Cotton is a plant that loves warmer weather and it takes several months for it to produce the fluffy cotton balls that we all know. After the plants are harvested, they are defoliated and send to the cotton gin. There, the cotton fibers are combed — this is done for cleaning and fiber straightening purposes — and then spun into yarn.

It was during the Renaissance Period when bedding as we know it today was designed. Whilst the poor continued to sleep on hay-covered platforms, the wealthy owned mattresses stuffed with down and wrapped in luxurious materials. Their four-poster beds were covered in embroidered canopies and contained pull-out trundles for maids and personal valets to sleep on. Mattresses were suspended from the bedframes using ropes or straps. They were covered by smart linen sheets and wool blankets. The beds grew more and more lavish for the most wealthy. They became so expensive they were passed down through the family for generations. Reported to spend most of his day in bed, Louis XIV became so obsessed with bedding that he bought 413 beds for the Palace of Versailles. It is understood that he held court daily from his bed.

The flat sheet is hemmed identically on three sides and has one larger hem on the fourth side. The wider hem folds back over your blanket, coverlet, or duvet, and can be finished with a simple stitch, hemstitch, or embroidery.