I always feel the sheets before I buy them also. You can try washing some more and using fabric softener, but the pilling would concern me. If you've just washed them once, I would try to return them. For new sheets, I would suggest Marshall's too, as well as their sister store, TJMAxx. Tuesday Morning can have some very nice finds too, and I've bought knit sheets as well as some bamboo sheets at Target. The bamboo were on clearance and for around $20-25 I got a set of king sheets that we like as much as our 650yc damask (from Tuesday Morning). Target currently has some organic cotton sheets that seemed to have a pretty nice feel to them (they come in a bag made of the sheeting fabric, so it's easy t check them out). I would expect a 250tc sheet to do better than you have described, in wer and in feel. If you go up to 300tc, you will notice a huge difference over 200tc. In the 300-400tc range, you should get a nice, sily feel and good wear. Going above 400tc generally results in a tighter weave, heavier fabric which you may or may not care for, and more subtle differences in the feel of the finished sheet. I hope you can return them. I would hate sleeping on new, pilled sheets.

Hello friends, I'm chiming in just now after a slight absence and cannot resist tossing in my two cents worth on this topic, as I've had quite a similar experience. Some time ago my mother-in-law gave herself a wonderful birthday present, in that she bought all new everything for the boudoir, down to and including new carpeting, and I said, "Way to go, Rosemary, you and Johnnie deserve this treat!" She had a couple of old sheets that she earmarked for the church's charity drive but I wheedled them away for use in my own bedroom. One set, which I believe was Wamsutta, was like the silky ones your mother-in-law has, and the they were designed by Yves St. Lawrence, in awesome pinks and purples. The colors nothwithstanding, those elderly, well-worn and washed, and much beloved sheets were pure perfection to my husband and me. The lovely smoothness of that old bedding transported us into the sleep of the angels. I promise, we NEVER noticed the pink and purple designs, and we slept on them for another 20 years until they could no longer manage to hold together in one piece. Oh! Holy cow, I just came out of my reverie and realized you had asked a question! Mea culpa! My bad! Here's my suggestion for silky sheets, or at least for as close we can come these days: Buy 100% Egyptian Cotton in a reasonably good thread count, like 300, 400, 500. I'm now a retired senior with rather thin, frail skin, which I feel warrants the smoothest, most silky bedding I can afford. And I buy my Egyptian cotton sheet sets from Penney's, when they go on sale twice a year. And they last forever, well, I'm still using them 8 years later! I have 3 sets and just rotate. Give them a whirl; they're quite reasonable on sale, and enjoy! Kaye

I've had a new SQ TL set for about 1 month and love it. I do not have soft water, but I did for many years in my previous home. Do you have a water conditioner? I ask, because when ours needed attention, it affected rinsing soap/detergent out of everything. I would suggest that you only wash with 1 HE detergent, skip all the other products, use the appropriate water temp and cycle for the sorted clothes and detergent - don't wash jeans with nice delicate items for instance - and use the correct level of water. I would do a second rinse since you have soft water. I love the small and medium levels. I only use delicate cycle for nice blouses, tanks, etc. and usually a small load. The delicate cycle is too gentle to get your everyday clothes clean. All that said, please use the dryer - no dryer sheets - and save your time and sanity, since the dryer isn't the source of the problem. I really like the nearly dry cycle choice for alot of my clothing. Using Downey and dryer sheets is adding a layer of 'stuff' on your clothes you don't need - just my personal opinion.

A few years ago I got some supima cotton sheets from Costco. They were an honest 600 thread count sheet. It turns out a lot if not most sheet brands cheat by twisting 2 or more threads into a single thread and then a 200 thread count sheet gets listed as 400 or 600 thread count. Those Costco sheets were the best I have ever found with almost a satin feel. I found that I couldn't count on price to judge sheets. Unfortunately, Costco was discontinuing those sheets and I got one of the last sets at our local Costco. At the time, their site had a good discussion about sheet quality. I would check them out.