Thanks for your reply :)

Mary, I had to chuckle @ your post. Yes...my husband has snaggy feet! But, I'm not sure that is what caused it as the pilling is more in the center of the sheet.

Anyway, I'm glad I posted here, and got such good advice from everyone...now I get new sheets!!

Thanks again..

az

I have pilled sheets at thread counts from 250 to 1000! If I keep my legs shaved like every day (now that's a chore I love doing, NOT) most sheets won't pill. And since the pilling is in my leg area, I can tell it's from that.

There are some brands that I can count on to not pill. Charisma by Fieldcrest is one, but has been discontinued, but shows up on e-bay. Thread count (TC) of 310 does not pill and is very soft and satiny.

LL Bean sells a 340 TC sheet that doesn't pill. Cuddledown sells various higher TC sheets that usually do not pill. Royal Sateen also doesn't pill. Ralph Lauren, damask weaves pill, most 400 tc or higher don't.

I've often thought I should be hired by linen manufacturers to test their sheets for pilling.

And flannel, we don't even want to go there.........

Wamsutta, I can pill it in 3 days! Same for Springmaid, Martex, and most others.

Barbara

I received an email last week saying they were shipping my replacement sheets from the warehouse and I should have them in about 3 wks. I'll see if there is any difference between them and the faulty ones.

Do you really think that crusty heels are the cause of all this pilling? If so, why don't you take care of it at that level? Go to the nail care section at your local drugstore and get a file made especially for heels. I love keeping mine baby soft. Just a word of caution,it is alarming the amount of dead skin you will slough off. I do mine outside in the summer or sitting on the edge of my tub in colder seasons. Follow up with some good cream and a pair of anklets or booties. Do several times a week and don't foget to hit the ankle bone also!

Now...if it's a matter of poor quality and outsourcing I guess were all stuck! I'd be interested to see more people weigh in on this subject!

If you really want to get the dead skin off your feet fast - and this is no joke - sit on the edge of your bathtub and smooth a generous portion of miracle whip - yes, miracle whip on your feet and let it sit for about 15-20 minutes. After that, start wiping it off your feet - your dead skin cells will slough off - NO JOKE! I found this in Mary Ellen's Book of Helpful Hints, and it really works. You can do this on your face too for a nice exfoliation - if you can get past the fact that you are walking around with miracle whip on your face. Don't laugh - it's not a joke.

Anyway, getting back to sheets, I wash and dry all my sheets on the gentle cycle after learning the hard way, but it's good to hear about the good vs. no so good brands here. I have a set that started pilling, and they weren't cheap, but I'll have to see if it's on my hubby's side of the bed only. :)

It is the best thing to use on cuticles, too.

Dot

BTW...I'm still loving my new sheets!

Their cotton sheets are really soft and silky but they wrinkle horribly and are much bigger sized than the package says.

For me, $50-$60 is a lot of money to have to spend on sheets. I'd sure like to find some good ones that last. The ones my mother bought for our childhood twin beds were still in great shape thirty years later.

I had to toss some purchased recently on clearance at BB & B. they were utter carp, no pilling but they stretched all out of shape in a couple washings.

I am learning a lot lately on sheets and your best bet is to spend good money on great sheets that are made ONLY with single ply, long staple yarns! I believe that is the key.

We HAVE to go through the web to buy our sheets - (split size super deep pocket sheets). We cannot get them locally. And I am glad we were forced to search online because we came across the best sheets ever!

Steer clear from discount stores that carry seconds and such. And the department stores? Well, they can be over priced for sure.

So in short, look for single ply - long staple sheets, spend good money for them and it sounds like you are washing them correctly so that is good.

When we initially purchased our hard to find size sheets, they were more wrinkled than we wanted BUT than we actually read the care instructions - duh! Was washing them in hot water and drying the heck out of them in high heat. (it is sanitary thing I have).

Anyway, I use only the non-perfume non-dye soap and never any dryer sheets with fragrance, they just cause havoc with my allergies. And once I washed the sheets in a warm water, gentle wash, gentle dry, low heat setting - our wrinkles were cut down by like 50%!!

Ok too much coffee, there is a link I posted that might be helpful. (where we get all of our sheets)

organic, I like the website you linked! I'm pretty well set right now with 3 sets of nice sheets . Hopefully they will last us a long time.

Like some who posted I dread buying sheets cause you just don't get what you pay for. Afer this ordeal with wamsutta I've decided when I do get crappy sheets I'm going to complain and get it rectified.

The beech sheets are the softest, silkiest I have ever found, and the thread count is only 250. I agree with most of the posters: even 1000 thread count doesn't mean softness, it is the quality of the material.

Thanks for the info on the beech sheets. I've never heard of them. Now I'm curious. Next time I need sheets I'll check into them.

Look for the sheets on eBay. You can get them cheaper, but at least get a set of pillowcases from BB&B. You won't be sorry! They do wrinkle quickly, so either put them back on the bed straight out of the dryer or don't worry about it, a made bed flattens them out.

Uh-oh, I just looked them up on the website, it looks like they are discontinuing some of them.

Thanks for the link!

As for flannel, I have Lands End Portuguese flannel sheets for several years now and they never pilled.

I bought beech sheets several years ago when BB&B was discontinuing the color line. They felt like silk for years then started pilling. I noticed they've now got little tiny holes in them, too, so guess they'll be retired soon. My FL washer will make sure of it.

I will make him wear socks to bed from now on!

We have a set of the all-bamboo sheets from either BB&B or Linens N Things- they're very soft, but they make the all cotton sheets look wrinkle-free.

We also have two sets of Guy LaRoche sheets from Tuesday Morning. I can't remember how much they were, but they're by far our favorites, and I have a collection of good sheets.

Now I spend every 2 or 3 years back at BBB trying to find a replacement. It usually takes me about 3 or 4 different sets before I find something that will work. Every set I have ever purchased (even up to 1000 tc) have either pilled, or have been way to rough. All of the sheets that have worked for me in the past have been in the 300 range. They get so soft, but unfortunately, do not last that long.

The last set that worked were by Divatex, made in India, but the morons didn't put anything on their tags other than Divatex, and an RN number. Unfortunately, that RN doesn't tell BBB anything. What a joke. Everytime I find a set that works, I usually go back and buy 2 more sets for the next time. Well here I am again, looking for new ones and I bought my second pair from BBB today and they are terrible. WTH?

Ladies, can you help me? I need something silky smooth that won't pill. Money is no object, I just want a good night's sleep. Oh and I have tried the jersey sheets. The first night I slept on them were awesome. Unfortunately, they pilled within days. Dangit! Many thanks!

I have recently bought Peacock Alley and Sferra at Tuesday Morning and so far they are accceptable. But I'd still rather have Charisma. The Company store has 500 ct. supima cotton sheets but I haven't tried them. The 310 was the best...thin (single-ply), long-wearing, crisp, lovely. I'm one who irons and even lightly starches sheets for that cool, smooth crispness I love. Since we usually shower before bed, I don't wash the sheets every week. I have extra pillow cases so I change them weekly.

As far as the dry heels- try duct tape, no joke- there was a thread in the beauty forum last summer about it.

Back to your sheets, TC is only important these days if the cotton threads are not threads at all but rather one continuous fiber (thread). A whole bunch of short individual threads can be used (cheap way to produce sheets) and still be 1000 TC. Lots of hype but little value. Pilling should never be present on quality sheets.

The other is 100% cotton, made in China. It is textured, so to speak, made of little squares, matte and not matte, each a little less than 1/4" square. You can't feel the squares, of course. We had discarded the packaging and with the holidays upon us, we did not return them. We only use the fitted sheet and the pillow cases. They are pilled anywhere any part of the body has touched them.

Ross is next to BB&B at a local shopping center and I spoke to the sheet department manager at BB&B. I told him what had happened. His responses were:
1. He had never heard of the issue of multiple ply yarns being used to deceive customers as to thread count. He did not 'understand' what I was saying.
2. He recommended high thread counts, and long-fiber cotton. Not Egyptian cotton, which is short-fiber. Pima or supima were his choices, also their bamboo and another odd material made by the Beech Company.
3. He would not comment on my mentioning my closet full of perfectly good cotton percale sheets, some decades old, which never pilled or stretched out, but were simply too shallow for our present mattresses.
Muslin was 180, perhaps? Percale started at around 200? Or was it 120 and 180+. I found muslin itchy, but I find many things itchy other people do not.

I threw away the fitted Ross sheet and am wondering what my chances of success would be marching in there with the remaining sheets and demanding, well, who knows what.

We have had no pilling with two fitted sheets purchased last year, made by Home (and then a square with a circle in it). Also made in China, 100% cotton, RN17730, VN1124037.

I am checking The Company Store, whose service I have always been pleased with. Anyone have any pilling experience with their basic Weekender sheets?

Thank you.

The other is 100% cotton, made in China. It is textured, so to speak, made of little squares, matte and not matte, each a little less than 1/4" square. You can't feel the squares, of course. We had discarded the packaging and with the holidays upon us, we did not return them. We only use the fitted sheet and the pillow cases. They are pilled anywhere any part of the body has touched them.

Ross is next to BB&B at a local shopping center and I spoke to the sheet department manager at BB&B. I told him what had happened. His responses were:
1. He had never heard of the issue of multiple ply yarns being used to deceive customers as to thread count. He did not 'understand' what I was saying.
2. He recommended high thread counts, and long-fiber cotton. Not Egyptian cotton, which is short-fiber. Pima or supima were his choices, also their bamboo and another odd material made by the Beech Company.
3. He would not comment on my mentioning my closet full of perfectly good cotton percale sheets, some decades old, which never pilled or stretched out, but were simply too shallow for our present mattresses.
Muslin was 180, perhaps? Percale started at around 200? Or was it 120 and 180+. I found muslin itchy, but I find many things itchy other people do not.

I threw away the fitted Ross sheet and am wondering what my chances of success would be marching in there with the remaining sheets and demanding, well, who knows what.

We have had no pilling with two fitted sheets purchased last year, made by Home (and then a square with a circle in it). Also made in China, 100% cotton, RN17730, VN1124037.

I am checking The Company Store, whose service I have always been pleased with. Anyone have any pilling experience with their basic Weekender sheets?

Thank you.

Combed cotton is less likely to pill than regularly processed carded cotton.

During combing, the shorter fibers are removed leaving the longer fibers lying straight in the same direction. Generally, sheets made of combed yarns are stronger, silkier, and smoother. 100% combed cotton is usually reflected on the label.

My percale and sateen sheets of combed cotton--100%--are exceptionally comfortable and smooth with no pilling at all. Wrinkling hasn't been a problem, certainly nothing requiring an iron.

That doesn't mean other types of sheets will pill or disappoint in some way. 100% combed cotton is something to also look for to increase your chances of getting good quality.