What is better: percale or poplin?

For all important full sleep. And it can provide not only silence and a comfortable mattress, but also high-quality bedding. The sheet is in the pellets, and the silk duvet cover is constantly moving down - it means that you have chosen the wrong fabric. In addition to very inexpensive coarse calico, expensive satin, expensive silk for sewing bed linen take poplin and percale - fabrics of the average price category.

Back in the XIV century. Italians invented a special "papal" fabric. That is translated from the Italian popeline. It was the fabric of rich people, because weaving it from silk. And it was two-sided: one-color on one side and patterned on the other. Today poplin is 100% cotton fabric or with the addition of synthetic fibers. Used for sewing everyday clothes, including children’s, nightwear and nightgowns and shirts, curtains and towels. For high-end bed linen, natural wool and silk are added to cotton. But the main thing is not the composition, but the way of interlacing the threads.

It was in the Middle Ages that they invented the use of thinner threads for the basis of the canvas and twice as thick for weft. As a result, the fabric is thin, on its front side there is a small transverse hem. Modern poplin has a density of 110 to 120 grams per square meter (approximately the same density is of high quality calico or satin). In terms of color, poplin is bleached, dyed, multicolored or printed.

Fabric has a number of advantages: softness, silky sheen, resistance to crushing, high density, democratic price, beautiful appearance (including 3D effect). Over time, buyers realize that items from poplin do not require ironing, are not deformed, breathe well and retain their heat well. Under the natural fabric the body does not sweat, does not feel tactile discomfort. Things withstand up to 200 washes at a temperature of 30 degrees and do not require special care. The material is inert to static electricity, i.e. it is not electrified.

We are talking about a cotton fabric with a very dense thread weave from yarn of medium thickness (a similar canvas of thin thread - batiste). Persian pargal from India came to Europe, where the Frenchman Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot in 1774 decided to use percale, soaked in linseed oil, to sew sails. By the way, on the ship and in aircraft construction (for sewing parachutes and covering aircraft elements), this concept is masculine. When using the same word in the sewing business of the fabric speak in the feminine.

Now percals are used in parachute and sailing, but bed linen and covers are sewn from it.since dense fabric does not pass feather and feather components and other types of fillers. From printed and one-colored percals sew children's and women's clothing. Percale is made from untwisted paper quality long-staple cotton yarn.

Due to the use of glue, it is necessary to properly make the first wash of the thing: it should be delicate at a temperature of 20 degrees, without strong spin. In the future, it is also recommended to wash bed linen when using the delicate mode and water temperature of 60 degrees. Do not use bleach when washing, but air conditioners and softeners are welcome. This will not only give the linen a pleasant smell, but also simplify ironing. With each wash, things will be softer and more pleasant to the touch. Experts say that percale will withstand up to 1000 washes.

Thus, percale has many positive characteristics.

• Very high strength.
• High level of wear resistance for cotton fabrics. The service life of products - eight years.
• Density - 130-150 grams per square meter. This is a high figure for cotton fabrics.
• The fabric is a little deformed and does not form the pellets on the surface.
• Due to the fact that the yarn is not twisted, the fabric is smooth and soft to the touch.
• The ability to maintain the required temperature. No wonder this fabric appeared in hot India - the percale has a cooling effect. At the same time, during the cold season, it perfectly retains heat.

• The use of dressing has led to resistance to ultraviolet rays, which means that the drawing does not burn out for a long time.
• The special weaving technology makes the canvas silky.
• It is easy to color, not only in the form of yarn, but also when applying prints and 3D drawings.
• If the fabric is made of 100% cotton, then the bed set will have a high level of hygroscopicity, and the body will not sweat under the blanket.
• Not subject to electrification.
• Having a percale bed set is prestigious to have in any home.

There are several negative points that make buyers in no hurry to buy percale linens.

• High level of crushing: after washing, the laundry will need not only ironing, but also, perhaps, steam.
• Modern manufacturers began to add artificial fibers to natural fibers. This reduces the price of the product, but impairs its quality. This bed set will be worse to let in air and moisture, which will lead to restless sleep due to excessive sweating.
• At the beginning of the purchase, the linen crunches due to the use of glue, although this effect will disappear after washing.

Percale and poplin have fundamental differences.

• The difference in the thickness of the threads used in production. In the manufacture of poplin used yarn of different thickness on the weft and the base, which gives a special appearance of the fabric. In the manufacture of percale used threads of the same thickness.
• Production is different and technology: poplin weave on the principle of double-twisted - double torsion of the thread, while the percale is created by the old method of weaving (one smooth twisted yarn twisted crosswise).
• The use of sizing technology in the production of percale and the lack of this in the manufacture of poplin is the third difference. It makes percals much stronger.
• For hostesses, the more important difference is the need to iron a more “luxury” percale. While more affordable poplin does not need it.
• If we compare poplin and percale to the light, then it will be clearly noticeable that poplin is more “perforated” material, and percale is more dense.
• Percals have a low percentage of shrinkage during washing, which allows you to correctly select the laundry in size at the time of purchase.

All of these fabrics are cotton. The difference is in the production technology, which means, in the future appearance, strength, price. Cloth from sateen soft and gentle, with gloss, is almost not rumpled. Sleeping on such a slip sheet is very nice.The effect is achieved due to the method of interlacing the threads, which is called “satin”. Thin double twisted threads form a diagonal hem on the front side. High-quality satin has a high density (higher poplin, closer to the percale).

After mercerization (processing of the web with concentrated alkalis) the fabric becomes stronger, more durable and resistant to staining. Satin bedding has, perhaps, all the positive characteristics for a comfortable good night. Therefore, it is called a silk substitute. At the same time, the material is much cheaper than silk, but significantly more expensive than poplin, percale or calico.

Satin will last about 8 years and survive three hundred - four hundred washings. The most dense type of satin (satin-jacquard) is the most beautiful. It is relief-textured, with a convex pattern. But much hesitates, almost like a percale. Calico is the cheapest fabric in the lineup listed. Plain weave of filament fibers of the same thickness forms a “cross”, overlapping one another. Calico has several types that are very different from each other in density, and therefore, in appearance, durability and price.

• Bleached or dyed fabric with a density of 142 grams per square meter. It is used for beds in public institutions with bed facilities (sanatoriums, hotels, hospitals, boarding houses).
• "Lux" with a density of 125 - the highest quality view, because in the manufacture of used thinner but durable yarn.
• "Ranfors" more like poplin due to its high density, but still considered a kind of calico.

• "Standard" - density of 125 grams per square meter.
• "Comfort" - 120 units.
• "Light" – 110.
• Sparse calico with a density of 80 grams per square meter is more like chintz.

An unpretentious buyer will always be able to choose a bed set of coarse calico according to his pocket. This fabric almost does not shrink, most often does not shed, well passes moisture, possesses hypoallergenic properties, therefore it is valued by allergic persons.

If you first buy bedding from poplin or percale and do not know what to stop at, determine the selection criteria. Usually, sheets with pillowcases and duvet covers are selected according to the following criteria.

• The composition of the material. Knowing that initially both fabrics are cotton, one should pay attention to the additives: wool and silk in poplin will shrink, and polyester will make breathability difficult to percale.
• Production technology. Adding glue to the fiber percale will make the laundry much stronger, but at the same time it will add crispness to the fabric.
• Coloring The same glue will allow more thoroughly dyeing fabrics and will ensure a longer preservation of the original color. While poplin may fade from washing, the colors will gradually become more faded.
• Durability is definitely much higher in percale. Look at the fabric on the lumen or put it on your hand, compare with poplin and see for yourself.

• That is why the service life of the percalon kit will be several years longer.
• But only if it is properly washed, while it is much easier to care for poplin.
• According to the degree of crushability, poplin definitely wins, which can not be ironed at all, since it does not hesitate.
• Also poplin more soft and delicate material.
• Both materials (if they are 100% natural) are well breathable, hygroscopic, do not electrify.
• Percale has a richer appearance, and poplin - a more interesting texture.
• The price of both fabrics is about the same (percale is a bit more expensive).

Have a good choice!

In the next video you will find a review of bed linen made of percale, poplin and calico.