Percale Sheets Made A Great Surprise Wedding Gift

Posted on March 31, 2010 | Category: Wedding Trivia

My wife and I received a set of percale sheets as one of our many wedding presents.  We thought, “Great, sheets, thanks.” They ended up forgotten in the back of the linen closet for almost a couple of years.  Spring cleaning a few years ago brought them back out and with the economy tightening, we decided to give them a shot.  Boy are we glad we did, because those percale sheets are the best sheets we have ever tried.

But what is percale?  Although the word percale is traced back to 18th century France, the fabric itself was brought to Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries from India.  It is not a type of fabric in the way we think of cotton or linen or silk.  Percale is a method of weaving.  This particular method works by each yarn or thread being crossed over another yarn or thread when it is woven together.  As one might guess, it produces a rather strong fabric that has become renowned for its long-lasting and hard-wearing nature.

Just buying percale sheets is not the answer to sleeping nirvana, however.  Thread count needs to be considered, although just buying the highest thread count won’t guarantee quality sheets, either.  North of 400 is a good place to start, but don’t be suckered in by the “high thread count is quality” line of thinking.  Cheap sheets with 1000 thread count are still going to be cheap sheets.  Find a good quality brand that backs up their product.  If you are buying online, be sure to buy from a place that has a generous return policy as what you get may not be what you are looking for.

Although my wife and I did not buy our first set of percale sheets, that is exactly what we will purchase the next time we need to shop for bed linens.  Percale sheets have proven to us to be a nice surprise and we will continue to buy percale sheets until something better comes along.

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