Here’s a way to stretch out in luxury without harming the environment: choose a striking set of leopard sheets for your bedroom.

Whether they’re a traditional design of brown-black-tan natural leopard print or leopard spots on a vivid pink background, the big cat pattern won’t matter once you feel the smoothness of top quality sheets against your skin.

Time was that savvy consumers could look solely at thread count and know they were purchasing quality sheets. While a thread count of 200 or higher is still advisable for quality, these days there are many different fabrics and ways to process fabric finish. It pays to know something of these details before you go prowling for the leopard sheets that will bring a touch of the wild into your bedroom.

How To Select Leopard Sheets

First, consider the fabric used to make your leopard sheets. Believe it or not, the best fabric for sheets is cotton, which breathes well against the human body. There are several types of cotton, among them Egyptian, grown along the Nile River Valley to produce exceptionally fine quality yarn; Pima Cotton, named after the Pima Indian tribe of the American Southwest; and Organic cotton, a variety grown without fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides.

Other types of fabrics may be used to create your leopard sheets. These include synthetics such as polyester, which resists wrinkles but isn’t as soft and durable as cotton. Most leopard sheets in satin are made of polyester charmeuse, which is silky to the touch, but doesn’t breathe and may not last long. Cotton-polyester blends also are used, but these sheets aren’t as breathable and wear out faster than 100 percent cotton. One alternative to cotton that’s proving itself is soft and silky bamboo cloth, made from the pulp of bamboo grass, a fiber that resists bacteria and is hypoallergenic.

After fabric, look for the type of weave in your leopard sheets.

Common Leopard Print Sheets Weaves Include

Sateen, which puts most of its threads on the surface in a four over, one under stitch. This weave is extremely soft, but it’s not as durable as some other weaves.

Pinpoint, which is a stitch of two over and one under. It’s more durable than regular weave but not as soft as sateen.

Percale, in which the yarns are woven one over and one under to create a strong, long-lasting fabric that lets air to pass through easily. While crisp at first, percale will soften with repeated washings.

When looking at manufacturing techniques, most likely your leopard sheets will be made of combed cotton, a process in which short, uneven fibers are removed. This leaves behind long, straight cotton fibers that are evenly aligned.

Flannel sheets – and yes, you can find leopard print sheets in flannel – are soft and fuzzy with a napped finish. This type of sheet will really keep you cozy over cold winter nights.

Alas, however, leopard print sheets so far haven’t been found in a Jersey finish. Just as their name implies, Jersey sheets feel like wearing a T-shirt to bed. Since these are knitted rather than woven, there’s no thread count to check. Since they apparently don’t come in a leopard print, you might have to coordinate them with a leopard comforter to get in your quota of spots!

Sweet dreams on your leopard sheets!

Want to feel toasty warm with a touch of the jungle? What you need is for a leopard comforter.

Before you set your sights on some spots, learn a little bit about what goes into making a quality comforter. Even the most beautiful leopard comforter does you no good if it cannot keep you warm and does not last a long time.

When you think about it, comforter sets are one of the easiest and least expensive ways to update your bedroom. Whatever size bed you have, there are leopard print comforter sets that can bring some jungle jazz to your bedroom almost instantly, if you keep some basics in mind.

3 Features to Look for in a Quality Leopard Comforter

Manufacturers tell us the three most important qualities in a down comforter are its thread count, fill power and baffle box construction.

Fill power is simply how fluffy the comforter is. It measures the amount of space taken up by one ounce of down. The higher the fill power, the more insulation it will provide. In other words, it’s a good measure of the comforter’s quality and warmth. Comforters with fill power ranging from 500 to 700 are quality products.

Thread count means how many threads are woven into each square inch of fabric, just as with sheets. A higher thread count means your comforter will be softer and more durable, and will keep the fill inside and impurities outside, including things like dust and bacteria. A note: thread count doesn’t apply to leopard comforters that are made of faux fur material.

Baffle box construction means the way the comforter is sewn together. Specifically it means that the comforter is sewn with “walls” or partitions that keep the down from clumping up. Otherwise you’ll have a comforter where the down shifts and bunches up, leaving you without insulation.

Armed with this knowledge about the quality of comforters, you can start prowling for just the style of leopard comforter you want in order to complete your leopard bedding set. Even the traditional black-and-tan leopard print combinations can be found embellishment with chocolate piping or black backing to contrast with the print.

Leopard Print Comforters in Every Size & Color

Comforter sets come in all sizes, from daybeds to California Kings and they come in an assortment of prints too including comforters in adventurous leopard prints. A typical leopard comforter print should look like the pattern of the big cat: a defined dark brown or black rosette with a tan center, but without a black center rosette (that’s the pattern for a cheetah!).

A stylish variation seen recently in the Snow Leopard comforter set offered on Amazon.com. The leopard comforter had a graduated layout that was more open at the top and denser on the bottom, a pattern repeated in the pillow shams. The comforter reversed to a solid fawn background color, while the tailored bedskirt included in the 6-piece ensemble was solid black. This design made for a great combination of contrasts.

For a real knock-out punch for a girl’s room, consider a purple leopard comforter from Target. In fact, many leopard prints are paired with bright colors these days when designed for children and teen-agers. The combination of all those leopard spots on a vivid background really shows where the wild things are in your home!