it is below 90 GSM, in which case, pilling, color bleeding and other problems might occur.
Also, silk is an option, but should be used sparingly due to its high maintenance needs.
There are various other blends also available and depending upon the kind of composition can be used as per season or suitability.
Weave-ability
In India, we are generally accustomed to plain bedsheets. These are simple, comfortable and available in appealing designs.
Satin weaves provide an enticing sheen, while the jacquard weave is fast becoming popular.
The twill weave is another variation of self-design that has been used largely in suit fabrics but has now found a way into the home furnishings industry.
The weave lends the fabric a certain texture and depending upon your requirement of thickness, softness and other parameters you can choose from a variety of options.
