Fitted Sheets: Are They Necessary?

[chaucerianmyth]

Okay, let's get right to it.

Are fitted sheets really necessary? From where I'm standing (or lying down, as it were), it seems like only one sheet is really needed. It's not exactly difficult to wrap a non-fitted sheet around a mattress to perform the same function, and that way, you're only having to use/purchase one sheet. 

Alternatively, the inverse could be true, and we could say that the fitted sheet is the only necessary sheet in the set, and that the top sheet is just window dressing, so to speak. Either way, I'd rather be buying one sheet than two. I've never been one to sleep with just a sheet over me, especially when there's always a  proper blanket that's light enough or heavy enough for any occasion.

Thoughts?

[Digol]

There is very little that actually stirs any kind of patriotism in me, but having travelled around fairly extensively I can say with absolute certainty that the generally accepted bedclothes configuration in the UK is the correct one.

That is to say, a single fitted sheet, and a single decently thick duvet, with some sort of blanket over that if it is VERY cold, or you are being decadent.

Single sheets tucked into the mattress in weird ways, the pathetically thin excuses for duvets they tend to use on the continent, all heresy.

But as to the key point, of course you can tuck in an unfitted sheet if you so wish, but who am I to spit on 100,000 years of human progress? I date not question they who decided the mattress size, nor the great scholar who devised the fitted sheet for it.

[chaucerianmyth]

I was unaware that the UK was so enlightened in these matters. They've certainly got the right idea. I hope that, at some point, my fellow Americans will wake up to the fact that they are using, and thus paying for, one sheet too many.

And are we even given a choice? Whenever one purchases bedding in the United States, it almost exclusively comes as a set with both a fitted and unfitted sheet, both a waste of money and materials, if you ask me.

[dungeonsnake]

Personally I roll around a lot when I sleep so if the sheet isn't fitted, it tends to come untucked. Therefore, I prefer fitted sheets. I don't really use blankets very often because I don't get cold easily, I mostly sleep with just the top sheet. So, I appreciate that sheets generally come packaged with fitted sheet + topsheet. I have a comforter that I use when it gets cold, but I usually only have to use it for a few weeks out of the year.

[thekeeper]

These are the kinds of discussions I want to see on the forum. This stuff is crucial.

First off, in my personal opinion, there is no need for the sheet between the comforter and fitted sheet. I don't really understand what purpose it serves, other than maybe if the underside of the comforter is not very soft (but if this is the case, it's not really living up to it's name of comforter). I didn't even use one in when I lived in Arizona. If the bed had one, I usually just ended up kicking it off since they don't provide much comfort or warmth (the latter of which I did not need in any season other than winter). I think the fitted sheet that goes over the mattress is useful in that you want some barrier between yourself and the mattress to ensure the mattress stays fresh. The oils from your body sink into your sheets, but these can be easily washed unlike the mattress itself. Same goes for pillowcases. It's much better to have a pillowcase rather than just a raw pillow for the same reasons. I've heard you should wash your pillow cases at least biweekly, but I don't keep up to that level myself.

If someone has some eldritch top-sheet info, I'm interested in hearing it. I'm sure there's sensible reason for them, but I can't see it from my perspective. Maybe it does something for warmth, like some kind of insulation effect? I don't know.

Where are we all at on thread count? I'll have to check mine. I had some fancy super high thread count egyptian cotton sheets at one point since they were on super-clearance from being returned with the packaging ripped to shreds, but honestly they were less comfortable than some lower thread counts sheets I've had.

[chaucerianmyth]

I suppose I should clarify that I'm not against fitted sheets explicitly. Rather, I am against the mandated use of two sheets when only one is needed. If anything, I believe it should be easier to purchase just one sheet, but this toxic two-sheet culture has denied us even the option in most cases, as sheets almost invariably come in sets of two. I think this comes down to consumer choice and the real question of freedom. Are we really free to make choices if those choices are engineered and handed to us by others? Do sheets only come in sets of two because that's what the consumer wants, or because such a culture has been built around it that makes us accept such things without much thought? The tradition of sheets being packaged and sold in sets of two outweighs the importance of logic or consumer choice.

Right now, I sleep with a large unfitted sheet that serves the purpose of a fitted sheet. It is large enough to tuck snugly under my mattress without coming undone, no matter how turbulent my sleep might get. I do not sleep with a sheet between myself and a blanket. As for thread count, I'm not sure. I bought the cheapest sheets that my supermarket had, and they're surprisingly comfortable, even after many washes.

[thekeeper]

It does seem like grounds for a marketing scheme, but I wonder if there's some kind of history or tradition to it that so few people question that has led to sheets always being packaged in pairs like this. I haven't tried the unfitted-sheet-as-a-fitted-sheet strategy myself but I would imagine I'd have to re-tuck the sheet daily. Do you tuck the sheet in on all sides, and how much sheet is making it underneath the mattress? Since I do not use a top-sheet, the sole fitted sheet with a comforter pairing works best for my situation.

[chaucerianmyth]

My sheet is big enough that enough gets under the mattress so that I don't have to remake it daily. I do, indeed, tuck the sheet on all sides, just like a fitted sheet. I don't own any fitted sheets, otherwise, I'd use fitted sheets instead. I'm not some militant anti-fitted sheet puritan, you see, but if my top sheets are doing the trick, why purchase what I don't need?

[thekeeper]

Theoretically, the top-sheet only approach could be better in that, if it does stay tucked well as a fitted sheet replacement, you have more versatility in what the sheet can do. A fitted sheet can only act as a fitted sheet, but a top-sheet can work as both. However, since few would likely just sleep on the raw mattress, the single top-sheet can only serve one purpose at a time, and most of the those times it will be acting as a fitted sheet. It's a rough world out there.