can you feel the printing on bedsheets?

August 23, 2019 12:49 PM

Cotton bed sheets with white printing on them - will I be able to feel the slightly raised white ink after a few washings?

I ordered some light green cotton percale sheets on clearance but the white design on them is printed on, not bleached or dyed in. Like I can sort of see the white ink sitting on top of the fabric, which is not a situation I've seen before with sheets. I am pretty sensitive to how my sheets feel - part of the reason I chose these was that I need 100% cotton percale, not sateen. I'm on a budget but if they're not going to be comfortable I'll return them. Will I likely be able to feel the raised ink much after I wash them? The design is all over the sheets.

posted by needs more cowbell to Home & Garden (9 answers total)

I have a set of cotton percale sheets from target that is printed; I've never had an issue with this.
posted by geegollygosh at 2:08 PM on August 23, 2019

No.
posted by BostonTerrier at 4:06 PM on August 23, 2019

I’m sensitive to the feel of sheets too, and I would definitely return those. If you can already see the texture, it’s not going to get better after a few wash/dry cycles.
posted by Rock Steady at 4:15 PM on August 23, 2019 [4 favorites]

That would drive me crazy; return! (And no, I don’t think it will improve much)
posted by otherwordlyglow at 5:19 PM on August 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

Return them. My printed sheets do not have any texture. That would drive me nuts.
posted by Stewriffic at 5:57 PM on August 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: To be clear: the weird thing is that because the "print" is white, it's more like a thin layer of paint that sits on top of colored fabric than dye. I've had other patterned sheets where it was all just dye, which obviously didn't have this potential issue.

I want these to work but overall it sounds like they aren't a wise gamble, sigh.
posted by needs more cowbell at 7:44 PM on August 23, 2019

Best answer: My son had sheets like that as his daycare sheets. They were washed weekly for literally years in an industrial washer. You can still feel the raised ink. If this will bother you, definitely return them.
posted by potrzebie at 11:41 PM on August 23, 2019 [4 favorites]

I bought tee shirts like this from Costco years ago; the raised white ink was printed on the inside of the shirts in lieu of a typical stitched tag. They irritated my skin from Day 1 and despite repeated washings, the ink never softened and continued to irritate. Eventually, I gave the shirts away.

Return while you have the chance. Ink on top of fabrics like this is one of the worst ideas ever. I seriously wonder how stuff like this makes it to market.
posted by LuckySeven~ at 11:07 AM on August 24, 2019

Response by poster: I returned them unused (and found some other new-with-tags sheets on ebay for a great price instead, yay.)

I'm not sure whether they would have irritated me or not (the comparison to tagless shirts makes me wonder, because I like and am not irritated by the printing on tagless shirts, but I'm not laying on the printing on those for hours) but I already have sleep issues and sensory issues so it didn't feel worth it.
posted by needs more cowbell at 5:59 PM on September 23, 2019