So many choices out there. Who’s bought good cotton percale-weave sheets recently, and which did you buy?
Hi chs4000,
This article is very informative and may be helpful.
Post #7 here also has more information about different types of sheets in general and this topic includes some feedback from the members here about the sheets they are sleeping on.
Phoenix
I’ll check out those links later today, thank you.
Are you still a fan of the Costco Charisma sateen 400 thread count sheets? I like them quite a bit, but only have a few sheets in recent memory to compare to. The IKEA Gaspa sheets I picked up a few weeks ago are garbage, and the other Costco sheets I tried – the Kirkland Signature Supima sheets – were way too thick, heavy, hot, wrinkly, and not soft at all. IMO.
Hi chs4000,
We use them every night and we both still like them yes. There are no signs of wear or pilling so far.
Phoenix
I bought one of the L.L. Bean ones recommended in the article linked in post #2 above, and like it very much.
I also bought one of these from The Company Store, and like it almost as much. I’ll probably buy more of those, rather than the L.L. Bean’s. It’s a little lighter, but not much, and I liked their customer service a lot better (specifically, they sent me fabric samples of the sheets, which L.L. Bean would not do).
Unfortunately, it looks like the sheets at The Company Store are being discontinued, and selection is limited to certain sizes/colors, probably a rapidly dwindling selection.
I now have the LL Bean 280 thread count pima cotton percale sheets, and they are everything I expected they’d be, given all the positive opinions abounding all over the Internet. When people post negative reviews of these sheets, I can’t help but imagine that they just don’t know what a percale weave entails. Crisp, cool, smooth. They are soft, too, certainly softer than cheap sateen sheets. But decent sateen sheets (e.g., Costco’s charisma 400 TC Egyptian cotton) are softer than these LL bean sheets. Keep in mind there’s a difference between smooth, and soft. Smooth is like the smooth surface of an ice skating rink, whereas soft is like the surface of recently and closely-mowed lawn.
Hi chs4000,
Great analogy 
Phoenix
Your “The Company Store” link is going to a discontinued set of colors… the same sheet is still available in newer colors and I have some of those. Excellent, long lasting sheets (how unusual in this day and age of short lived everything!). They also carry several nice 350-thread count Sateen sheet selections that we like almost as much. We’ve had some over 4 years and they still look good and haven’t faded much.
The BEST cotton is to choose sheets made from Supima which is high quality, long staple cotton grown in the USA (as opposed to pima grown in other countries). Not only are you helping an American farmer but buying sheets made from some of the finest cotton in the world - plus they will be some of the softest sheets you can sleep on.
350 to 400 thread count sheets will last far longer than lesser counts and are generally softer than higher thread counts which are too thick for some people.
The Bean 280 pima sheet is nice too.
All this said… finding good sheets is becoming harder and harder!
P.S. My husband is a cotton farmer, but we grow upland cotton, not pima - not enough rain in our area for that. Did you know that pima cotton is actually a golden yellow color on the plant? Yeah, I was surprised too!
St. Geneve is just introducing a new Organic Percale sheet from Germany, they are surprisingly soft with a TC of 240 it is called ‘Nico’. Generally with percale woven sheets TC will be well under 300 unless it is multi-ply which will be thicker and less breathable. A lot of places carry St. Geneve maybe check out their dealer locator to see if there is one near you.