Flat sheets

[Northernlassie27]

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?

We use a top flat sheet under the duvet. Couldn’t live without it

Does anyone else remember half fitted sheets?? My mother had some in the 70s, just the bottom corners had the elastic. Mind we were all blankets and candlewicks in those days!

I bought the most beautiful candlewick from a charity shop for the dog when we were first married, it was white with a two tone yellow sunflower pattern on it and the fringing was loose on one corner. In the end I fixed it and kept it for the guest bed! So the poor dog never got her paws on it.

I remember getting a Continental Quilt and waking up in a complete sweat as it was so much warmer! My brother was not allowed one for ages, I think they were dear and my mother was concerned about bed wetting and laundering it...he was a good deal younger than me!

I like a fitted sheet on the mattress, and a flat sheet over, but under the duvet, I do not tuck the sides in though, just the bottom and that means I can still hoik a leg out if I wake up boiling hot!

@LaurieSchafferIsAllBitterNow I had completely forgotten the term continental quilt till you used it. My Nan definitely used the word. And she also had a bolster on her bed (the pillow case was huge)

@RaiseTheBeastie but I'm a complicated creature so may want the flat shit initially and then when it gets cold at 3am I can pull the duvet on. Or in the UK you can have one hot followed by one cold night and I wouldn't want to be faffing with duvet in and out every night. I need flexibility 🤣

They sell them in most bed linen shops, pre-pandemic anyway. I don't use any fitted sheets as we always have a sheet under the duvet but that's just how it's always done.

I use a fitted sheet on the mattress and a flat sheet goes between us and the duvet. I hate it when there is only a duvet to cover me - it doesn't feel right. As others have said, flat sheet between you and the duvet means you still have a cover to take the chill off if a duvet is too much.
I also find flat sheets are a great way of getting a huge quantity of fabric, fairly cheaply, when i make bits and pieces for dgc.

My mum (no longer here) and my mil were born in the same year. My mum stopped using flat sheets underneath the duvet when we were very young but my mil still uses them on her own bed. My mum was more open to change and modern life but mil seems stuck in a lot of old fashioned ones!!

I used to have a lovely flat sheet that was a nice heavy cotton; this thread has reminded me I don't know what happened to it, I don't recall throwing it away I think I 'inherited' it from home

Occasional use under duvets/in summer - I did buy a new one once, but the fabric was nowhere near as nice as my old one.

Dc2 has a flat sheet on her bed. She sleeps under it with her duvet on top. She can get cold at night so this helps her stay asleep.

Duvets definitely called continental quilts back in the 70's when my mum first bought them - and the first set of fitted sheets were purple bri-nylon with a self stripe, and the top one was a half-fitted sheet.

I think the purple monstrosities (I loved them at the time) pre-dated the continental quilt.

Oh my - the continental quilt! First encountered by me at 15 on a school exchange to Germany. But I still had sheets and blankets the following year at home I recall.

My parents had a bolster on their bed. My mother made her own pillow case for it. I couldn't wait to be properly grown up, with a king size bed of my own so I could emulate their style. But my bolster is two pillows pushed together; the bolster case came from Toast more than a decade ago - when they still sold things I actually wanted.

Continental Quilt does sound much more exciting than duvet doesn't it??

Also glad someone else remembered the half fitted sheets! I often wonder about putting a corner in some of my flat sheets as dh is an absolute bugger, he pulls the sheet up diagonally and untucks it from the bottom corner on my side....it will be the reason I kill him I swear. Bludgeon him to death with the loose corner.

@EveryDayIsADuvetDay just prompted a screaming flashback to nylon bedding my mother had, pre the purchase of the Continental Quilt....mine was blue with stripes and to this day I hold her entirely responsible for the issues I have with static. A day rarely goes by where I do not ground myself touching a shop trolley or car door, or even the poor cat and get a shock!

I have the most beautiful flat sheets and they go directly on the bed. I also use them on the rare occasions I am super hot in the summer.

I think the purple monstrosities (I loved them at the time) pre-dated the continental quilt.

Bri-nylon sheets definitely pre-dated the duvet. Lord, they were horrible, I’ve no idea how they caught on. We never had them at home but I lived in digs with them for a year and experienced them in a B & B - just ghastly!

My mum was more open to change and modern life but mil seems stuck in a lot of old fashioned ones!!

I was open to change for a fortnight nearly 40 years ago when we got our first duvet and didn’t have a top sheet. Struggling to get a king size duvet cover back on after the first wash, I thought, ‘and this is supposed to be labour saving?’ and have used a top sheet ever since. I do actually find it more comfortable. I use hospital corners at the bottom and tuck in to 2/5 the way up so the sheet neither becomes unstuck or makes me feel trapped.

I've been married for 30 odd years and never had a top sheet , just the duvet cover and a sheet on the mattress on top of a mattress protector. I change the cover weekly or take out the duvet in the summer and just use the cover.
They were called ' continental quilts' once and were a bit more exotic than sheets and blankets or my flowered quilted bed spread in the 70s!

If you make the bed properly with flat sheets it stays on better than a fitted sheet.

I loath fitted sheets! I did have a ' bedding ' set bought for me once with a blue and white ' valence sheet' i think they have been binned over the years as too fussy but it did hide the sides of the bed!

Bolster pillows! My mum had one.
My own double bed is very 'undressed ' compared to many I think but flat sheets are lovely if they are heavy cotton.

My daughter loves her flannelette flat sheets she took them to university they fit the odd sized beds beautifully

For any flat sheet lovers.... in Waitrose in Salisbury they are selling off John Lewis Egyptian cotton flat sheets for £5.

We have:

Light matress protector - wash weekly
Fitted sheet - wash weekly
Flat sheet - wash weekly
Duvet in duvet cover - wash cover every 2 - 3 weeks.

We have 2 linen sets & 2 high quality cotton sets on rotation. Prefer the linen though!

I remember feeling so grown up when I first wandered the John Lewis bedlinen aisles on my own account ...

Nowadays I spend Far Too Much Time drooling over the beauty of Volga Linen's products.

In fact, I have a big birthday coming up next year ... If you all start saving now - you still wouldn't have enough to make me a thread gift (...) of two monogrammed Volga Linen king sized flat sheets ...

£114 pounds for a linen flat sheet from Volga!
Looks lovely though.
I like the napkins too.
Will last forever.

But I don't need a Single sized fitted sheet, I need two King sized. That's nearly £400 ...

I may well do it next time I move house. (Since I don't see myself scouring any undiscovered French flea markets any time soon.)