Crease Care Settings Explained for Bed Linen

Creases in bed linen usually came from two places. Compression in the wash, and heat that stayed on a little too long in the dryer. If your sheets came out looking like a crumpled receipt, it was rarely the linen’s fault. It was the settings, the timing, and the five minutes the load sat hot in the drum.

If you are mixing finishes across the bed, start by browsing the bed linen collection.Percale, sateen and linen can all dry beautifully, but they respond differently to heat, movement, and how quickly you deal with them.

What crease care and wrinkle prevent actually do

On most dryers, crease care or wrinkle prevent meant the machine kept tumbling occasionally after the main cycle ended. Often it used cool air or no heat at all. The goal was simple. Stop hot fabric settling into one sharp fold.

Crease care helped most when:

1. You could not unload the dryer immediately.

2. You dried large items like sheets and duvet covers that loved to collapse into a heavy pile.

3. You wanted fewer deep fold lines, not perfection.

Crease care did not help much when:

1. The load was already overdried on high heat.

2. Sheets were tightly knotted from the wash.

3. The drum was overloaded and the fabric could not move.

The best way to think about it is prevention, not rescue.

Sensor dry vs timed drying for sheets

Timed drying was easy, but it was also the easiest way to overdry. Sensor dry usually stopped the cycle when the machine detected the target dryness level, which often prevented sheets being dried past the point of comfort.

Still, it was not perfect on every load. If sheets felt slightly damp or dried unevenly, add a short extra cycle, then remove them promptly. That small check kept the finish smoother and treated the fibres more gently.

Why low heat often looked better

High heat dried faster, but it also set creases faster. Lower heat gave fibres time to relax, especially cotton. Many people got a smoother result by choosing a lower heat option and letting the cycle run a little longer, then removing bedding straight away.

If you wanted one rule that worked in most homes, it was this. Aim for just dry, not hot and brittle.

The three settings that confused people most

Iron dry or damp dry
This left linen slightly damp. It could be useful if you planned to make the bed immediately and smooth the surface by hand. If you left it folded or in a heap, you simply swapped one set of creases for another.

Refresh or cool air
This could relax light wrinkling and freshen a load that sat too long. It was handy, but it did not replace drying correctly in the first place.

Bedding programme
If your machine had it, use it. Bedding programmes were designed for bulk, movement, and fewer tangles. Less tangling meant fewer set in creases.

The routine that made every setting work better

Settings helped, but routine did the heavy lifting.

1. Do not overload the wash. Sheets needed space to move so creases were not pressed in.

2. Use a moderate spin for bedding. Very high spin could compress cotton into sharper folds.

3. Shake sheets out before drying. This reduced twisting and helped the fabric dry more evenly.

4. Remove promptly. Creases set as fabric cooled in a pile.

If you only did one thing, do the last one. Timing beat products, sprays, and good intentions.

Fit mattered more than most settings

Even perfectly dried linen creased if it shifted all night. A base that stayed taut stayed smoother. Start with properly sized fitted sheets  so the sleeping surface stayed under gentle tension and did not bunch.

Let the top layer do the visual work

Most people judged the bed by the top fold and the visible edges, not the centre that sat underneath you. A well chosen duvet cover created a clean line and hid minor creasing beneath while still feeling tailored.

Finish with matching pillowcases so the fabric and finish read as one. When everything matched, the bed looked calmer, even if the linen was not pressed within an inch of its life.

Quick checklist

1. Choose sensor dry when possible, then check the result and add a short extra cycle if needed.

2. Use lower heat to reduce the chance of creases setting.

3. Turn on crease care if you cannot unload immediately.

4. Shake sheets out before drying.

5. Make the bed while linen is still slightly warm, then let it cool smooth.

If you want first access to seasonal edits, new arrivals, and private recommendations that help you build a linen wardrobe that improves year after year, join the Heritage Partnership.