According to Forbes Magazine (oct. 1998 issue), a set of new queen size Pratesi linen sheets cost $4,400. While most of us could not afford to buy them new, many antique and vintage sheets offer superb quality along with durability and incomparable beauty. We use antique sheets on our beds, and, when we have houseguests, they rave about the guestroom sheets!
There is nothing like the quality of the fabrics or the handwork on these beautiful sheets. You can own a "work of art monogram" for far less than a monet, VanGogh or even a Chihuly!
The bottom sheet dilemma: Because fitted bottom sheets were a mid-20th century development, antique fitted bottom sheets are nearly nonexistent. The easiest thing to do is to pair a modern fitted bottom sheet with an antique top sheet. If you can find one that is large enoough, you can use a plain antique top sheet on the bottom and tuck it in the old fashioned way, using "hospital corners."
Some people have adopted the European tradition of using a duvet cover with or without a top sheet. One can sew together a pair of antique sheets to make a duvet or use an antique sheet for the top of the duvet with a new sheet or other fabric for the bottom, or vice versa. Duvets close in many ways: with buttons, ties and even velcro. Some are only partly sewn closed along the bottom (the opening is small and the comforter stays inside) and there are some that are open across the entire bottom side. I have one of these and, yes, maddeningly, my comforter does slip out.
Blanket covers are a single layer of fabric. They fastened, usually with buttons, to the blanket. Sometimes they attach only to one side of the blanket and sometimes they wrap around the edges. They can make wonderful sheets. BLANKET COVERS
A Duvet cover (French word pronounced "doo-vay") is an envelope into which a comforter is inserted. The Europen way is .... with a duvet, no top sheet is used; the duvet-comforter duo becomes a free-floating (not tucked into the mattress) top sheet. DUVET COVERS | BEDSPREADS
Fabrics: Cotton is the usual bedding suspect here in North America because it grew so well here; linen is a wonderful fiber that is rarer and more expensive today; hemp used to be the everyday fabric of the low-born; and métis is the interesting old French fabric that is blended linen and cotton that isn't made any more. It is heavy and slightly stiff when new. Like linen, it softens with repeated laundering and it is a wonderful, comfortable bedding fiber, combining the best characteristics of linen and cotton.
