Bedding Fabric Buying Guide

By Hannah Voak August 2024

A good night’s sleep starts with great sheets, and choosing the right bedding fabric is a crucial first step. Since starting Piglet in Bed in 2017, we’ve poured a lot of love and care into finding the best fabric for bedding, and for us, natural materials have always been non-negotiable.

Our opening collection comprised 100% linen bedding designs and since then we’ve grown to incorporate our relaxed look cotton bedding and soft and breathable linen blend bedding. Choosing the right bedding largely comes down to personal preference, so with that in mind we’ve put together a handy bedding fabric guide to help your find your perfect pick.

Importance of Choosing the Right Fabric

When choosing between bedding fabric types, you’ll want to consider the feel and weight of the material, as well as the cost and any care recommendations. All our sheets feel soft against the skin, but different fabrics and weaves will give different finishes.

Decide whether you prefer your bedding to feel smooth, silky, crisp, cool or cosy, and whether you want a lightweight or heavier fabric. The price of bedding may also be a determining factor, and with our choice of three fabrics, there’s something for every budget.

Types of Bedding

Our collections are made up of three bedding fabric types: 100% linen, 100% cotton and our linen cotton blend. Here, we’ll talk you through the differences between these three fabrics to help you choose your perfect bedding.

100% Linen Bedding

Few fabrics exude the same level of understated elegance as linen. It’s luxurious yet low-maintenance, lightweight yet durable, and only gets softer with age. Made from the long fibres of the flax plant, linen fabric for bedding is breathable and naturally thermoregulating, keeping you at just the right temperature, no matter the season.

100% linen is an ideal bedding fabric for those wanting durable sheets with a rustic feel that only get softer with wear

Linen is one of the most durable natural fabrics there is, and the fibres are three times stronger than cotton. Flax is grown almost exclusively in Europe and is notoriously laborious to harvest. As a result, linen is a high-quality fibre that is much rarer than other textiles, and this is reflected by its higher price.

Our linen bedding is woven from 100% European flax. We recommend to machine wash our linen bedding at 40°C and embrace the fabric’s natural crumpled texture for fuss-free bed making!

Linen Blend Bedding

Woven from a mix of 55% European linen and 45% long staple cotton, our linen blend bedding combines the effortless look of linen with the softness of cotton. As with our linen bedding, our blended fabric is naturally breathable and thermoregulating, but the addition of cotton gives it a smoother finish.

Cosy yet lightweight, our linen blend bedding is the perfect year-round essential and will withstand being thrown in a 40°C wash again and again. Our linen blend sheets are also less likely to crease compared to our 100% linen and 100% cotton bedding, so we encourage you to put your iron away!

Made in Portugal with the same high-quality linen and BCI-certified cotton (more on that below) from our other collections, our linen blend bedding offers luxurious sheets at the best possible value.

Cotton Bedding

Our no-fuss 100% cotton bedding is a classic choice for hotel-worthy sheets at home. Made from long cotton fibres woven into a percale weave, it has a crisp, cool feel and is perfect for warmer nights and hot sleepers. Super soft and naturally breathable, our cotton bedding has a lightweight yet durable 200 thread count weave with a matte finish.

All our cotton is sourced in partnership with the Better Cotton Initiative, the world’s leading sustainability initiative for cotton. We recommend machine washing at 40°C and you can iron for a smooth look or embrace the wrinkles! Our cotton bedding has many similar qualities to our linen and linen blend collections, but is that little bit easier on the wallet.

You’ll also find our cotton bedding with a puckered seersucker finish for extra texture, as well as a cosy brushed cotton for the winter months.

Difference Between Linen and Cotton Bedding

There are a few key differences between cotton and linen bedding. Cotton usually feels smooth to the touch with a cool and crisp finish, whereas linen has a cosier, rustic feel to it. Both fabrics are naturally breathable but cotton doesn’t have the same weight that linen does, and while linen gets softer with wear, cotton feels ultra-soft right out of the box.

Whether you prefer the luxury of linen, the softness of cotton, or the best of both worlds with our linen blend, understanding the characteristics of each bedding fabric will help you find your perfect match.

We spend roughly a third of our lives nestled in bed, so it’s important to get it right. If you’re still contemplating which is for you, reach out to our team of comfort lovers. We’re always happy to help. And if you’re still not sure what to go for, why not try all three?

Written by Hannah Voak

Hannah is our Copywriter at Piglet in Bed. Currently living in the Cotswolds, she’s our resident expert when it comes to rural living and cottagecore. When she’s not at her desk writing, you’ll find her walking in the countryside or curled up in her dressing gown reading a good book.

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