How to choose your linens?

Percale, satin cotton and linen are the three fabrics you have to consider before choosing your bed linen. As one spends two thirds of one's life in bed it is essential to choose bed linens with care and maybe spend just a little more to make the diffence between an adquate set and a good quality one which will last longer and make you want to jump into bed at the thought of its comfort.  So what are the differences?

Percale and satin cotton are woven in a different thread pattern which gives them each a distinctive appearence and feel. Percale is mat and crisp, satin cotton is slightly shinier and looks more like silk and feels liken it! These two fabrics are woven in various thread counts.The higher the thread count the higher the quality.  Do not think you have to choose 1000 thread count to sleep well. From 300 thread count you can rest assured that you should be getting a very good quality product. It is entirely a question of taste. Some people prefer lighter 300 or 450 thread count cotton to the heavier 600 or 1000 thread count product. Of course, the cost does go up as the thread count increases and the quality depends as well on two other factors: the thread provenance such as Egyptian cotton , and the weavers such as the Italian weavers which are considered the finest.

Percale feels cooler  and crisper in the summer and Satin cotton feels more luxurious and softer on the skin. But linen is probably the coolest material  for your bed in the summer.

Linen seems to be enjoying a fantastic revival in both clothing and household linens, which is merited as it is such a beautiful fibre and its qualities far surpass those of cotton or man-made fibres. A historical study of linen shows that linen is the oldest vegetable fibre (called flax which is then spun into linen) and the noblest cloth - both the purest and the strongest. It also has the advantage of acquiring extreme softness over time. Some of you will have experienced the fact that the most delicious of all linen sheets are the ones stored for years in our grandmother’s cupboards. Linen is now embroidered all over the world, but Portugal, Spain, France, and Italy are most famous for their exquisite work on linen. The Italians have mastered the dying of this fibre, which results in its extraordinary variety and depth of colour unequalled on cotton. Egypt and Ireland are the two countries that come to mind in connection with the ancient history of linen; and up to the 1950’s, Ireland, France and Belgium were considered the finest producers of flax. Now, it is also massively cultivated in China.

From the finest handkerchief to the thickest double damask table cloth, there exists infinite varieties and qualities of linen to spoil yourselves with. Do not be deterred by its maintenance, the luxurious feel it conveys is well worth the effort. But for those who find classic linen too daunting, French and Italian linen weavers are now producing "crushed linen" which provides a permanent wrinkle effect which is very contemporary and requires no maintenance but delivers all the other benefits of linen. Of course, MLS offers the full range.

A SHORT HISTORY OF LINEN

W.H Webb has retraced the history of linen in a lecture. It is fascinating to discover through it the origins and symbols he evokes. Here is a synopsis of this lecture:

Linen is one of the earliest products known to civilization. When man settled down, he built himself cities, and cultivated the land. Amongst the products of the soil was flax, which once spun into yarn becomes linen. Therefore, linen is the earliest vegetable fabric to be woven. When the tomb of the Pharaoh of the Exodus, Rameses II, who died 1258 B.C, - 3,000 years ago, was discovered in 1881, the linen wrappings were intact. In the British Museum, London, are pieces of mummy-linen 6,000 years old. Recently cuttings from these were microscopically examined at the Linen Industry Research Institute, Belfast, and were found to be as structurally perfect as linen made today. This confirms the contention we make of its resistance to the march of time. This is also important from the hygienic point of view as there is no doubt that harmful germs leave linen unscathed. Were this not the case, ancient linens would long ago have disintegrated.

Through out the Old Testament we can find referances to fine linen which was held as an symbol of purity. For example the curtains of the Tabernacle were made of linen and so were the vestments of the high priest Aaron. When he entered the holy place he put on a holy linen cloak and girdle and upon his head was a linen mitre.

In the olden days, each family grew flax and wove linen for its own use. The earliest records of an established linen industry are 4,000 years old, and come to us from Egypt.

The Phoenicians, who, with their merchant fleet, opened up new channels of commerce to the peoples of the Mediterranean, introduced flax growing and the weaving of linen into Ireland before the birth of Christ, but it is not until the twelfth century that we can find records of a definite attempt to systematize flax production. When the Edict of Nantes was revoked, in 1695, many of the Huguenots who had to flee France settled in the British Isles, and amongst them was Louis Crommelin, who was born, and brought up as a weaver of fine linen, in the town of Cambrai in France. He fled to Ulster, and eventually settled down in the small town of Lisburn, about ten miles from Belfast.

Although the linen industry was already established in Ulster, Louis Crommelin found scope for improvement in weaving, and his efforts were so successful that he was appointed by the Government to develop this industry. The direct result of his good work was the establishment of the Board of Trustees of the Linen Manufacturers of Ireland in the year 1711.