High thread count Egyptian cotton bed sheets are a really popular thing in the luxury bedding group lately. Fabric thread counts have spiraled to dizzying heights, and range from 180 to 1500. Classic wisdom counsels that cloth increases in softness as thread count increases, so shoppers gravitate toward large amounts when making their final buying decision. However, the rules for determining quality fabrics on the market has shifted. You cannot make an apple-to-apple contrast between two bed sheet sets based purely on thread count numbers.
Let us begin to unravel The puzzle of high thread count fabric with a very simple definition of thread count: number of threads per square inch of fabric. That is simple enough. Cut out a square inch of cloth, count the amount of threads and there you have your thread count. The only issue is that you require a microscope to really see the very small threads. In reality the way professionals in textile mills get a precise thread count is to get a sample of cloth analyzed at a laboratory – an expensive procedure.
If you did send your 1000tc, 1200tc, or 1500tc cloth to a laboratory, you may be amazed by the results. What you would learn is that:
- Thread size decreases as thread count increases.
- Threads are twisted before weaving to attain higher thread count.
- Twisted threads are known as multi ply, and are usually not as durable as single ply threads.
- Fiber length is more important in creating a lavish hand than thread count.
Bed Sheet Fabric Terminology
Of course the average Shopper does not have access to microscopes and fabric labs, but can rely on a simple education about how materials are made to notify their bedsheets online purchasing decision. It will help you to know a few common cloth terms:
- Thread size
- Twisted thread
- Multi ply, 2 ply, 3 ply, etc..
- Single ply
- Staple fiber length
Let us Look a little closer today at every attribute. Thread size is fairly straight forward. It is simply the width of the threads used to weave a cloth. Thread can be thick or thin, making fabrics of different weights. But threads may also be twisted prior to weaving, as a method of producing thicker fabrics with a softer hand from threads that are thinner. A twisted thread is a combination of two or more threads which wrap around one another to form one thread – kind of like a rope is made by wrapping a couple of smaller ropes together to form one cord.