Nice but easy bedlinen, any suggestions please?

[Pannacotta]

I love the White Co look with pristine, ironed white sheets, pillowcases and duvet but our bed always looks a mess, I dont have a knack for bedmaking and I hate ironing!

I also find that our white bedlinen discolours and is all a bit dingy/grey looking, probably because I dont like using lots of strong chemical detergents/stain removers.

Can anyone suggest some nice bedlinen which looks good but is a bit lower maintenance than white? It does need to be 100% cotton and to complicate things we have kingsize pillows.

Am thinking perhaps light grey or another light neutral colour?

TIA

I've found that Primark (yes, really!) do a lovely pale brown/stone colour of sheets and duvet covers.

It washes well, and most importantly, doesn't feel like cheap sheets. It also doesn't seem to crease too badly if you can get it out of the machine quickly.

I can't stand the feel of anything but pure cotton. Blends make me sweaty and they tend to pill.

I don't like to iron though, so I go for comfort over the crisp appearance!

You don't use a lot of chemicals, so you probably already don't use softener, but I will say that fabric softener will make cloth dingy. I know this because I used to be a lab tech for Proctor and Gamble and one of my jobs was to make cloth dingy in order to test whitening agents. One of the ingredients (along with clay, bbq sauce, grease, and something called "artificial body soil") was fabric softener. So, I never use the stuff.

Are you washing at a high enough temperature?

Thanks both. Carpe I will look at Primark but I doubt they will have the kingsize pillowcases, they are hard go get hold of.

Katy I dont use fabric conditioner no.

I wash at 60 which I would have thougt was high enough but maybe not?

It'd be great if someone invented white cotton linen which stayed pure white with no effort and looked neat without ironing...

I think 60 is pretty good, but if it's getting dingy, then something is lacking. I understand your reluctance to use a lot of chemicals but perhaps you may need to reconsider. If it's the environment, I got nuthin' but if it's a desire to not expose your body to chemicals, then perhaps you could do a quick wash cycle with no soap after doing a load of sheets.

The dinginess is a build-up of oils from your body. If you have hard water, that makes washing harder.

You could try soda crystals (normally with washing detergents or cleaning products in supermarkets, in a bright green bag), as they're apparently excellent at stain removal & keeping whites white. Must try them myself but there's plenty of threads about them on this board. They also help soften hard water I think. Much cheaper & not so many nasty chemicals as most stain removers.

soda crystals - how to use in laundry

What about that stuff for washing net curtains in? Would that have any whitening effect on cottons?

Thanks for the soda crystals tip, I will give them a go. I do have some Dri Pak white vinegar which is great for cleaning, so will try their crystals. Our water is very hard and I use oil on my face at night, so we probably need more than just detergent.

The other option is just to get coloured sheets but am never sure how good these look...

If you get white company ones the label says 60 but the website says 40 and gentle detergents only.

I got stung recently so I'm warning everyone I can about them.

The trick with a white wash is to use twice the amount of detergent and a long wash eg don't press the quickwash button.

Thanks fluffy, I dont think I will buy from WHite Co again, the prices are too high and the quality not great.

I am also after linen which looks ok without ironing, hard to work out which type to choose as there are so many to choose from, egyptian, pima, supima etc etc.

I think if you want non iron marks and spencer do non iron but poly cotton is very easy care.

Mil tumbles hers and puts is straight on the bed. She shops in dunelm mill.