Top sheets are NOT optional.

Absolutely, OP. Non-negotiable.

And they have to be tucked in at the foot. My toes are not going to be cold just because you think you are too warm.

Glad to know that you and the people in your head are in agreement.

But, they are.

If it's too hot sometimes all you need is one light weight layer. It could be a blanket, sheet or a light comforter. They're washable, you know. Get 100% cotton bedding.

I hate things tucked in tightly and must de-tuck.

You are "unanimous in that"?

Are you sure, Sybil?

I've never used a top sheet, ever.

I AM the top.

Duvet covers were traditionally never used outside of ski resorts in Switzerland, where they were perfectly necessary.

France, Britain, Italy all used fabulous sheet sets, the best of which were made of pure Linen.

The only reason duvets are used widely now, despite being far too hot and lacking in the flexibility of sheets, is because people are too lazy to make their beds.

[quote] I am unanimous

I’m sorry, what?

I’d be interested to read your definition of the word “unanimous”, OP

So, OP is ultra-basic, illiterate, AND sweats at night?

And top sheets should be placed, when making a bed, "upside down" so the "top" faces the body. It's more comfortable and

R9 lies under a heavy paisley duvet and thinks that a top sheet cannot be pushed off If comfort requires.

R9 uses terms such as "ultra-basic," as if this is a concept that means something here.

R9 is so stupid she thinks she belongs on the DL while not recognizing a DL standard that honors Mrs. Betty Slocombe.

R9 is a sign of infestation.

R2, R4, R7 and R8 — weak as water!

Says Sweatty Betty at r10.

Pretty sure this is an ancient reference to Mrs Slocombe from the 70s British comedy "Are You Being Served?", R7 & R8

Bottoms are optional

I'm not defensive. And I'm not the OP.

You just don't think, don't know what you're talking about, and think mean-girl high school banter somehow makes you look like something other than what you are - an out-of-work, useless, lost little cunt.

As for your saying stupidly that the OP is illiterate:

[quote]Sweatty

Oh, dear.

R13, is is not an "ancient reference. It is a contemporary reference to an ancient old bitch.

As when I refer to you or R9/R12.

Just so I'm clear, the top sheet is the one you put over the sheet that is a bitch to fold, right?

Yes, r17. An entire generation has grown up thinking you only need a bottom sheet (the one with elastic that is a bitch to fold) because their parent/caregiver was too lazy to properly make the bed.

Unless you wash the duvet cover, blanket, quilt or whatever layer is next to your skin every week, if you don’t use a top sheet, you are a slovenly pig and your bed stinks.

My pussy gets nice and warm under a top sheet.

I use a top sheet, but I always end up kicking it to the bottom of the bed and just using my comforter.

[quote]An entire generation has grown up thinking you only need a bottom sheet (the one with elastic that is a bitch to fold) because their parent/caregiver was too lazy to properly make the bed.

Sleeping next to a duvet without an intervening sheet is a bit creepy for me. If I had a maid to change the duvet cover everyday, maybe. But I don't. And laundering a duvet and cover is a pain in the ass. Plus the choice of how much covering you want is important: sometimes a duvet is too much and too little all in a night.

The British are a sad people when it comes to making beds, just aimlessly throwing some awful thing with "cheery colors" over the bed and rendering invisible the wafer thin pillow beneath it. Here we see a modest semi-detached 3-bedroom house for sale for £650,000 in Mitcham, vicinity Wimbledon, on a sad street of like houses with nothing going for it but that it's in London. No cheerful colors here, but the fringe from some very flammable crinolines, or the volantes from the world's saddest flamenco dress. Observe the care. "Can't fucking be arsed" is the standard for bed making in the country, from the meanest hovel to luxuriously priced digs.

Did no one tell them the estate agent's photographer was coming around? "Can't fucking be arsed"

People who grew up in a hovel continue to live like they're in a hovel, no matter how much money and "education" they get.

And they resist learning about anything that doesn't bring them what they consider cachet.

Because they're people who grew up in a hovel, declaring that familiarity is the only "comfort" they need.

Top sheets are useless.

Mattress, mattress protector, fitted sheet, comforter. That's all you need.

Wait …. is this thread an actual discussion of bedding?

Or is the entire thing a response to something Mrs. Slocombe said?

(I know, I know … I really should have watched “Are You Being Served”? years ago)

I'm just using my light bedspread. I'm disgusting.

When in Rome.....

Listen in Duvetland AKA Switzerland, the Duvet is usually a down comforter and it comes in several varieties of fill: summer - 3 seasons - deep winter. (The deep winter one is like a gigantic down pillow and never even the size of the bed. It will smother you anywhere below 1700 meters, in my opinion, and above 1700 in a modern, heated chalet.

There is a duvet cover. This cover is washed at the same frequency of the sheet, so this depends on the household.

Not being raised here, I always prefer a top and bottom sheet. My favorite top sheets are a quality and weave of linen or linen-cotton that almost resembles canvas. For several months of the year this is all that is necessary because it has perfect temperature control properties - it is cooling and breathes and it has some weight.

These weaves are near impossible to find - and some of them are extinct. Anyone who has a few in their household will have them forever as they are indestructible. Isabelle Adjani and I have the notable collections of old bed linens. That used to be fun fact but now that she has become the Dowager Vampiresse du Tapis Rouge, it gives me the creeps. I'm telling you now so I don't have to tell you later.

PS, the very grand send their linens from the city residence to the country estate once a year for a grassing.

Is that how they did anal bleaching back in the olden days?

Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba, was the last grandee who insisted on le blanchissage sur gazon. However, Jabir, her jolly moorish majordomo at Arbaizenea in Saint Sebastien and S'Aufabaguera in Ibiza, and who has a fabulous 25cm cock, told me the staff just used OxiClean and a few spritzes of Mugler Cologne for that grassy smell.

"I've sat here and listened to some daft things in my time, but this is the daftest thing I've ever sat here and listened to."

For fall and spring, cotton sheets, including a top sheet. For winter, flannel sheets, including a top sheet, and maybe even a quilt underneath the duvet. For summer, linen sheets and no top sheet. Duvet and cover at all times, of the same fabric as the sheets, and should be laundered at the same pace.

[quote] People who grew up in a hovel continue to live like they're in a hovel

People who grew up with maid service live like they’re in a hovel. It took me years to learn how to clean and care for my things properly because my parents didn’t enforce that when I was growing up.

They don't sell tops or bottoms in men's wear.

Imagine how fucked up OP must be if this is the hill they're willing to die on and all that other petty things that must bother them.

[quote]An entire generation has grown up thinking you only need a bottom sheet (the one with elastic that is a bitch to fold) because their parent/caregiver was too lazy to properly make the bed.

When I was a kid, fitted and flat sheets came in sets. I suppose they still do, though I buy them individually. When the "top sheet" discussion happened, I was shocked to find out so many people slept on a bed with a fitted sheet and then just some loose blanket or afghan or something. You want to die getting tangled up in your bed linens? Because that's how you die getting tangled up in your bed linens.

Tangentially, I'm somewhat angry about the fact that, these days, finding good quality sheets is almost impossible; I need to make friends with someone who knows where to buy high-quality linens, because all the mid-range items I used to buy from Company Store or Brooklinen are crap now. The last fitted I bought from Company Store felt like one of those old parachutes we used to play with in gym class.

Rough Linen makes good-quality linen sheets. I agree with you about the Company Store going downhill (although their thickest flannel sheets are still very high-quality, maybe because it’s more of a niche item). I’d like to be able to find nice cotton sheets without spending my savings on fussy French linens.

Zara Home has reasonably good cotton sateen. And linen. However the low thread count variety of cotton broadcloth comes in gorgeous patterns but only good for mostly decorative purposes such as a day bed. The higher thread count cotton is OK. When they occasionally have flannel - it is often Portuguese flannel and very good.

You’ve all done very well.

Im in Florida and never use top sheets. I'd likely die of heat stroke with all the bedding most of you people use.

A bed without a top sheet is like a lady without hose.

Good luck with European hotels and especially airbnbs, OP. Many of them only provide duvets now (the first time I ever came across the practice was the years ago in a Dublin airbnb).