Vintage NOS bed linens vs. new

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Percale versus Muslin

Better quality muslin cloth starts at around 140 thread per square inch. Higher quality muslin starts at 180 or so threads per square inch, with percale being anything at or over 200 threads per square inch.

Muslin bed linen for ages was standard choice for economical housewives and those charged with housekeeping for everything from hotels to hospitals.

Muslin is made from thicker cotton threads thus produces a heavier final product. All that weight and thicker threads also meant muslin bed linen weighed more which was a big factor when it came to laundering.

Laundries either charge by piece or weight, with most industrial/commercial laundries using the latter. So a home or other establishment that sent their washing out suffered higher costs with muslin bed linen because it weighed more.

Also muslin being made from thicker threads absorbs and holds lots of water. This meant drying took longer (machine or air), and ironing (by machine or hand) also was more of a chore..

Muslin being more hard wearing than percale isn't always true either. Because the latter not only has more threads per square inch, but they are thinner as well you get a much tighter and stronger weave.

Percale...

Muslin had a reputation (at least in lower grades) of being economy to downright poverty choice for bed linen. Percale OTOH was seen as more upscale. Wamsutta shook up that notion.

About 1936 Wamsutta Mills came out with "Eco-Tension" weaving of their percale fabric. This was touted to produce a stronger, high quality, luxrious and hard wearing percale fabric. Named "Supercale" Wamsutta launched a PR and marketing blitz starting in late 1930's to get housewives and others to upgrade from muslin to "Supercale".

Main talking points for Supercale was that percale bed linens were lighter and thus saved money if sent out to laundries. This and or they were also far easier to launder at home (including ironing) again due to their lighter weight compared to muslin. None of this sacrificed durability and long wear, with Wamsutta (and soon other mills) all saying that their percale bed linens gave just as good or longer wear than muslin.

Look through these old adverts for Wamsutta Supercale. Copy always keeps to few key themes; economical to own, easy to launder, serviceable with long wear, and of course luxurious to sleep upon.

https://www.tias.com/wamsutta-supercale-sheets-ad---may-1939-581656.html
 
My mom usually bought high quality bed and bath linens, such as Wamsutta, Fieldcrest, or JP Stevens Utica. They held up well for a long time. I've noticed a decrease in quality in what I've bought in the last 15 - 20 years, concurrent with the move from American made to imported. Target had a line of towels made by Westpoint-Stevens that was good quality and reasonably priced, and I purchased several. A couple years later I bought a couple more (imported) and they got ragged in a short time.
 
So not as to repeat oneself....

Thanks for the links.

Sorry to rehash the subject but they were a little before my time on AW so this is all new to me.
 
Another supplier now

is Vermont Country Store.  Perhaps Eddie Bauer.?         

 

 

 Yes, L L Bean.  Leon Leonwood Bean.

 

 

Ma and Dad had colored Cannon sheets from their 1956 wedding.  They were pink stripes.  Lasted for years!  They were hidden hep cats.  Looked lie Jane  & Joe average...  However, college, The Depression, both wars..

 

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
Lawrence, we had Cannon towels that matched those sheets! My mom took two and made drapes for the bathroom window, and we had a couple others plus washcloths to match. Had them for many years.

Pete, I like those sheets, too; very "southwest" looking.
 
I have a thick mattress (2 sided pillowtop) so I need sheets with deep pockets.. Sadly I haven't found any vintage that would even come close to fitting. I've hated microfiber for years, but gave in and bought a set (because I'm cheap and couldn't justify $50-60+ for a set of queen size sheets) They are from a company called "South Shore Fine Linens" and I've fallen in love with them. (For anyone interested they are available on amazon, I believe $33 for a queen set) The flat sheet is elastic all the way around, and even my thick mattress is no match.. I have 6-8" of fitted sheet tucked in.. Never moves around. They have been wonderfully soft, haven't faded a bit even with an occasional hot wash (mine are black though they are available in 18 colors!) And have worn like cast iron so far. The set comes with 4 pillowcases and the flat sheet is plenty long on all sides. They are brushed on both sides of the material so they don't feel slippery or slide around the bed, and did I mention they are SOFT?? Better in winter but I keep my room cold in the summer too, so not usually a problem. I do have other sheets (couple different sets of various cotton blends, one set of bamboo) and I end up with these back on as soon as they get washed.. Everytime.
 
King and queen sized mattresses weren't introduced to American market until 1950's.

Thus prior to 1950 you'll only find twin/single and full/double/matrimonial.

Queen sized beds were meant to replace double/matrimonial giving two people slightly more room. Depending upon how generous maker of bed sheets was you might be able to use a Full/Double/Matrimonial sheet on Queen sized bed. Am talking about plain sheets here not fitted.

As for fitted sheets, they didn't exist until 1959. We have two women, first an African American named Bertha Berman who in 1957 invented and patented first fitted bed sheet. Inspired likely because same as thousands of women both in their own homes or as part of their jobs were fed up with making beds with flat sheets on bottom that rarely remained taut. In 1990, Gisele Jubinville took things to another level creating deep pocket fitted sheets.
 
None of early fitted sheets had elastic. Bertha Berman's patented "fitted sheet" only had four corners sewn down in such a way to hold onto mattress. It was not perfect by any means with corners popping off. To get a better hold you had to use something still sold today, sheet straps/grippers/garters.

https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/sheet-straps-set-of-4/1014808051

Don't know added elastic or when, but Giselle Jubinville took things up a notch when she invented deep pocketed fitted sheets.

https://www.4-small-businesses.com/small-businesses-ideas-019.html

Never really liked fitted sheets, and normally don't bother. We cling to the old ways using flat sheets only.

Find elastic always goes on fitted sheets, then were are you? If part of a set and white, you're alright. But if it is a matched set you've now an orphaned top sheet.

When a plain flat sheet wears down middle you can cut it in half and sew "sides to midddle" to get nice new sheet.
 
Re: Reply#28

Thanks for posting this Louie.  I knew that I’d seen fitted sheets before 1959 and I remember that the first ones I saw didn’t have elastic.  I too saw the same article online that Laundress quoted from about them being first invented in 1959, but thought that this was incorrect.

 

Regardless, the advent of fitted sheets was revolutionary for bed making and sleeping.  I remember very well how much more difficult it was to make the bed everyday, because I had to re tuck the bottom sheet everyday.  And if you’re a restless sleeper that flat bottom sheet used to come undone into a wad on the mattress, sometimes a real tangle of sheets.

 

It was however a whole lot easier to fold and store all flat sheets and to gather a stack for changing several beds at once because they were all the same, either twin or double and easily discernible on the linen closet shelves.  And at least in our home they were all white, no sets to match.  Our pillowcases were all white ones too, and Mom had cross stitch embroidered designs on borders of all the pillow cases and the edges were crocheted.   And all the sheets were ironed and the pillowcases were starched too.

 

To make a bed today with flat bottom sheets you’d need to buy the next size larger ie. use a double size on a twin bed because the flat sheets today are way too  small to have enough material to tuck in tightly under the mattress even using hospital corners. Either that or you’d need to have a supply of the larger vintage flat sheets, otherwise your bed would be a hot mess as soon as you got into it at night with only 6” or less of the bottom sheet tucked under the mattress.

 

Eddie
 
Find elastic always goes on fitted sheets,

I'm looking forward to the elastic wearing out on a fitted sheet for a change before it rips in half.

Also going mostly all white from now on to avoid "orphaned" sheets.

I'm still kicking myself for not buying more of the new vintage sheets at that estate sale because they weren't the right size. They had stack of them new in the packages for $5 each.

Didn't realize until afterward that they could be altered to fit for less than they sell for on Ebay these days, which is what I did with a few I purchased..
 
Fitted sheets can be a beast to wash and dry, can't tell you how many times they ball up and other items are inside that ball. Sometimes on deep pocket sheets I'll launder the sheet by themselves. 

I've found that even expensive sheets are not holding up, mostly rips and tears, and they are wearing down after just a few months. For a while I thought washing in my traditional top load SQ just hasten the deterioration but I've still got sheets mom bought at Monky Wards that are still holding up well.  It's frustrating. They can be a beast to fold also. 

But there's nothing like freshly laundered sheets on the bed, esp if you can hang them outside in the breeze to dry. 

 

Barry

 
 
I've found my sheets to wear down in the area where my feet rest on them, then eventually tear. I got a set from JC Penney about 5 years ago that has a a thicker more satiny feel to them and they've held up very well. I also bought at the same time a cheaper set that has a more soft feel and they've held up ok but can tell they're getting toward the end of their life.

As for washing, they twist up in my SQ but it's usually not too bad. My Maytag DC really bunches them up a lot. I usually wash them hot with medium or high water level and a good scoop of Oxiclean seems to help get body oils out.
 
Starting in early 1920's Wamsutta and one assumes other US textile mills began pushing high quality percale bed linens to replace pure linen sheets and pillow slips.

Well off Americans back then often took household decorating and management cues from Europe (especially France) where pure linen was the gold standard.

Cotton percale bed linen are easier to care for than pure linen, and this including holding up to abusive laundering practices of some launderesses or laundries.

In about a generation or so pure linen was largely replaced by percale in homes of the wealthy and pretty much everyone else. When Wamsutta kicked things up a notch by introducing Supercale, it basically was end of linen for bedrooms in USA. Table linen other hand still was largely pure linen.
 
and when they are cost quite dear.

Thats for sure.

With the crazy shipping costs and tax the average price for one muslin twin sheet vintage muslin sheet on Ebay is $20+.

Many still have the original price tags on them, usually sold new for $1.xx. Way beyond the rate of inflation.

Also, seems like there is price fixing on Ebay these days. Many sellers of similar or identical products yet all priced within a few dollars of each other and no one budges.
 
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“Many sellers of similar or identical products yet all priced within a few dollars of each other and no one budges.”

 

Add the items that you are interested in to your Watchlist, and then wait.  Often times the seller will contact you with a discounted offer to move the merch.   Sometimes the discounts are pretty good too.

 

Eddie 
 

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