Flat sheet versus contour sheet
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While many hotels do send all or part of their laundry out,there are those that do in house work. Of, course where the hotel is located and how much laundry it generates is going to be a large factor in things.
NYC for instance has tons of rules,requirements and laws regarding all commercial laundries. Also water is dear and commercial laundries pay twice, IIRC; incoming water and sewer charges. Do know when one is walking about the area of Mid-Town (from about the 50's) towards home,around early evening can see those huge bins of soiled laundry leaving service areas of hotels, with equally large bins of clean linen going the other way.
Back to linens:
From what one hears from high end European linen dealers, and better laundries, those that make linens sold in the United States are engaged in an arms race over the increasing size of the average American mattress. Between extra deep mattresses, then a pillow top layer, then perhaps a featherbed, the average size of a US mattress just keeps going up. It is very hard to design a product line for what should be a very basic set of measurements. Then there is the debate as to should elastic go all the way around the bottom edge of a fitted sheet, or just the corners.
Hotels:
There is a new trend afoot in US hotels; rather than change sheets every day of a guest's stay automatically, some hotels are now only changing sheets upon arrival, and that is it unless a request is made to change the linens for a multiple day stay. The idea is to save on laundry costs, and that sheets do not get that dirty in just one night.
Now the problem with this theory is that there are people who view checking into any hotel a "vacation" and want fresh linens daily. Especially considering what some hotels charge for room rates.
L.
NYC for instance has tons of rules,requirements and laws regarding all commercial laundries. Also water is dear and commercial laundries pay twice, IIRC; incoming water and sewer charges. Do know when one is walking about the area of Mid-Town (from about the 50's) towards home,around early evening can see those huge bins of soiled laundry leaving service areas of hotels, with equally large bins of clean linen going the other way.
Back to linens:
From what one hears from high end European linen dealers, and better laundries, those that make linens sold in the United States are engaged in an arms race over the increasing size of the average American mattress. Between extra deep mattresses, then a pillow top layer, then perhaps a featherbed, the average size of a US mattress just keeps going up. It is very hard to design a product line for what should be a very basic set of measurements. Then there is the debate as to should elastic go all the way around the bottom edge of a fitted sheet, or just the corners.
Hotels:
There is a new trend afoot in US hotels; rather than change sheets every day of a guest's stay automatically, some hotels are now only changing sheets upon arrival, and that is it unless a request is made to change the linens for a multiple day stay. The idea is to save on laundry costs, and that sheets do not get that dirty in just one night.
Now the problem with this theory is that there are people who view checking into any hotel a "vacation" and want fresh linens daily. Especially considering what some hotels charge for room rates.
L.
danemodsandy
Well-known member
The Problem I See....
....With centralised laundries is that the transport costs will soon become untenable. We are going to have to stop depending so bloody much on trucking everything hither, thither, and yon, quite soon.
BTW, Launderess, I take your point about the difficulty of making fitted sheets for so many different depths of mattress. However, my experience- and my problems- all relate to a perfectly standard-depth mattress, which makes it ridiculous that there should even be a problem. If mass retaillers can't even supply sheets with a proper amount of tuck-under where standard mattresses are concerned, yikes!
Among the various indignities to which I was subjected on that recent hotel stay, the "call system" for clean linens was one of the most dismaying. There was a little stand-up card on the nightstand, which I was supposed to leave on the bed if I wanted the linen changed. There was also a notice in the bathroom that towels left on the rack or shower rod would be left unchanged; if one wanted fresh ones, one was supposed to leave them on the floor! What has this world come to? I cannot tell you the consequences that awaited anyone leaving a towel on the floor to mildew in the house in which I grew up. And this in a hotel counted as one of that city's finest!
I'm beginning to think we'll soon see a return among the wealthy to the practise of taking one's own linen to hotels, insisting that staff use it in place of the hotel's own. That used to be fairly standard operating procedure in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, because one could seldom be certain that linens were truly disinfected. Chlorine bleach and modern laundering methods changed all that for a time, but it looks like cost-cutting hoteliers are hell-bent on reinstating guest uncertainties as to the state of their linen.
....With centralised laundries is that the transport costs will soon become untenable. We are going to have to stop depending so bloody much on trucking everything hither, thither, and yon, quite soon.
BTW, Launderess, I take your point about the difficulty of making fitted sheets for so many different depths of mattress. However, my experience- and my problems- all relate to a perfectly standard-depth mattress, which makes it ridiculous that there should even be a problem. If mass retaillers can't even supply sheets with a proper amount of tuck-under where standard mattresses are concerned, yikes!
Among the various indignities to which I was subjected on that recent hotel stay, the "call system" for clean linens was one of the most dismaying. There was a little stand-up card on the nightstand, which I was supposed to leave on the bed if I wanted the linen changed. There was also a notice in the bathroom that towels left on the rack or shower rod would be left unchanged; if one wanted fresh ones, one was supposed to leave them on the floor! What has this world come to? I cannot tell you the consequences that awaited anyone leaving a towel on the floor to mildew in the house in which I grew up. And this in a hotel counted as one of that city's finest!
I'm beginning to think we'll soon see a return among the wealthy to the practise of taking one's own linen to hotels, insisting that staff use it in place of the hotel's own. That used to be fairly standard operating procedure in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, because one could seldom be certain that linens were truly disinfected. Chlorine bleach and modern laundering methods changed all that for a time, but it looks like cost-cutting hoteliers are hell-bent on reinstating guest uncertainties as to the state of their linen.
oldhouseman
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2007
- Messages
- 838
As I said
Laundress was right.
I will continue to use flat sheets.
I have a weaving loom that was made in the 1820's that was handed down to me several years ago. I am told it made bed sheets as well as other textiles.
Laundress I hope you know something about weaving. I am thinking about bringing the loom out and putting it into use.
I have a spare room it can go into.
How about a visit South? Your knowledge would be more than welcome.
Laundress was right.
I will continue to use flat sheets.
I have a weaving loom that was made in the 1820's that was handed down to me several years ago. I am told it made bed sheets as well as other textiles.
Laundress I hope you know something about weaving. I am thinking about bringing the loom out and putting it into use.
I have a spare room it can go into.
How about a visit South? Your knowledge would be more than welcome.
I Don't Know Nuttin Bout Birthin No Babies
Nor weaving! *LOL*
Do have a huge bolt of linen from France that was woven at home, and probably spun as well. As for the rest, you are on your own! *LOL*
L.
Nor weaving! *LOL*
Do have a huge bolt of linen from France that was woven at home, and probably spun as well. As for the rest, you are on your own! *LOL*
L.
Just as a aside, NYC hotels are reporting an outbreak of bed bugs. So if you vist, and bring linens from home, you might want to chuck them into the boiling pot before laundering.
pturo
New member
What I think is interesting is people like Martha Stewart, who certainly does not make her own bed, gets to say how she likes her bed to be made. I wonder what they used in prison, Martha. Probably flat, cheaper to launder and sort, and who cares if it requires more effort, the inmates make thier own beds.
Mostly, I like her, but at times her suggestions are so out of touch with reality. We have to remind ourselves that she comes from a foriegn country called Conneticut.
Mostly, I like her, but at times her suggestions are so out of touch with reality. We have to remind ourselves that she comes from a foriegn country called Conneticut.
I learned the technique for folding a fitted sheet from the Laundry Guide that came with my grandmother's 1972 Whirly dryer. 
brettsomers
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2005
- Messages
- 1,993
Hotel person here
The bed work at my place is very sloppy. Fitted sheets that are coming off the mattresses and dingy whites. The way they manage to skimp on such things, but have excellent occupancy and $299 rates...
Some of the best housekeepers at my workplace speak poor or no English at all.
The bed work at my place is very sloppy. Fitted sheets that are coming off the mattresses and dingy whites. The way they manage to skimp on such things, but have excellent occupancy and $299 rates...
Some of the best housekeepers at my workplace speak poor or no English at all.
Can't resist......
"the bed work!"
Laughter and Love!
Lawrence/Maytagbear
"the bed work!"
Laughter and Love!
Lawrence/Maytagbear
Fitted Sheets from the Laundry Managers view
I process some 200 fitted sheets each day,And have ALWAYS HATED them. The Ironer must be run at half speed or less and the folder must be bypassed as they cannot be messured properly for automatic folding. It takes 5 people to run fitted sheets. 2 feeding the ironer and 3 folders. Two folding length wise as they come off a 375 degree ironer and 1 making the final 3 crossfolds. We can run 400 to 500 flat sheets with only 3 people in the time it takes to run only 200 fitted.
Fitted sheets DO NOT last as long as flat sheets as the elastic cannot withstand ironing temperatures and the detergents normally used in hospital or hotel laundring. on the avg. A flat sheets last thru 200 washings a fitted sheet will last approx. 75 to 80 washings. This is also not to mention the fact that too many times they are litterly "ripped " off the beds by housekeeping. Then we have the extra repair cost to add in also. We have several Drs. that have stock in 2 VERY upscale hotels here. And we have to process work for both of them also.. One uses fitted sheets the other does not. Both charge in excess of $500.00 per night. I assure you the cost of a room has NOTHING to do with the use of fitted sheets..
In 30+ years I have NEVER talked with any laundry manager that likes fitted sheets. We have to process what is purchased or wanted by others.
Most of the time the use of them is dictated by Housekeepers who are pushed into trying to produce more work faster, or see how many more beds can be made useing fitted sheets than use of flat sheets.
We still have a few that know how to make a hospital bed but too many times they do not want to take the extra few seconds it takes to do the job right. We also have one facility that knots the sheets at both ends making sure they will not come off the beds.
In the past years most fitted sheets would fit any bed. no so any more as mattress thickness are now VERY different. Now they range anywhere from 3 to 4" all the way to 9 or 10 " no one sheet will fit all anymore. Even in hospitals the thickness varies greatly.. This is also another point for flat sheets. as the thickness does not matter as much.
I process some 200 fitted sheets each day,And have ALWAYS HATED them. The Ironer must be run at half speed or less and the folder must be bypassed as they cannot be messured properly for automatic folding. It takes 5 people to run fitted sheets. 2 feeding the ironer and 3 folders. Two folding length wise as they come off a 375 degree ironer and 1 making the final 3 crossfolds. We can run 400 to 500 flat sheets with only 3 people in the time it takes to run only 200 fitted.
Fitted sheets DO NOT last as long as flat sheets as the elastic cannot withstand ironing temperatures and the detergents normally used in hospital or hotel laundring. on the avg. A flat sheets last thru 200 washings a fitted sheet will last approx. 75 to 80 washings. This is also not to mention the fact that too many times they are litterly "ripped " off the beds by housekeeping. Then we have the extra repair cost to add in also. We have several Drs. that have stock in 2 VERY upscale hotels here. And we have to process work for both of them also.. One uses fitted sheets the other does not. Both charge in excess of $500.00 per night. I assure you the cost of a room has NOTHING to do with the use of fitted sheets..
In 30+ years I have NEVER talked with any laundry manager that likes fitted sheets. We have to process what is purchased or wanted by others.
Most of the time the use of them is dictated by Housekeepers who are pushed into trying to produce more work faster, or see how many more beds can be made useing fitted sheets than use of flat sheets.
We still have a few that know how to make a hospital bed but too many times they do not want to take the extra few seconds it takes to do the job right. We also have one facility that knots the sheets at both ends making sure they will not come off the beds.
In the past years most fitted sheets would fit any bed. no so any more as mattress thickness are now VERY different. Now they range anywhere from 3 to 4" all the way to 9 or 10 " no one sheet will fit all anymore. Even in hospitals the thickness varies greatly.. This is also another point for flat sheets. as the thickness does not matter as much.
two cents:
seems to me that the whether or not one uses a contour sheet and how they deal with that contour sheet could be an excellent test for OCD(Martha Stewart, for example).
Although I found that folding video informative, I've been folding contour sheets, after a fashion, successfully for years and although a bit of a pain, not a problem.
I always agree with Laundress, but we had a friend who was a surgical nurse at St. Vincent's during the sixties and she used to describe what those sadistic nuns and doctors used to make those poor overworked women go through, for no really good reason other than collective insanity and vanity. For one thing, Jill used to have to wear a standard nurses' uniform modeled on the nuns' habits that included wimples and straight pins. Nurses had to sleep in these things as it took more than twenty minutes for them to get properly attired for the operating theatre when on call. In that environment, a perfectly mitred hospital corner(which, by the way, I pride myself on being able to achieve having been taught by another woman who was also a practical nurse at Bellevue) would have been the least of their tasks. Thank God times have changed. Can you imagine requiring the work pool hospitals need to draw from today even making a bed properly? Although I miss many of the customs and products of yesteryear, many inventions, like the contour sheet and the automatic washer, deserve gratitude for freeing people(mostly women) from pointless drudgery.
Long live contour sheets.
seems to me that the whether or not one uses a contour sheet and how they deal with that contour sheet could be an excellent test for OCD(Martha Stewart, for example).
Although I found that folding video informative, I've been folding contour sheets, after a fashion, successfully for years and although a bit of a pain, not a problem.
I always agree with Laundress, but we had a friend who was a surgical nurse at St. Vincent's during the sixties and she used to describe what those sadistic nuns and doctors used to make those poor overworked women go through, for no really good reason other than collective insanity and vanity. For one thing, Jill used to have to wear a standard nurses' uniform modeled on the nuns' habits that included wimples and straight pins. Nurses had to sleep in these things as it took more than twenty minutes for them to get properly attired for the operating theatre when on call. In that environment, a perfectly mitred hospital corner(which, by the way, I pride myself on being able to achieve having been taught by another woman who was also a practical nurse at Bellevue) would have been the least of their tasks. Thank God times have changed. Can you imagine requiring the work pool hospitals need to draw from today even making a bed properly? Although I miss many of the customs and products of yesteryear, many inventions, like the contour sheet and the automatic washer, deserve gratitude for freeing people(mostly women) from pointless drudgery.
Long live contour sheets.
And Now For The Million Dollar Question . . .
Launderess -
I remember you saying a while back that you change your sheets several times per week. With that in mind, which ones do you use/prefer on a daily basis - flat or fitted?
I can only imagine that your house is very similar to a luxary hotel in many ways - freshly ironed linens, soft yet absorbent white towels and nicely starched table cloths and napkins! As a single guy here and somewhat of a workaholic, I'm lucky to have time to make my bed, much less iron my sheets - though I love the idea!
Launderess -
I remember you saying a while back that you change your sheets several times per week. With that in mind, which ones do you use/prefer on a daily basis - flat or fitted?
I can only imagine that your house is very similar to a luxary hotel in many ways - freshly ironed linens, soft yet absorbent white towels and nicely starched table cloths and napkins! As a single guy here and somewhat of a workaholic, I'm lucky to have time to make my bed, much less iron my sheets - though I love the idea!
All of my bed linen is vintage linen, Metis (a French sheeting of cotton and linen blend), percale and muslin. The excpetion are two fited sheets that came with a set (Frette and Nancy Koltes), given as gifts
danemodsandy
Well-known member
I Only Wish...
...That Cannon was still around as an American mill. They made a great 200-count percale at a very reasonable price. I'm not really a fan of high-count percale; the cost is disproportionate to the benefit, in my personal scheme of things. I tend to like no-frills stuff.
I was once lodged in a guest room that had high-count sheets and cases edged with Battenberg lace. Now there was a case of Kreuger Face....
...That Cannon was still around as an American mill. They made a great 200-count percale at a very reasonable price. I'm not really a fan of high-count percale; the cost is disproportionate to the benefit, in my personal scheme of things. I tend to like no-frills stuff.
I was once lodged in a guest room that had high-count sheets and cases edged with Battenberg lace. Now there was a case of Kreuger Face....
Have some vintage Cannon things: mainly towels, washcloths and some sheets (percale). Wamsutta's "supercale" and Cannon's "Lavender Lawn" and others probably were the best cotton bed linens ever made in the United States, or any place else for that matter. Vintage Wamsutta and Cannon percale linens go for big money on eBay, thankfully one has a stash large enough for the duration, and knows how to find more.
The only problem with vintage percale sheets is finding sizes larger than 108"x81". Often 108"x91" comes up, but they are rare as large queen sized beds, nor king were common in Amercian homes until after the heyday of pure cotton linens. By the time Cannon started producing "Lustercale" (a poly cotton blend), around the 1960's or so, housewives had started getting out of the habit of ironing, especially sheets.
IMHO, NOTHING equals sleeping on freshly washed, line dried then damp ironed linens. Not even commercial laundry where linens are ironed damp on an ironer right from the washing machine.
L.
The only problem with vintage percale sheets is finding sizes larger than 108"x81". Often 108"x91" comes up, but they are rare as large queen sized beds, nor king were common in Amercian homes until after the heyday of pure cotton linens. By the time Cannon started producing "Lustercale" (a poly cotton blend), around the 1960's or so, housewives had started getting out of the habit of ironing, especially sheets.
IMHO, NOTHING equals sleeping on freshly washed, line dried then damp ironed linens. Not even commercial laundry where linens are ironed damp on an ironer right from the washing machine.
L.
danemodsandy
Well-known member
Launderess:
"Have some vintage Cannon things: mainly towels, washcloths and some sheets (percale). Wamsutta's "supercale" and Cannon's "Lavender Lawn" and others probably were the best cotton bed linens ever made in the United States, or any place else for that matter."
Oh, for the days when real quality was as close as your nearest major department store, or the pages of the Sears, Penneys, and Monkey Wards catalogues....
"Have some vintage Cannon things: mainly towels, washcloths and some sheets (percale). Wamsutta's "supercale" and Cannon's "Lavender Lawn" and others probably were the best cotton bed linens ever made in the United States, or any place else for that matter."
Oh, for the days when real quality was as close as your nearest major department store, or the pages of the Sears, Penneys, and Monkey Wards catalogues....
whirlcool
Well-known member
I remember the days when you could purchase a flat sheet of a fitted sheet as separates. Nowadays it seems everything comes in "sets".
We have a set of 300 TC Egyptian Cotton sheets by Springmaid we about about 10 years ago. Those are the softest sheets we have ever felt. We paid a good penny for the set, bought them as separates. And they are wearing like iron! About a year ago we went looking for them again and the store we bought them at no longer carries the brand. One of our neighbors told Karen that you can now find Springmaid sheets at Walmart. I am sure it's another case of the name being sold off and cheap products being sold under that name.
I definitely remember Cannon's Made In USA campaign. It seems that all the manufacturing of sheets has also gone overseas mostly to India and Pakistan. I guess at some point in time there was consolidation in the linen industry here in the US?
We have a set of 300 TC Egyptian Cotton sheets by Springmaid we about about 10 years ago. Those are the softest sheets we have ever felt. We paid a good penny for the set, bought them as separates. And they are wearing like iron! About a year ago we went looking for them again and the store we bought them at no longer carries the brand. One of our neighbors told Karen that you can now find Springmaid sheets at Walmart. I am sure it's another case of the name being sold off and cheap products being sold under that name.
I definitely remember Cannon's Made In USA campaign. It seems that all the manufacturing of sheets has also gone overseas mostly to India and Pakistan. I guess at some point in time there was consolidation in the linen industry here in the US?
