Sometimes things change so quietly, nobody notices. The changes can suddenly become part of a new definition of normal, so one must adapt or eventually catch up. My example for this rant about changes for the worst is the common fitted bed sheet.
When I was growing up, sheets came in separate packages of top sheets, fitted sheets and twin packs of pillowcases. If you used one pillow, you always had a spare pillowcase in your linen closet. Then the sheet set came out, with one of each thing in one package. The sheets stayed the same all these years.
Recently a worn spot appeared on a beloved patterned fitted sheet, so I went to buy a replacement. Since the pattern of the flat sheet was rather old, I knew I would never find an exact match (memo: when you like a sheet pattern, buy spare sets), so I opted for a solid. As I examined my options, I found that the fitted sheet is no longer what I expected.
Fitted sheets used to come with four gathered corners and four finished sides. The only fitted sheet I could buy was gathered around the entire edge. It has tortured me ever since, because it is impossible to straighten on the bed and won’t fold when it comes out of the dryer. The fitted sheet has become like a shower cap: it only looks neat and square fresh out of the package and never again.
I don’t know why the bedding industry would rather waste elastic and thread sewing the entire circumference of a fitted sheet than simply cinch in four corners. Are today’s workers unable to learn to do them the old way? Maybe the new fitted sheet has something to do with the mattress industry on which the bedding industry is so dependent.
The new mattresses are grossly padded and heightened enough to cause a nosebleed. If the famed leading lady in the fairytale “The Princess and the Pea” had slept upon twenty of the behemoths found in mattress stores these days, she would never have been declared a princess with a butt sensitive enough to feel a lump under the bed (plus the nosebleed).
Of course, she might not have been able to get into a bed that high, if it weren’t for the cathedral ceilings in the modern new homes of today. If a fitted sheet gathered all around is a sign of progress, I’d rather stay in the dark ages.
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