Bamboo sheets

Bamboo sheets

The sheet is the fabric your skin spends the most hours against. The duvet lies on top of you, but the sheet lies underneath you all night, and that is why a change of material shows here more clearly than anywhere else in the bed. Ours are woven from bamboo viscose, and the difference from an ordinary cotton sheet is there from the first night.

Bamboo viscose has thin, round fibres. The surface comes out smooth rather than coarse, and the fabric settles around the body without feeling stiff. At the same time the fibres take up moisture faster than cotton and release it back into the air instead of holding on to it. That is the property people who sleep warm notice: the bed does not turn clammy during the night, and the temperature stays even.

Three kinds of sheet and when to choose which

We carry three types, and the choice depends on your mattress and your bed. A fitted sheet has elastic all the way round the hem and a 35 cm skirt. It pulls down over the mattress like a cap and stays put, even if you turn a lot. The 35 cm is what makes it fit a thick mattress or a mattress with a topper on it.

An envelope sheet has no elastic. Instead it has closed corners at each end that you fold down over the mattress, and a 20 cm skirt. The result is a completely flat, taut surface with no seams under the body. Many prefer it for an ordinary mattress without a topper, and it is the solution most hotels use.

A split sheet is sewn for an adjustable bed where the head or foot end can be raised. The split lets the sheet follow the movement of the bed instead of pulling tight or coming loose at the corner. It comes in an H60 and a U80 version, depending on which end lifts.

Sizes

The sheets come from 90x200 cm to 210x210 cm, covering single, double and king size beds. Measure your mattress for width, length and depth before you order. Depth is the one people forget most often, and it is also the one that decides whether the sheet stays on. If the mattress is 30 cm or thicker, you want a fitted sheet with a 35 cm skirt.

How to make them last

Wash at 40 degrees and skip the fabric softener. Softener settles as a film around the fibres and takes away both the smoothness and the ability to move moisture. Take the sheet out of the machine straight away and shake it out, and you avoid most of the ironing. Tumble drying is fine on low heat, but the sheets dry quickly on their own. The fabric is at its softest after the first couple of washes, once the weave has fully settled.

Who makes them

The sheets come from Nordic Weaving, a Danish house with roots going back to Nordisk Tekstil Væveri in 1874. The fabric is certified to OEKO TEX Standard 100 in product class I, the strictest class, the one that otherwise applies to textiles for infants. In practice it means there are no residues of harmful substances left in the fabric you sleep on.

The rest of the bedroom

A sheet rarely stands alone. The same colours are in bamboo bedding and in bamboo pillowcases, so you can keep the bed in one tone or deliberately break it with another. If you want to see the whole range for the home at once, sheets, bedding, towels and homewear sit together under home and homewear in bamboo.

Frequently asked questions

Do bamboo sheets wrinkle? Less than cotton. Shake the sheet out as it comes off the machine and put it on straight away, and it smooths itself out on the bed.

How many sheets should you have? Two per bed is enough to have one on and one in the wash. Three gives you room if more time passes between washes.

Can I use a fitted sheet on an adjustable bed? On a bed that only lifts a little it will work, but the sheet will pull at the corners. For a bed used in a raised position every night, a split sheet is the right answer.

Do they shrink in the wash? Bamboo viscose shrinks very slightly on the first wash. The sizes are calculated with that in mind, so the sheet fits after washing, not before.