Makes Great Linen Sheets

Cotton sheets will feel warm to the touch when the night just will not cool down. Back in 2004 I had slept on pure linen sheets at a friend´s house, bought in Europe--they were heavier than any available here in the US, but were absolutely luxurious. I made sure I weighed them before I left Baton Rouge. I found that IL077 was closest to the weight of that linen (but is not as open a weave), so I made some sheets for a single futon out of this fabric. It has moderate linting, washes easily in hot water with Ecos Ultra Free and Clear laundry soap and Ecover fabric softener. I tried other linen weights available on this site but none gave me the feel of those sheets of 2004 than IL077. Shrinkage was about 11% after 8 pre-washes and the width dropped to 57" after the first wash. Do not worry about ironing these sheets, most wrinkles will relax with this heavier weight linen. Besides, comfort will trump appearance when it comes to getting a good night´s sleep. Linen is the only thing worth sleeping on during those hot, humid summer nights without an air-conditioner, as it handles the 90 degrees at 10 pm equally as well as the 63 degrees at 4 am without waking you up. Too bad this doesn´t come in 95-100" widths for a double bed. If you can stand seams at the edges to add width, it could be used to make sheets for the double bed. Be sure to make pillowcases, too since linen feels much cooler than cotton on your head, too. Since pure linen sheet sets tend to start at about $300 per set online (and all advertise as light weight linen, none with this heavy a weight), this fabric is a bargain at about $50 for a twin set and <$100 for a double bed of any size. And linen will last and last and last. Just do not use chlorine bleach, because chlorine will break down natural fibers--best is an enzyme bleach (e.g. Biz) once in a while.