Sheets: when to wash them, replace them and more!
At Manchester Warehouse we have all sorts of information about bed sheets online for you, but there are still a range of questions being asked about sheets, so we’ve rounded up the answers for you in this blog post. From how often you should wash your sheets to handling blood stains and yellowing, to folding fitted sheets, we’ve got you covered.
Why should I use a flat sheet?
Flat bed sheets are sold individually, or as part of a set with a fitted sheet and pillowcases. A flat sheet has two main purposes. Firstly, it can help to prolong the life of your quilt cover by allowing for it to be washed less often.. This is because it’s an extra layer between you and your quilt cover, protecting it from being right against your skin. And secondly, in those summer months it can be used as something very light to pull over you when you don’t want a blanket or doona on you but still want some coverage.
How do I choose cool bed sheets for summer?
The best sheets to buy for summer are those composed of cotton, linen, or cotton and bamboo. These are natural fibres that will help regulate your body temperature and keep you comfortable. The materials to avoid are polyester and flannelette. It’s also best to look for sheets with a low to mid range thread count, somewhere in the 300-600 range. When you get up to 1000THC sheets there are a lot of threads per square centimeter which makes it quite thick and heavy on your body - not ideal in summer.
How often should you wash your sheets?
For children, the rule of thumb is once a fortnight. They’re just one small body, and are generally bathed before they go to bed. For adults, we recommend once a week for sheets. While it is a very personal choice and some may disagree with us, here’s our case: You wear an outfit to work for eight or nine hours and then it goes in the wash, but may spend 8-10 hours a night in bed and there may be more than one person in the bed also. Multiply that by 7 days and that’s up to 70 hours a night that those sheets are against your skin between washes. If you wash once a month that could be as many as 310 hours. Would you wear your t-shirt for 310 hours without washing it? Probably not! Again, this is our answer to the question ‘how often should you change your sheets?’. You can probably get away with washing your quilt cover only every fortnight or once a month if you are using a flat sheet in between you and the quilt cover.
How often should you replace your sheets?
Connected to the question of how often to change sheets is how often you should buy new ones. If you’re buying quality sheets, you should get years of use out of them. When you buy sheets online from Manchester Warehouse you are covered by our 12 month sheet replacement guarantee. We will replace your sheets if you experience any faults - but of course we expect your sheets will last much longer than a year! A lot depends on your initial investment, as well as what your washing cycle is like, and how you use and alternate sheets. We always recommend having at least two sets of sheets and quilt covers to alternate, not just to prolong their life but make washing and drying an easier process. But there will always be a difference in longevity between sheets from your local supermarket and the best bed sheets in Australia.
Teach me how to fold fitted sheets?
We sure can! It’s a little tricky to explain in text, so keep your eyes peeled for a video tutorial from us. But here’s our advice.
- Hold your fitted sheet up by the corners, two in each hand, with the width going across in front of you.
- Take the corner closest to you on the left side, flip it inside out, and slip it into the corner that is behind it. Do the same on the right side.
- Take your right hand and again flip that corner inside out, with your hand underneath. Then take that whole corner and tuck it again into the corner where your left hand is. You will now have a quarter folded sheet with all the elastic on the top and the left hand side folded over and closest to you.
- Lay the sheet flat and fold it in half or in thirds, and then again in half or thirds depending on the size of your cupboard and how you like them folded.
And voila! All folded.
How to remove blood stains from sheets?
For a natural approach, dissolve a teaspoon of salt in a cup of cold water, wet the stain with a clean towel and allow to soak before rinsing and washing as normal. Another option is a prewash stain remover. Spray the stain, let it soak for a couple of hours or so, and then grab the fabric with your hands and rub together in that area to scuff out the stain. Do this under cold running water and most of the stain should come out. The rest will come out in the washing machine. These techniques will work the same for white sheets or for coloured sheets. Whichever you choose, the sooner you get to the stain the better your chances of success.
How to get yellow stains out of white sheets?
Two of the most common questions we are asked is how to whiten sheets and how to bleach sheets. Our first piece of advice? Don’t ever bleach your sheets! Bleach absolutely destroys the fibers in sheets, and the whitening and brightening effect can be achieved without using bleach. Instead, we recommend a prewash powder. For a front loader washing machine, simply add the prewash powder to the prewash section, add your normal powder to the normal powder section, and wash at 40 degrees on a general cycle or a cotton cycle. For a top loading machine you will have to add the presoak powder to a short cycle in the machine as though it was the normal detergent, and then afterwards wash on a normal cycle.
Now you know how to care for your sheets, browse our collection on site! We have sheets in a range of materials and in every size to help you get a good night’s sleep every night.
