Fitted Vs Unfitted Sheets (On Beds)

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A question which surely wants little expansion.

― Tom, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

fitted definitely, saves endless time on trying to wrap your mattress in a sheet.

― chris, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

(Note new email address designed to keep me out of trouble at work).

Fitted sheets are indescribably common and no good for toga parties. The former I discovered only recently whereas the latter I have known for some time. I am trying to improve myself though. Perhaps a brief spell in a finishing school would teach me more about bedding (hur hur).

― Emma, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Fitted sheets are a real arse to fold up. I only realised this when I finally got more than one set of linen for my bed and had to put the stuff in a cupboard for a week rather than drag it still damp from the radiator and put it straight back on the bed. However, hospital corners are a pain in the arse and flat sheets always come untucked because I'm a fidgeter with a restless leg so, overall, the fitted ones win.

― Madchen, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Emma, there's nothing common about having to re-make your bed completely every morning. Laziness may come into this but common- ness, never.

― chris, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It is not me who thinks it's common but London's Poshest Cockney. I think fitted sheets make perfect sense and unfitted ones just get pulled around if you are wriggling round in your bed (for whatever reason). However I am clearly Home Counties Nouveau Riche, my mum was working class, what do I know?

― Emma, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

With a futon mattress on my bed I find that unfitted sheets are better as fitted sheets are made for something a bit thicker. Also, with a futon mattress the unfitted sheets do not come untucked like they do with foam and inner-spring mattresses.

― toraneko, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Posh/Common does come into the bedmaking equation when one is blessed with the fortuitous circumstance of having it made, and your room cleaned, each and every day, as I had while at University.

Of course, as soon as I left, I found myself in a fetid filthy sty and absolutely helpless to do anything about it.

The moral? Don't hop social classes. Stay a toff, stay a prole. Movement is a wrench.

― Will McKenzie, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Fitted for the mattress cover, unfitted for the sheets. Surely.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

what are fitted sheets? are they the ones are kinda elasticated?

― ambrose, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think so.

Unfitted sheets sound quaint. I have always used fitted ones, which are hard to fold so I end up basically crumpling them.

― Maria, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I mananged to change my bed sheets in 7 mins yesterday! It's a record for me!...But then I did only need to change a couple of pillows, duvet and the sheet that goes over the mattress. I couldn't handle anything more complicated.

― jel, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

four years pass...

OMG, .ZIP YOUR DUVET!!!. this is the best thing ever. also works with soft toys, apparently. hoo!

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 23 August 2006 23:22 (eighteen years ago)

jel are you still timing your your bed-related re-donning??

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 23 August 2006 23:26 (eighteen years ago)

if so, "VacuSac is designed to accommodate all sizes of domestic vacuum nozzle"

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 23 August 2006 23:27 (eighteen years ago)

i once had a topsheet that was also fitted at the bottom. it was awesome, it never came untucked

― electric sound of jim [and why not] (electricsound), Thursday, 24 August 2006 00:06 (eighteen years ago)

I have a fitted bottom sheet now that is elastic on the left and right sides, not the top and lowers. Wierd! But usable.

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Thursday, 24 August 2006 00:08 (eighteen years ago)

my husband hates topsheets! and it seems like sheets only come in sets so the topsheet just languishes in the closet away from its fitted mate.

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 24 August 2006 00:31 (eighteen years ago)

!!!
The concept of not liking topsheets had never occurred to me.

― Danny Aioli (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 24 August 2006 00:35 (eighteen years ago)

my husband hates topsheets!

As do I. What's the fucking point? Just change your Duvet cover regularly... that's what they're for, aren't they?

― Andrew (enneff), Thursday, 24 August 2006 00:55 (eighteen years ago)

I have managed to sneakily end my girlfriend's topsheet regime by upgrading us to a king size bed and not buying any unfitted king size sheets! hahahah!

― Andrew (enneff), Thursday, 24 August 2006 00:58 (eighteen years ago)

High thread count topsheet = more tactile pleasure than a duvet. Also, two thin layers above allows more temperature fine-tuning than one thick layer.

― Danny Aioli (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 24 August 2006 01:04 (eighteen years ago)

i don't want sex juices on my doona cover

― electric sound of jim [and why not] (electricsound), Thursday, 24 August 2006 01:05 (eighteen years ago)

She'll notice, Andrew!

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 24 August 2006 01:19 (eighteen years ago)

no topsheet? i'd have to change my doona cover at least once a week due to my clean fetish. that would be a bit of a drag i reckon. also i think it would feel completely wrong! i'm somewhat neurotic about lots of trivial things like that though.

― gem (trisk), Thursday, 24 August 2006 03:28 (eighteen years ago)

Weird that there are people who wouldn't wash their duvet / doona cover once a week. brrr...

― paulhw (paulhw), Thursday, 24 August 2006 04:09 (eighteen years ago)

...unless, of course, they had a topsheet. i, too, am among the "it never occurred to me..." group. i wonder if there's any correlation with weather (or the weather where people grew up)? if you live in hot climes, a topsheet is all you want in the summer.

on a related note, i had never heard of a "duvet" until i was 22. we only had "blankets" and "bedspreads." and "doona" is a new word as of today.

― i'll mitya halfway (mitya), Thursday, 24 August 2006 04:27 (eighteen years ago)

i'd have to change my doona cover at least once a week due to my clean fetish

What's the big deal? A cover is not really any different in the washing from a normal sheet.

She'll notice, Andrew!

I think she has noticed, and realised that my technique is better.

Also, two thin layers above allows more temperature fine-tuning than one thick layer.

Fine temperature control not necessary at this point as we're actually using two thick duvets at the moment.

― Andrew (enneff), Thursday, 24 August 2006 04:28 (eighteen years ago)

(I've been using the word 'duvet' in this thread to avoid confusion. 'doona' is the word I prefer.)

― Andrew (enneff), Thursday, 24 August 2006 04:28 (eighteen years ago)

Ideally you've got the fitted sheet and the top sheet. Everything else is for winter.

― captain reverend gandalf jesus (nickalicious), Thursday, 24 August 2006 04:33 (eighteen years ago)

I think she has noticed, and realised that my technique is better.

she is humouring you!

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Thursday, 24 August 2006 04:45 (eighteen years ago)

Grimly Fiendish has obviously never watched QVC. If he likes Vacusac that much, maybe he should try it.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Thursday, 24 August 2006 08:44 (eighteen years ago)

i hate top sheets too. as andrew says 'whats the fucking point?'.

also that top sheet with the fitted bottom? ugh. my feet have got to be free.

― sunny successor (katharine), Thursday, 24 August 2006 11:40 (eighteen years ago)

nickalicious and mitya otm.

My boyfriend hates the top sheet being tucked in. Me? hospital corners, yeah!

― Sam: Screwed and Chopped (Molly Jones), Thursday, 24 August 2006 12:07 (eighteen years ago)

I only buy flat sheets, then it doesn't matter if they are used as the top or bottom so they wear longer. Also, queen size bed + king size sheets/blankets/duvet = better, esp for folks who can't stand trapped feet. It's too warm most of the year for anything more than a single top sheet where we are. In the fall, all we add is a flannel sheet above the cotton one. In winter the duvet is kept handy to go over both sheets.

― Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 24 August 2006 12:20 (eighteen years ago)

if god had wanted a topsheet he would have made it part of the set.

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 24 August 2006 12:22 (eighteen years ago)

agreed! you're australian, right? here in america bedding is pretty retarded. for starters, top sheet IS part of the set. secondly, pillowcases dont have that tuck in sleeve to keep the pillow in there. fourthly, there is a definite preference for foam and fluff over feathers and down. lastly and leastly, you can find doona covers if you try hard but mostly if you want a new donna look, you have to buy the entire doona with the cover attached. wtf? where do you put all those doonas?

― sunny successor (katharine), Thursday, 24 August 2006 12:33 (eighteen years ago)

what is a doona?

― Sam: Screwed and Chopped (Molly Jones), Thursday, 24 August 2006 12:35 (eighteen years ago)

duvet?

― sunny successor (katharine), Thursday, 24 August 2006 12:36 (eighteen years ago)

quilt?

― sunny successor (katharine), Thursday, 24 August 2006 12:36 (eighteen years ago)

downy

i'm not australian i'm a british.

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 24 August 2006 12:39 (eighteen years ago)

Wasn't Doona Loora Poolmer's best froond?

― captain reverend gandalf jesus (nickalicious), Thursday, 24 August 2006 12:40 (eighteen years ago)

comforter

― Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 24 August 2006 12:40 (eighteen years ago)

Ah, okay. Yeah, most comforters are pre-covered here.

― Sam: Screwed and Chopped (Molly Jones), Thursday, 24 August 2006 12:49 (eighteen years ago)

right, conforter.

― sunny successor (katharine), Thursday, 24 August 2006 12:53 (eighteen years ago)

when did duvets become so de rigeur? i never had one growing up and neither did my parents but at some point they became standard issue. i like them, but because of how i grew up i still think having a sheet between me and it feels comfier. the more layers, the better, really. but if no duvet = topsheet ver very necessary unless you are some kind of wooly masochist.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 24 August 2006 13:05 (eighteen years ago)

We don't have a duvet/comforter. Just bedspreads, blankets.

― Sam: Screwed and Chopped (Molly Jones), Thursday, 24 August 2006 13:09 (eighteen years ago)

i like a lot of layers and pillows on the bed. the more stuff to thrash around in and eventually kick on to the floor, the better.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 24 August 2006 13:26 (eighteen years ago)

my mother called the duvet cover "the duvet" and the fluffy main part that it covers the "comforter" - i wonder if that nomenclature is widespread in any way or a result of her general bafflement at the whole concept

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 24 August 2006 13:28 (eighteen years ago)

but comforters are light as a cloud but snug as a bug. and its a lot harder to get tangled in them and a lot easier to make the bed.

― sunny successor (katharine), Thursday, 24 August 2006 13:28 (eighteen years ago)

So would people agree that duvets and comforters do the same job, but Ds need a separate cover and Cs are self-covered? The issue is muddied by use of terms like "down comforter", I guess. But I assume anything down-related needs a washable cover, it's not like you can chuck it in the ol' Whirlpool.

This all reminds me of seeing, in a bedding catalog many years ago, the terms "comforter", "comforter cover", and, unbelievably, "comforter cover STUFFER". Mental response: check, check, what the--didn't we already address that part?!?

― Laurel (Laurel), Thursday, 24 August 2006 13:41 (eighteen years ago)

Also, for a few years I worked as a chambermaid at a resort that didn't use fitted sheets...which meant that EVERY FUCKING BED had to be remade and re-hospital-cornered EVERY DAY. DUD DUDDER DUDDEST.

― Laurel (Laurel), Thursday, 24 August 2006 13:47 (eighteen years ago)

chambermaid! hot.

― sunny successor (katharine), Thursday, 24 August 2006 13:48 (eighteen years ago)

My parents were the first people they knew to get a duvet. A scandinavian friend (Swedish?) gave them one as a wedding present in 1971.

Mum always uses a top sheet under the duvet, but I think it's cleaner just to change the cover every week. Also, I get suspicious when I stay at their house because in the past she's asked me to sleep in sheets another guest has slept in "only once" - I refused, but I think the extra sheet might mean she thinks she doesn't need to wash the duvet cover. Bleurgh.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Thursday, 24 August 2006 13:52 (eighteen years ago)

what is this "washing" business

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 24 August 2006 14:27 (eighteen years ago)

ah yes my husband hates top sheets because he can't stand having anything tucked in, and he thrashes and stuffs all the covers between his knees in his sleep so a top sheet just gets kicked down into a wad at the bottom. We use one of those cotton blankets (the 'thermal' kind, kind of loosely woven out of cotton yarn) instead of a top sheet. And then a down duvet with a cover. In winter a wool-filled comforter gets added.

I honestly hadn't considered using a flat sheet to cover the mattress, I've only known fitted. I guess if my fitted wears out I can use the unused topsheet mate.

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 24 August 2006 14:33 (eighteen years ago)

I don't bother with hospital corners either. Line the flat bottom sheet up with the top of the mattress, tuck one side completely under, then the other side to draw it fairly tight, leave the bottom hanging off the end. Mr. Jaq is a thrasher too, and somehow is able to pull fitted sheets off the mattress in his sleep. It's easier to re-do the flat sheets every day than struggle with the fitted corners, imo.

― Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 24 August 2006 15:21 (eighteen years ago)

teeny is nothing tucked in, then?? gah my little toeses would psychically rebel and make me suffer in my dreams

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 24 August 2006 15:34 (eighteen years ago)

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