butterflywing

interesting question i have to check and see. usa still has an important cotton crop.

fabric softener coats the cotton decreasing it it's inherent cotton-y qualities.
air movement shakes the fibers and prevents them from stiffening, the same way the dryer does, but it smells better, doesn't it? the fibers are actually absorbing the smells of the grass, flowers etc. if there were bad smells, they would absors those too.

Lisanne

Re the merrimekko, I never had any. It was way too expensive back when I was in college. I'd read that it was making a comeback, but never saw any. Shame you had such poor quality when you got it. I'd have called the company and complained vehemently (which is a euphemism for how I'd really phrase it).

Thanks for all your explanations.

I, too, would like to know if any bed linens are still made in the US. I actually did some research on this about 10 years ago, was told then that it's all done overseas but I've always wondered if I missed any mills here.

butterflywing

the merrimeko that i bought at crate and barrel were cut offs from their draperies and upholstery and probably never meant to be washed. however, it should never have rubbed off. i haven't seen it in 1000 years so but i know their quality has changed. i do have one piece that i bought in college. it's a one-yard piece (it was all i could afford). i keep it for remembrance. it's faded on every fold line. it's slipcover weight. i thought i would make a pillow or a vest. i could never cut it. see? i should have.

OhCanada

Many of the American companies (Hugo Boss, Lacoste, Nicole Miller, Hotel Collection, etc) have their bedding manufactured in Pakistan. I just had a 1 day tour of a local textile mill with the owner, so I saw the process from beginning to end and had the opportunity to ask many questions. The raw cotton itself comes from many countries, including India, Pakistan, Egypt and the United States. The USA exports a lot of raw cotton to Pakistan, it is very high quality raw material. Interestingly enough, the cotton from Egypt has decreased in quality in recent years, according to the owner of this textile mill. It was a fascinating day, to watch raw cotton being transformed into yarn, then cloth, the silk screening process to colour the fabric, embroidery, cutting, sewing and packaging. The quality control measures were extensive! I took many photos, I plan to order them into an album, caption them and put into an album in my QB profile.

ManiacQuilter2

This is exactly what I was going to say. I like feeling the fabric.

hairquilt

So much info to absorb! I buy a lot of sheets at Savers and have noticed the difference between them if made in Israel, Pakistan, Japan, Egypt. Never even knew those countries made and shipped to us. That's one thing I love about this Board(info you never knew or even thought about) Thanks for starting this thread peaceandjoy!

rryder

this is slightly off topic, but in response to Butterfly wings problem with the red cloth. I had a similar problem years ago. DH bought two sets of designer, super soft sheets in the mid to late 90s for a Christmas present to us, one was blue and the other red. The blue was fine, but every time the red was washed and dried, it would literally fill up the dryer lint collector with red lint. On top of that, I was getting horrible headaches every night when we used the red sheets. This went on for over a year and the red sheets were still producing lots of lint in the dryer, and dye was rubbing off as well.

One morning after sleeping on the red sheets, I had a horrible headache and badly stuffed nose. When I blew my nose, out came tons of red lint--guess what happened to those sheets.

Anyway, I'm thinking that the red and blue were both from Ralph Lauren-- but I can't remember for sure. I've never been willing to buy super soft red sheets again LOL.

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Pennyhal

Thanks Butterflywing for the info! I learned a lot from it.

Sandygirl

good quality quilting fabric is "60 square". Definition...

This is the thread count, when the cotton is constructed, if counted the number of squares in a inch of the said fabric you would have 60, hence the term 60 square. The higher the thread count the finer the fabric, so up goes the quality, and price,
A good quality cotton fabric would be a percale quality, around 500 thread count

we got off in the weeds talking about bed linens so I wanted to get back on track. Btw, i love Egyptian cotton sheets. I love the Kohls and the Walmart house brands too. I have shopped the department stores and BB&Beyond but prices get out of hand. I am happy with my choices.

Sandy

KatGV

butterflywing This might be somewhat off topic but I am making a quilt with some solid percale sheets I have but I need a black fabric and cant find a cheap enough black percale sheet ... Is there a cotton or cotton blend fabric comparable to a 210 percale sheet fabric?? TIA for your help Kat