Sateen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sateen is a cotton fabric with a satin-like finish, often found in bed sheets.

Sateen is usually made of cotton, or sometimes rayon. Better qualities are mercerized to give a higher sheen. Some are only calendared to produce the sheen but this disappears with washing and is not considered genuine sateen. Sateen may be bleached, dyed, or printed. It is difficult to make good bound buttonholes on it as it has a tendency to slip at the seams.

Sateen produces the sheen and softer feel through the use of a different stitch in the weaving process. The sateen stitch is four over, one under, placing the most threads on the surface, making it extremely soft, though slightly less durable than other weaves. Standard, non-sateen, weaves use a one over, one under stitch. Satin also uses this stitch, however, instead of using cotton, different materials are used (e.g., silk, polyester, etc).