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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Flat sheets

112 replies

Northernlassie27 · 07/04/2021 06:03

AIBU to suggest nobody uses flat sheets anymore? In the days of blankets and candlewick bedspreads they were needed as a top layer. But nowadays? Fitted base sheet and duvet cover seems to be what every shop markets as 'normal''. Are flat sheets something to invest in now for posterity before they vanish forever?

OP posts:

oneglassandpuzzled · 07/04/2021 08:28

I use John Lewis flat linen sheets on the bottom and under the duvet during the summer.

LakieLady · 07/04/2021 08:29

@Badoukas

We have them. Better fit over deep mattress plus memory foam topper. Fitted sheet pings off. Had to buy online though, getting harder to buy flat sheets in shops.

Same here, for exactly the same reasons.

I've been able to buy them without any trouble. Dunelm, John Lewis and M&S all do them, as did Debenhams before their demise.

yikesanotherbooboo · 07/04/2021 08:30

I use them for the same reasons as Badoukas

BIoodyStupidJohnson · 07/04/2021 08:32

I can never get them to stay taut, even with hospital corners.

Shelddd · 07/04/2021 08:32

Surprised so many say they are using flat sheets. I haven't used one in 10 years and don't know anyone who still does including parents and grandparents.

SimonJT · 07/04/2021 08:32

We use flat sheets on the mattress, my partner can’t put fitted ones on. In the summer we also have a top sheet rather than a duvet.

Pottedpalm · 07/04/2021 08:45

@JemimaTiggywinkle

My parents have them and refuse to change to fitted even though they come loose and go wrinkly so you have to rearrange them every night.

My grandma uses them in the traditional manner - under a duvet or blanket.

I think there may be an age split on this one..

I don’t think it’s an age thing; I have fitted sheets and a duvet. DS uses a flat sheet under the duvet for ease of laundering. He likes a nicely ironed duvet cover and this way he can wash the sheet and just do the duvet less often.

MayIDestroyYou · 07/04/2021 08:58

Much prefer flat sheets - so much more flexible and interchangeable.

And yes, I always use a sheet beneath the duvet - the bed doesn't feel properly made otherwise.

MsSquiz · 07/04/2021 09:00

To those who use them because fitted sheets aren't deep enough for their mattress plus a topper - do you know you can buy deep fitted sheets?

Next do them

NoseOfJericho · 07/04/2021 09:09

I only use flat sheets. All cotton.

Fitted sheets that fit my mattress are rare, in fact I have never found any that would fit, but then I don't look at anything that isn't cotton.

They might be 'fitted' as in having corners sewn in, but they aren't fitted as in actually fitted on the bed so that they stay in place properly.

Good quality, proper sheets here, traditionally made bed with top and bottom sheets. Duvets on top, thin ones, layered depending on temperature. Avoids wrinkly, sweaty beds.

DappledThings · 07/04/2021 09:13

My mum does the flat sheet over you and under the duvet thing. Drives me mad. I've never woken up without it crumpled up at the bottom of the bed.

Now when we stay there I just take it off before getting into bed. Pointless thing.

wishes1111 · 07/04/2021 09:24

Nope I hate flat sheets, when we go on holiday and only have a sheet I really don't sleep very well.

We have a summer duvet and a winter duck feather one. Even in the summer I have most of my body covered with the duvet because I'm quite a cold person (not literally). Luckily DH chucks his side off so I can steal it!

AlCalavicci · 07/04/2021 09:25

I use fitted sheet on the mattress and a flat sheet under the duvet , as PP said it is much easier to change a sheet than it is to fight with a duvet cover plus i think it looks and feels nicer .

I got my last ones from Dunelm all bought as individual sheets and pillow cases but it is getting harder to find them and almost impossible to get a full set of sheets and pillowcases together

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 07/04/2021 09:27

We have an odd sized mattress and base - between king and super king - so I have to order fitted cotton sheets. Expensive but they last a long time. Ditto a mattress cover, since not available in shops.

When the first lot were finally wearing out, I did think I’d go back to flat sheets - John Lewis had them - but soon ordered fitted again, so much less faff.

I hate a sheet under the duvet. You might as well go the whole hog with blankets and ‘hospital corners’, or ‘envelope ends’ as my DM called them.

MrsClatterbuck · 07/04/2021 09:27

Have never not used a flat sheet but have noticed that with duvet sets they are not included. Still able to purchase them though as I get most of my sheets in Mark's and Spencer. They mean you don't have to change the duvet cover so often and are also another layer in winter. I'm of the generation that grew up with blankets and eiderdowns. Duvets were definitely a game changer.

Pinkdelight3 · 07/04/2021 09:29

Hate flat sheets. Under duvets they just trap you and as a base they're unreliable. The first thing I do in a hotel is untuck the damn sheets at the bottom of the bed. Fitted sheets and sheet-free duvets all the way!

Don't get me started on valances....

Jarstastic · 07/04/2021 09:31

@Mxflamingnoravera

I use flat sheets over the mattress topper, I have no fitted sheets anymore. Wonderful, huge Egyptian cotton soft sheets on a super king bed. All bought from a laundry that supply Bath's most exclusive hotel. Hotels still use flat sheets because fitted cannot be ironed flat or stored easily

Is that the Gainsborough?

Which company did you get the sheets from please?

StoneofDestiny · 07/04/2021 09:36

Always use them under the duvet.

TheKeatingFive · 07/04/2021 09:36

They are a pain in the arse.

They don’t stay on as well as a fitted sheet. I can’t stand them getting all tangled up in the duvet. I’m in Ireland, so it’s never actually warm enough to have just a sheet.

I binned our last one. Happy days.

Jarstastic · 07/04/2021 09:38

I have bought (more AA style of rather than super luxury hote) linen for the teenagers’ bedrooms from Vision Linens. I think the brand is Liddell. The sheets are flat.

Mrbob · 07/04/2021 09:40

I use a fitted sheet underneath and a flat sheet over. But I live somewhere hot and I often don't have anything other than a sheet over in summer

RaiseTheBeastie · 07/04/2021 09:42

I LOVE hotel bedding, when there's a proper bed spread with a flat sheet as a base layer. Can't beat it.

However, in hotels, I don't have to make the bed every day. For real life, it's a faff I just cannot be bothered with so it's a fitted sheet to lie on and a duvet only!

MayIDestroyYou · 07/04/2021 09:43

Gosh, it's a long time since I've seen 'exclusive' used as a term of approbation ...

Never forget the woman from Scottish Widows showing a couple around a housing development in South Africa and extolling its ferocious exclusivity as a major virtue. Turned my stomach. (Even though I knew she didn't understand what she was saying.)

rc22 · 07/04/2021 09:45

I use fitted sheets over the mattress protector then just use duvet with duvet cover but, like others, we have a stash of flat sheets that come out in the summer if it's too hot for the duvet. I feel quite posh and organised. When I was little and it was too hot, my mum just used to take all the duvets out of the covers and we'd just sleep under the cover!!

ICouldHaveCheckedFirst · 07/04/2021 09:50

Fitted on the mattress. Dunelm sell different sizes to suit different depths of mattress.
Flat on top. Then duvet.
I wash sheets & pillow cases weekly, duvet cover less often. Works for me.

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