# Summer bedclothes **URL:** \ **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:** 2
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/21 "2015-04-15T23:04:56Z")
> [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > 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. What’s the brand of the sheets? And duvet cover, too? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/22 "2015-04-15T23:17:47Z")
During the coldest months , I use polar fleece sheets, spring and fall call for regular flannel sheets. I’ll be switching to cotton sometime in May and usually go back to flannel in late September or early October ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/23 "2015-04-15T23:20:44Z")
> [@Macca26](#): > > I was tired of cotton and flannel sheets ripping after only a few years I apparently have much to learn when it comes to the vigor of my in-bed activities. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/24 "2015-04-16T03:38:55Z")
During the summer, the electric mattress pad is removed, the fluffy mattress pad is washed, and the bed is dressed in cotton sheets and sometimes a lightweight cotton spread from India, if I have the AC cranked up. If it’s cool enough out for no AC, then just a cotton sheet. weight like [http://www.rachelpreston.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSC00479.jpg](http://www.rachelpreston.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSC00479.jpg) My brother and I independently developed the idea that we needed the weight of a sheet to feel protected from someone coming in and stabbing us. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/25 "2015-04-16T03:41:37Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > 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. Flannel is (cotton) flannel and cotton is percale, for me. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/26 "2015-04-16T16:59:16Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > I apparently have much to learn when it comes to the vigor of my in-bed activities. Not to fret. It has more to do with keeping your toenails trimmed. ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/27 "2015-04-16T18:03:03Z")
Central Texas and I use the same thing all year long: percale sheets and homemade quilt. I adjust the a/c or heat so that I keep the same temperature year round. When I was having night sweats due to Being That Certain Age (and thank goodness that crap goes away), I didn’t change what I slept under, but I was known to change the clothes I wore to bed during the middle of the night. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/28 "2015-04-16T19:09:01Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Not to fret. It has more to do with keeping your toenails trimmed. Sorry to hijack, but when my brother was unconscious after his heart attack, I desperately wanted to clip his toenails, which were so long they curled down over the whole front of the toe!! :eek: I held myself back, thinking that would be a real invasion of his person. /hijack ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/29 "2015-04-16T19:22:24Z")
I sleep in my drawlz under bamboo sheets. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/30 "2015-04-16T20:07:41Z")
I live in SE Pennsylvania, and I like the ambient temperature in my bedroom to be cool all year round. I use the same set of sheets all year round – cotton sateen – and the same quilt (thin). In the winter I add a fuzzy blanket in between the sheets and the quilt, and when it’s really cold, I add a fuzzy throw-blanket on top of all that. It’s been in the 60s and 70s here lately, so I’ve packed away the two blankets and am back to just the sheets and quilt. 🆒 E: Local climate is disgustingly hot and humid from approx. June - Sept, and in the past few years it’s been bitterly cold in the winter. Falls and Springs are beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/31 "2015-04-16T21:06:02Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > What’s the brand of the sheets? And duvet cover, too? Both are Ralph Lauren. I bought them at their outlet store. They’ve washed beautifully, kept their color, no pilling. I’m really happy with them. I also bought towels at the same time that were equally nice. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/32 "2015-04-16T21:31:41Z")
Flannel sheets and nice fluffy comforter in winter. Come summer, I just don’t pull up the comforter, and turn on the ceiling fan over the bed. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/33 "2015-04-16T23:49:53Z")
> [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > Both are Ralph Lauren. I bought them at their outlet store. They’ve washed beautifully, kept their color, no pilling. I’m really happy with them. I also bought towels at the same time that were equally nice. Nice. ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/34 "2015-04-17T17:00:16Z")
My wife handles all that stuff but I think we shed the down comforter (or _duvet_ - why use a perfectly good **English** word when some fancy foreign one will do. Sheesh!) come the warmer months. Other than that I don’t think we make many changes to what the _bed_ “wears.” I live in the Pacific Northwest where we just had one of the mildest “winters” I can ever remember and where we generally have mild temps (and on the rare occasions when we _don’t_ [at least by our standards] the extra-normal conditions generally don’t last very long). So you can have your Lombardi Trophy, Boston - at least we didn’t get socked in behind 10’ of snow the way YOU did this winter just passed! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/35 "2015-04-17T17:20:52Z")
> [@racepug](#): > > My wife handles all that stuff but I think we shed the down comforter (or _duvet_ - why use a perfectly good **English** word when some fancy foreign one will do. Sheesh!) But a comforter (to me) is different from a duvet. A comforter is permanently all sewn together; a duvet has a removable outside. ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/36 "2015-04-17T18:22:57Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > But a comforter (to me) is different from a duvet. A comforter is permanently all sewn together; a duvet has a removable outside. Oh, really? Okay - pardon my ignorance on this, then. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/37 "2015-04-17T19:14:53Z")
Ok, here’s the scoop on duvet covers… Down blankets and comforters are difficult to clean and in order for them to last, shouldn’t be cleaned often - about every 2 years is recommended. Since a blanket or comforter can get pretty nasty in 2 years, especially when one has pets like I do, duvet covers were invented. Essentially they are a comforter ‘glove’. You slide the comforter into the cloth duvet to protect it and slide the duvet off to wash it. Duvets have no filling and are held closed usually with big buttons. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/38 "2015-04-17T20:21:13Z")
It is very weird, because during the winter the bedroom gets down to maybe 60 degrees at night, once the heat is off, and we have on the bed sheets, a comforter, a heavy top comforter, and then the throws. In the summer, except for a couple of nights, and I mean literally a couple, it’s probably 65-68 degrees. And yet we have on the cotton sheets and just the summer bedspread, which is about the heft of a quilt (and of course the throws, which officially the animals sleep on, but they move around). This is a difference of less than 10 degrees, and yet the whole setup is different. For best sleep I like to just lie on top of the covers and not need anything over me. This happens about twice a year, in a good year. Last summer it didn’t happen at all. Ha, I also use a silk pillowslip, summer & winter. Once, long ago, we thought it would be very nice to also have silk sheets, and we bought some–they were surprisingly cheap. I really need to know why pillowslips cost so much compared to sheets. Makes no sense. Anyway. They wouldn’t stay on the bed (which was a waterbed) and, in fact, we slid around way too much ourselves. Just the opposite of the winter scenario where it’s flannel sheets & flannel pjs and once you get into bed you are basically stuck in that position until someone rescues you. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/39 "2015-04-17T22:48:22Z")
I’ve never tried linen sheets. Is their laundering and care much different from cotton? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2015, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701/40 "2015-04-18T00:41:25Z")
> [@racepug](#): > > Oh, really? Okay - pardon my ignorance on this, then. I think I may be showing my age – in looking at “comforter” versus “duvet”, they look like they are more interchangeable than they used to be. I thought of a comforter as: [http://ak-hdl.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/terminal05/2012/9/19/15/enhanced-buzz-29871-1348081428-1.jpg](http://ak-hdl.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/terminal05/2012/9/19/15/enhanced-buzz-29871-1348081428-1.jpg) and a duvet as a covered one of these: [![](https://images.wisegeek.com/plain-duvet.jpg) ](https://images.wisegeek.com/plain-duvet.jpg) But I am stuck in the 80s when duvets were new-fangled!! 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-bedclothes/717701.md?page=3)