What is Pilling in Bed Sheets and How to Reduce Pilling

 Pilling is when fabric surfaces get little balls (sometimes called knots or beads). This is when loose fibers within the fabric become entangled forming knots, and remain attached to the yarns of the fabric until the fibers holding them in place become broken.

Pilling is impossible to completely avoid, but can be minimized by selecting a fabric with little or no "lint" such as a satin. Generally speaking, if you can peel a piece of masking tape from the fabric and come away with little to no lint, you shouldn't have to worry about pilling on that fabric. The more lint you get on the tape, the more readily the fabric will pill.  Needless to say, flannel has a lot of loose fibers and will always have some amount of pilling.  Satins have a very tight weave, and won't pill until it becomes very worn and the yarns begin to fray.

Recommendations in reducing and/or avoiding pilling include: 

• Wash on gentle cycles will help prevent fibers from fraying

• Wash using cold water will help prevent fibers from fraying

• Line or tumble dry will help prevent fibers from fraying

• Avoid fabric softeners as this leaves residues on the fabric and residues will cause fibers to clump more easily and this is a big factor in pilling

• Avoid cosmetic or therapeutic lotions, creams, ointments, salves, etc. before going to bed

• People who have rough feet (calluses) and tend to move a lot during the night will cause the fibers to wear

• People with particularly oily skin will find that the sheets pill much worse on their side of the bed, as any kind of oily substance will contribute to pilling.  Anything they can do to reduce the amount of natural skin oils on the sheets (showering before bed and wearing pajamas)

• Launder sheets more frequently. This will certainly extend the life of their sheets

• Avoid leaving sheets in the dryer once it has stopped.  Letting the fibers cool at room temperature, rather than bake in a hot dryer, will reduce pilling considerably