Jennifer Sheahan: How to choose cosy winter bed linen
I am a full-blown winter hibernator. I enjoy bedding down and existing in a state of minimal activity as much as possible. (I also overeat, but that’s not the point of this article.)
Like most people, I enjoy little more than a very warm bed on a very cold evening. I look forward to that ceremonial day, usually sometime around mid-October, when my winter bedding comes out of storage, ready to cocoon me for the next few months. Cosiness in these months is paramount, and I feel natural materials are best for achieving this.
The choice is overwhelming, however, and some marketing terms can be misleading. Here are my best tips for choosing the highest quality, warmest winter bedding.
Not all duvets are created equal. When looking for warmth from your duvet, the key consideration is its TOG value. Thermal Overall Grade (TOG) is a measurement of how well a duvet insulates you to keep you warm. The higher the TOG value, the warmer the duvet.
In winter, I like a TOG value of about 10. For context, I have a very warm house — it’s small, so easy to heat up, and has a B2 energy rating post-renovation. I also put additional blankets on top of my duvet. All of this is to say if you have a colder house or if you don’t like additional blankets then you might want to go up to a TOG value of 13.5 or even 15.
Traditionally, duvets are filled with down and feathers from ducks, or sometimes geese. This filling is used because it provides excellent insulation, whilst also being breathable. If you prefer a lighter duvet, choose down, and if you like the weight of a heavier duvet, opt for more feathers.
This material is also naturally anti-allergenic. However, you may still prefer synthetic duvet fillings. Usually, this will be a microfibre polyester that is specially designed to trap air, similar to down and feathers. If you are concerned about sustainability, look for rPET materials which are made from recycled polyesters.
In either case, look for a duvet that has good stitching in place to keep the inner material from bunching up. There are two options to choose from — box stitch is the most common, which is where the top and bottom of the duvet are sewn together in a box pattern across the duvet; and baffle box is usually more expensive, where internal walls are stitched to keep the inner material evenly spread throughout.
The first thing I always hear when the topic of sheets and bed linens is raised is the thread count. Thread count can be misleading. Marketers all over the world have jumped on the bandwagon of ‘higher thread count = higher quality” — and therefore higher price — but this is not necessarily true.
The first thing that matters is the material you choose, and from there you can decide whether thread count is relevant. If you choose 100% cotton, thread count does matter. If you choose polyester material, thread count does not matter much as this material can be manufactured in incredibly thin yarns, which means it is possible to have a super high thread count, but overall may not be not better.
Linen fibres are much thicker than cotton, so you will see lower thread counts. Silk fibres are too thin for thread count to be a valuable measurement.
When buying cotton, you will also see types of cotton advertised — for instance, Egyptian cotton. What matters here is the length of the cotton fibre (called staple length). The reason this matters is durability and softness — long fibres last longer and become softer with use.
My personal first choice for the winter months is 100% cotton in a percale weave. This material is warm, and gets softer the more you use it, yet is also breathable and so prevents you from overheating. For this material and weave, I like a thread count of around 300.
If you like even warmer bedding in winter months, opt for a sateen weave which is a tighter weave than percale, and therefore a bit less breathable. My winter bedding is a cotton set from Irish company Foxford Woollen Mills.
Warm duvets are great but I also like to layer blankets because the temperature fluctuates in Ireland during the winter months, and I like to be able to easily control how warm my bed will be. I also like the weight of blankets for extra cosiness. I have two additional blankets on my bed during winter — a heavy cotton velvet blanket, and a lighter cashmere throw on top.
Partly I chose these because I love the layering contrasting materials, and partly because they offer varying levels of additional warmth when needed.
I also have an electric hot water bottle. Hot blankets and hot water bottles are brilliant for controlling your warmth if you’re sharing a bed, and are also a more energy-efficient option versus cranking up the heating.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
