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Why do antique sheets come in so many sizes? Which size should I buy?
Item Number: 0002 |
Antique linens and lace items added for September include Linens from the Wanamaker family estate, handmade Cantu lace tablecloths, Leron, D. Porthault, Marghab, American and French linen sheets, handmade wedding hankies, Asian textiles, handmade Figural Cantu lace, linen sheet sets, 18th and 19th century lace, small Appenzel lace tablecloths with provenance, Lace hankies, Linen sheets, bed linens, 18th and early 19th century early whitework hankies, Banquet linen tablecloths, round lace tablecloths, Alencon, and point de gaze, hand made linen bedspreads, pillowcsaes, Madeira handwork, also Brussels lace, Irish lace, linen napkins, tablecloths, linen towels, handmade lace doilies and more! Antique linens are very affordable and make unique and memorable gifts that will be treasured for generations! FREE USPS Priority SHIPPING for US orders over $100. For shipping under $100 its a FLAT RATE OF $3.00 per order using USPS. For our international orders over $100 we will discount SHIPPING cost by $6.00. For order questions CALL or FAX 603-672-5048 |
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Condition: Used
We at Pieces of History Antique Linens and Lace get many excellent questions related to linens and laces, over the upcoming weeks we would like to use this forum to answer some of them. This month's question is 2 fold.
1. Why do antique sheets and pillowcases come in so many sizes?
2. How do I know what size sheet or pillow case to buy?
Today, our beds and mattresses are manufactured in standard sizes, those sizes being Twin or Single, Full or Double, Queen, King and California King. Mattress sizes for these are as follows:
Twin; 39 x75
Full; 54 x 75
Queen; 60 x 80
King: 78 x 80
California King; 72 x 84
Linens are also made in standard sizes so its easy to go into the store and buy the size that corresponds to your bed size. Pillowcases are the same, you buy the cases according to what size pillows you have which are also standardized.
In the Victorian era to about the 1920's (and later for Europe), beds, mattresses and pillows were custom made to order, even earlier in America's colonial and homesteading days and up to the advent of mechanization, everything was hand made usually at home for ones own use for whatever size needed. Homes were SMALL and so were the beds, the linens were hand woven using flax (or occasionally cotton) grown right on the farm which was hand harvested, hand processed and then woven by the lady of the house who was also busy with all the other chores required for day to day living, she may or may not have had help, given this, she made fabric only as large as necessary to do the job, which is why early American linens are generally small 50 to 74 inches wide and 75-90 inches long typically, there also was no distinction between top and bottom sheets. Pillowcases were also hand made to fit the pillows at hand, they were often narrower than those we use today though longer sometimes one pillow was used to span the width of the bed. Wealthy homes were larger and had more people around to help, the beds were larger and so were the linens, with more free time they were also often woven more finely, if the lady didn't weave she bought them or had them shipped from Europe. All the linens were EXPENSIVE either in ones time, or by trade or purchase. They were numbered for easy reference in wills and to keep track of if laundered by a laundress or in a community pot with other's linens.
Linens From England, Ireland, Scotland, France and Italy were generally larger both in width and length, the wealthy often had huge beds as a status symbol and the linens were correspondingly large to match, these linens were often monogrammed and enhanced with beautifully skilled embroidery done by the ladies of the house since embroidery was considered a genteel art fit for ladies of high station. I have seen sheets as large as 130 by 160 inches, truly king size!
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