Beautiful, comfortable bedding is one of life's great pleasures, and there's nothing quite like finishing your day by sliding between soft, luxurious sheets. But what sorts of things should you look for when shopping for high quality linens?

Peggy Platner has 25 years experience in retail. She's the manager of Gracious Rooms and Room at the Beach, and is an expert in determining the quality of fine linens and other fabrics. Peggy offers the following basic shopper's guide to fine linens:

• Thread Count.
  Thread count is a measure of the fabric's weave in threads per square inch, and many people use this number as a guide to the fabric's quality. But Peggy believes a high thread count isn't all you should be looking for, as there are many other factors to consider, like the variety and quality of the cotton itself.
  
• Egyptian Cotton.
  According to Peggy, Egyptian cotton produces a long fiber that, when woven, yields a strong, stable fabric. The resulting sheets are soft, and breathe with your body. Sheets made from Egyptian cotton keep you warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
  
• Percale.
  Percale is domestic cotton. When it's woven the threads are much shorter, so the sheets are resistant to wrinkling. But they're also thinner, and don't last as long.
  
• Pima.
  Pima is an American version of Egyptian cotton. Pima sheets are less expensive than the real thing, but the fibers are shorter, and the sheets won't last like those made from genuine Egyptian fibers.
  
• Price.
  Peggy stresses that sheets don't have to be expensive to be of good quality. When in doubt, she suggests you feel the fabric with your hands, as this will tell you a lot about the product.

For more information on fine linens, check out the following organizations and websites:

National Cotton Council of America
PO Box 820285 Memphis TN 38182-0285
901-274-9030
www.cotton.org

Yves Delorme
www.palais.com

French Quarter Linens
www.eurolinens.com

House Beautiful MagazineM
www.housebeautiful.co.uk

Country Living Magazine
http://magazines.ivillage.com