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Choosing the right material to sleep on is a final step in making your bed really comfortable. Even once you’ve decided to go for natural fabrics you still have an important decision to make – to choose among two of the most common natural bedding materials: linen and cotton.

Both of these fibers have their own distinctive feel and benefits, so how to choose one over the other? Here are some of their key differences that will help you make the right decision.

Linen VS Cotton. What’s the difference?

Linen

Linen is the world’s strongest natural fiber and is often regarded as the best quality material to sleep in. It is derived from the flax plant that goes through a lengthy production process to become an end-product for your bed.

Linen has a lot of benefits and is famous for its balance between its strength and the ability to become softer after each wash. Linen is one of the best breathable fabrics, it can keep you cool in summer and won’t let you get cold in winter.

The top flax growing countries in the world are France, Belgium, Italy, and Lithuania. They have the perfect climate conditions to grow it and produce the highest quality natural fibers that will be then turned into cozy linen sheets for your bedroom.

Cotton

Cotton is the other kind of natural material that is commonly used for bedding. Cotton is a soft natural fiber that gets its strength from spinning the fiber into yarn and then weaving the yarn into fabric. Cotton is breathable and moisture-wicking fabric, also because of the softness it’s really comfortable material to sleep in.

The process of producing cotton is relatively easy compared to the linen process so that cotton textiles tend to be lower priced.

The most common delusion about cotton is that the higher the thread count is, the higher the quality is. But what is actually the best thread count? In fact, the thread count itself only contributes up to 10% of a finished bedding product. Other factors that are much more important to measure the quality of the fabric include the species and quality of the source cotton, the country of origin, the yarning technique, and finishing materials.

We will get to these factors in our upcoming posts.

Why choose Linen?

Durable and strong

Linen is known to be the world’s strongest natural fiber. Not only is linen thicker than cotton, but it is also 30% stronger than cotton, that makes the linen bed sheets being more durable and lasts a lot longer.

Able to soften after each wash

High-quality cotton is inevitably softer than linen, especially within the first six months of purchase. However, high-quality linen becomes softer and more absorbent after each wash without losing its durability. Most linens that are used for bedding products (like Scottie’s) are high quality and are also ‘stonewashed’, which makes linen look more elegant and be even softer than usual.

Highly breathable

Linen is a natural insulator. It has natural heat and moisture-wicking properties that make linen a good conductor of warmth and a popular fabric to use for clothing or bedding in the summer.

More environmentally friendly

The cultivation and manufacturing of flax are environmentally friendly and require less irrigation, pesticides, and energy than most other fibers, including cotton. For example, the flax plant, from which linen is derived, requires only 1/5 of the pesticides and fertilizers that cotton requires.

Naturally hypoallergenic

Because linen is a natural fiber (so is cotton too) it is hypoallergenic, meaning that it is great for people who suffer from allergies or have sensitive skin, so they won’t need to worry about having an allergic reaction when touching the fabric or sleeping on it.

Absorb moisture

Linen has an incredible ability of moisture absorption and can absorb up to 20% of its weight before beginning to feel damp or wet.

We receive a lot of messages from customers about curtains: some of you are confused about choosing the style, other doubt if they measure the panel size correctly. Based on your FAQ we created a set of posts to help in choosing the right draperies. Below are the topics that we plan to cover:

1. Interior styles
2. What is the difference between the curtain’s headings?
3. Length - how to measure
4. Width
5. Functional features (darkening)

  

1. Interior Styles

 Curtains are those part of the interior that connects multiple pieces into one idea and represents the mood of the room. However, many find it difficult to choose among the variety of draperies, here are some tips with what to start.

Linen (made of flax plant) is the material which itself is associated with such interior styles as:

• Farmhouse (modern farmhouse)
• Minimalist
• Industrial
• French country
• Rustic

However other interior styles will nicely pair with the linen, you just need to add particular accents, for example – choose proper panel top (heading).

Below you will find what is the difference between different headings, how they may change the look.

 2. What is the difference between curtains headings?

Rod pocket. The top of the panel has the “pocket” where you can easily pull the rod. Standard pocket size is 2.8” and it is suitable for the rod till 2”.

Choose this style for the places where you do not need to close and open the drapes each day or use tie backs to hold the panels when they are opened.

Tiebacks come with each panel in our store.

The romantic look creates a rod pocket curtain with an additional heading. Standard heading width is 2”.

 

Tab top heading is a perfect accent for modern farmhouse or rustic room styles. White color panels look fabulous in the Scandinavian interior.

It’s very easy to hang and even easier to move, close, and open it as many times as you wish.

 

Hidden tabs or back tabs create a classic look and make accurate folding (similar to the one with eyelets). Curtain panel top will be perfect for contemporary, modern, or coastal interior.

Standard hidden tabs fit the rod up to 2 “ thick.

 

 

Eyelet curtains are very easy to hang and move. Eyelets are available in several metallic colors, which help to create additional accents in the room: industrial, modern, or rustic design. The rings have an internal diameter of 1,4” and are suitable for poles with a diameter of up to 1,2”.

Colors: chrome, bronze, silver, gold, white, and black.

 

 

Knot curtain panels are a boho (bohemian) style alternative to classic farmhouse tabs. Feature knots on the top. Perfect for Canopy beds as well.

Knots add approx. 9 inches to the total curtain panel length.

 

Top tie curtain panels. Ties are long enough to accommodate even very thick rod and to tie a nice bow.

Usually, they do not add any inches to the curtain length unless they are tied in a relaxed look.

Perfect for contemporary or shabby chic interiors, also used to dress four posts canopy beds.

 

Panels for rings and hooks

If you have the rings with hooks (for example N-hooks), then we attach the tape to the backside of the hooks. Modern tapes allow you to gather the panel according to your wish and imagination:

• S-fold curtain
• Pencil pleat curtains
• Pinch Pleat
• Goblet Pleat

 

Panels for rings and clips

The top of the panel features an accurate hem that will allow you to hang the panel. Choose this top for café curtains or small-size panels, since the linen is rather heavy, and larger panels especially lined ones may be challenging to make hanging with the clips.

Have you ever wondered what process a small flower of flax goes through to become a lovely linen bedding in your bedroom? Let’s find out and dig more into the background story of this remarkable material!

A Dash of Linen’s History

History of linen goes way back many thousands of years. In Ancient Egypt, linen was so valued that people even used it as a currency. Later on, linen was a fiber used for mummification as it symbolized the wealth and purity of the deceased pharaohs.

Mentioned several times in the Bible, as cloth of the angels, this natural fabric has been used as a cool, breathable material in the Middle East for centuries as well. Allegedly, traders then introduced linen to Northern Europe where it has become one of the most common plants for cultivation for centuries.

Nowadays flax is grown in different parts of the world, but the real high-quality flax is primarily cultivated in Western European countries.

 

 The Manufacturing Process

Linen, like any other natural fabric, is made from the natural source – flax plant. The manufacturing process is not that complicated as it might look, apparently because of this linen has gained popularity among people and been used for such a long time.

First, the flax seeds are planted and after about one hundred days, when the flax blossomed and started to turn brown, it’s ready to harvest. After harvesting, the plants are dried, and the seeds are removed from the flowers.

 

The flax is then to be “retted”.  This is a process when the flax plant is put into the water and left to rot. The special bacteria in the tank helps degrade the fibers from the woody stem. After the retting, the flax plants are going through the process called beetling. Beetling consists of beating the flax with a wooden mallet to loosen and separate the fibers from each other. Then comes the time of scutching. Using a special scutching machine any pieces of woody stem that remain on the fibers during beetling are fully removed now and finally, the flax fiber from the stalk is released.

After that, the scutched linen fibers are sorted and spun into yarns on a spinning wheel. The atmosphere within the spinning factory is very important, it should be warm and humid for the purpose of turning linen fiber easier into yarn.

Then these yarns will be woven and become the lovely natural fabric we all know as linen. Later on, linen can be bleached, dyed, printed on, or even embroidered.

Although growing and manufacturing of flax might look pretty intricate, it’s actually a very sustainable plant: flax is strong, naturally moth resistant, it requires less water, fertilizers, and pesticides than any other natural plant, including cotton. 

The production of linen fabric is very earth-friendly. Almost the entire plant of flax can be used to create a worthwhile product, e.g the seeds can be used to produce linseed oil, which is great for wood preservation, or a flaxseed oil that can be added to many common foods.