# Summer bedclothes
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [April 14, 2015, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701 "2015-04-14T23:51:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2015, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/1 "2015-04-14T23:51:56Z")
I don’t mean what do you wear to bed in the summer-- what does your bed wear in the summer?
Do you switch out the flannel sheets and pack away the down comforter? Bring in the woven cotton blankets? Or maybe you crank the a/c down in the bedroom so low that you still need to outfit the bed like it’s Nome in the dead of winter?
Also, please identify what sort of climate you live in.
We’re in a transitional period in south Texas. Where there might be a dank chill in the morning-- not enough for the heat to be on, but not comfortable either-- and then later (like right now) you have to turn on the a/c. I’ve been having night sweats (see [related thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=753681), if so inclined) and I’m wrestling with what to sleep on/under. Tonight I’m going to try cotton sheets and one woven cotton blanket, no a/c, and hope for the best.
What bedding produces your best summertime sleep?
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### Author:  [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2015, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/2 "2015-04-15T00:06:41Z")
If I had my druthers, I’d sleep in pure linen in the summer. They feel lovely and cool, but my budget doesn’t allow me to replace the ancient and now threadbare ones my mother passed on to me. I make do with cotton.
First warm weekend, I swap out the winter flannels for crisp cottons, and when it truly warms up, I put away the king size down duvet and get out the lighter weight single size duvet. Even in summer, I get chilled sometimes, and I like the feel of something over me, so unless it’s really hot and sticky, I’m under the covers.
Over everything, winter or summer, there is an easy wash throw because the dogs sleep on the bed.
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2015, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/3 "2015-04-15T00:31:20Z")
Where would you buy the linen sheets?
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### Author:  [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2015, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/4 "2015-04-15T00:40:25Z")
Summer calls for crisp cotton sheets. The only blanket I use is a flannel sheet over the cotton top sheet.
I do keep my bedroom cooler than the rest of the house, including using a fan. I keep a lightweight throw nearby in case I get too chilly.
Sadly, I live in a/c from the time the pollen starts until the first frost. ☹
I live in New England.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2015, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/5 "2015-04-15T00:42:06Z")
I’m like \*\*brainstall \*\*- I go from flannel to cotton sheets and bring out the lighter comforter. I also remove my heated mattress pad, which generates heat (or rather, holds body heat) when it’s not turned on.
The only thing I’ve done so far is gone to cotton sheets, as it’s still furnace weather at night here. I’ve had my fan on most nights though.
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### Author:  [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2015, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/6 "2015-04-15T01:05:58Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#):
>
> I’m like \*\*brainstall \*\*- I go from flannel to cotton sheets and bring out the lighter comforter. I also remove my heated mattress pad, which generates heat (or rather, holds body heat) when it’s not turned on.
>
> The only thing I’ve done so far is gone to cotton sheets, as it’s still furnace weather at night here. I’ve had my fan on most nights though.
I actually have autumn and spring sheets. :smack: They’re cotton, but soft rather than crisp.
And I leave on the heated mattress pad – turn on pad to warm up bed. Turn off, climb in.
It’s still furnace weather, here, though just barely. Another few weeks and I’ll be looking for my fan.
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2015, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/7 "2015-04-15T01:08:28Z")
cotton sheets under and over me, with however many or few blankets are required for comfort.
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### Author:  [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2015, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/8 "2015-04-15T01:11:15Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I don’t mean what do you wear to bed in the summer-- what does your bed wear in the summer?
same thing it does year round, I just plunk my ass on top of it. I don’t use air conditioning, so when it’s 80° and humid I don’t need anything covering me.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2015, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/9 "2015-04-15T04:27:32Z")
I live in northern New England, where it’s been winter for five months. Right now I’ve still got three blankets and a comforter on my bed, but waking up in a sweat this morning points to this needing to change. By June I’ll be down to a single woven cotton blanket. I need to have _something_ over me or I won’t sleep, so it’ll either be that or a cotton sheet until late fall. And yes, I do keep the fan or AC on so I don’t die of heatstroke in July and August.
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### Author:  [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2015, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/10 "2015-04-15T04:36:26Z")
In the summer I don’t wear anything I usually just sleep naked.
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### Author:  [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2015, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/11 "2015-04-15T04:40:06Z")
What **CaptainAmerica 1987** said. I sleep nekkid all the time. In the summer, I throw the sheets aside and just sleep open to the air.
(I have an air conditioner…which I have not used, ever, in the last ten years. When it’s hot…I sweat. Sometimes I use a fan.)
(TMI: I’m one of those people who needs protection against the monsters, so, even in summer, balls naked, I have to have one foot under a covering of some sort. I can’t sleep wholly uncovered. It’s a psychological weirdity.)
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### Author:  [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2015, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/12 "2015-04-15T05:02:37Z")
Cotton flannel in the cooler months. Cotton percale in the warmer months. We switched at the end of last month. Various comforters and blankets as needed. None are needed in the summer.
For those of you who are saying you go from cotton to flannel and back. What is your flannel made of? Not cotton? or do you mean from flannel to percale and back? Both my flannel and my percale are cotton. I couldn’t stand sleeping on non-cotton sheets. Not even silk.
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### Author:  [@Saturn\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saturn_Dreams)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2015, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/13 "2015-04-15T10:50:38Z")
I live in Kobe, Japan where the summers are hot and muggy. (Think of humidity levels over 80%). My wife and I don’t like air conditioning while we sleep so we open a window and use an electric fan to keep the air moving. On our bed, we used to use only silk sheets, but we’ve started adding bamboo sheets to our bed linens. They’re just like silk in that they’re soft, cool to the touch, breathe, and wick moisture away from the body, but you can get that all for about a quarter of the price of silk sheets. Plus, they’re much easier to wash. On top, we use a towelket, which I don’t think you can get in the USA. It’s a mix between a towel and a blanket, (hence the name), and it’s light, breathable, and absorbs moisture to keep you dry.
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### Author:  [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2015, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/14 "2015-04-15T11:21:06Z")
I run hot at night, so no flannel for me, ever. Cotton sheets plus a light blanket, when needed. When it’s really cold out, I’ll start out under a comforter, but that’s kicked off by the middle of the night. Oh, and I’m in the Midwest.
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### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2015, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/15 "2015-04-15T11:34:05Z")
In the winter, we have jersey sheets, a light blanket, and a comforter. In summer, it’s cotton sheets and a bedspread that may or may not be used all night. The ceiling fan runs almost continuously in summer for my husband’s benefit, so I’ll usually be under the bedspread while he’s kicking off all covers.
We’re in southern MD, so we can go from sub-zero to triple digits (Not all in the same day!!)
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### Author:  [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2015, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/16 "2015-04-15T11:37:07Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> Do you switch out the flannel sheets and pack away the down comforter? Bring in the woven cotton blankets?
I just did this in the last week–rolled up the comforter and put it in the closet, and changed from flannel to cotton sheets when I redid the bed on Saturday.
Right now, I have a lighter quilt on the bed since the nights are still chilly, but by July that will also go back in the closet and I’ll just have the cotton sheets; July and August in the DC area are usually very warm and muggy.
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### Author:  [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2015, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/17 "2015-04-15T11:38:30Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#):
>
> For those of you who are saying you go from cotton to flannel and back. What is your flannel made of? Not cotton? or do you mean from flannel to percale and back? Both my flannel and my percale are cotton. I couldn’t stand sleeping on non-cotton sheets. Not even silk.
The flannel is cotton, but much thicker and softer–and nicer on cold winter nights–than the regular sheets.
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### Author:  [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2015, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/18 "2015-04-15T14:07:52Z")
> [@Miss\_Mapp](#):
>
> The flannel is cotton, but much thicker and softer–and nicer on cold winter nights–than the regular sheets.
Right. I do actually know what flannel is. I was curious about people who say they use “flannel” some of the year vs. “cotton” the rest of the year pecisely because as far as I know all flannel is cotton. I was wondering is they had some other definition for flannel or if what they called flannel was actually not cotton. all my sheets are cotton. I use flannel when it is cold and percale in the warmer months.
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### Author:  [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2015, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/19 "2015-04-15T14:27:38Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> Where would you buy the linen sheets?
Lower northeast. I bought pure linen sheets for my own bed. I was tired of cotton and flannel sheets ripping after only a few years and decided to get something that would really last. I love, love, LOVE good flannel but I just couldn’t find any good stuff anymore… (and I don’t like normal summer cotton sheets. They’re just no good)
“Rough Linen” seems to be _the_ shop to get linen sheets at, but due to bed placement I needed a fitted bottom sheet (and they only offer flat sheets). In the end I went with Linoto. Good prices, pretty good linen. Huge range of unconventional colors for linen, but the unconventional colors come in smaller bolts so your sheets will actually have a seam in the middle. If you go with a “normal” color like ivory it’ll be all one piece like you’d expect. Call or email them if you’re picky and need to know because that’s the only thing they’re not too upfront about…
The sheets have become quite soft now that it’s a year later. It’s easy to take it for granted until I go to a hotel and cringe at their cotton sheets.
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### Author:  [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/20 "2015-04-15T15:24:26Z")
I live in Colorado with weather that is all over the place, so the only real concession I make between winter and summer is to change my down-filled comforter (winter) out for a down-filled blanket (summer). About 10 years ago, I began using 1,000 thread count sheets and now I could never go back to lesser thread counts. They have truly spoiled me. Because they are heavy and dense, in the summer when it’s really toasty, I can do without a blanket at all. They also soften amazingly after a few dozen washes and will wear like iron. Great investment. I also keep a washable duvet cover over my down items, because of doggie roommates.
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