The complete guide
How to Choose a Square Silk Pillowcase for a Continental Pillow
The pillow nobody makes bedding for
Continental pillows are the big squares that sit at the back of the bed. They are the ones you prop against the headboard when you read, and the ones that make a made bed look finished. They are also the ones most bedding ranges quietly ignore.
Walk down a bed linen aisle and you will find rows of standard rectangular cases, a few oxford styles, and then nothing. If you want a square pillowcase you usually end up with whatever white cotton the shop happens to stock, in whatever square size they decided on. If you want that square case in silk, the choices narrow again.
That is the gap this one fills. It is a 65 x 65 cm square (about 26 x 26 inches), made from 100% mulberry silk, in plain white. One pillowcase per pack, with an envelope closure instead of a zip.
What momme actually tells you
Silk is sold by momme, written as "mm" on some listings, which is a weight measure rather than a thread count. The higher the number, the heavier and denser the fabric.
Very light silks, down around 12 or 13 momme, feel thin. They are fine for scarves but they do not behave well on a bed. They slip, they crease sharply, and they wear through faster at the corners where the pillow pushes against the seam.
At the other end, silks of 25 momme and up are dense and expensive. They feel wonderful, but they cost a good deal more and they take longer to dry.
Nineteen momme sits in the useful middle. It has enough weight to lie flat over a filled pillow and stay put through the night. It still drapes and still feels cool and fluid when you first lie down. If you are comparing a dozen options and trying to work out which is the best mulberry silk pillowcase for everyday use, 19 momme is the weight most people land on, and for good reason.
Both sides matter more than you expect
A detail worth checking on any silk case is whether both faces are actually silk.
Some cases are silk on the sleeping side and cotton or polyester on the back. It cuts the cost, and the maker is not always loud about it. The catch is that you have to pay attention to which way round it goes on the pillow, and if you turn the pillow in the night you lose the benefit entirely.
This one is mulberry silk on the front and the back. You can flip it, rotate it, or throw it on the bed without checking. It also wears more evenly, since neither face is a different fibre aging at a different rate.
Why there is no zip
The closure here is an envelope. There is a flap of fabric inside the open end, and the pillow tucks behind it.
Zips are the weakest part of most pillowcases. They are the thing that jams, the thing that separates from the fabric after enough washes, and the thing that can catch hair when you move in the night. They also put a hard strip of plastic or metal right beside your face.
An envelope closure has none of that. Nothing hard, nothing to snag, nothing to break. It is also faster to put on, which you notice on the day you strip the whole bed. The only trade-off is that the flap needs to be deep enough to hold the pillow, and on a well-made case it is.
Getting the size right
This is where most silk pillowcase returns come from, so it is worth two minutes before you order.
"Continental" is used for more than one shape. Some continental pillows are 65 x 65 cm squares. Others are 50 x 70 cm rectangles. Both get called continental or European, and the words are not reliable.
Lay your pillow flat on the bed and measure it from seam to seam, across and then down. If it comes out close to 65 cm each way, this is your case. If it is clearly longer than it is wide, you need a different shape.
Also look at how full the pillow is. A very overstuffed square will stretch any case tight, and tight silk wears faster at the seams. If your pillow is packed solid, it is worth either easing some fill out or looking at a slightly larger case.
Who it suits
The obvious group is anyone who already has continental pillows and wants them to feel as good as they look. A square silk pillowcase 65 x 65 turns a decorative pillow into one you actually want to lean on.
Then there are people who sleep on their side and move around. Silk has almost no surface texture, so hair slides over it instead of dragging, and skin moves rather than bunching. That is the single most common reason people switch from cotton, and it is noticeable from the first night.
It also suits anyone who runs warm in bed. Silk carries heat away from the skin quickly, so it feels cool when you lie down. It settles rather than staying chilly.
And it makes a good present. A white silk pillowcase gift is hard to get wrong, because white fits every bedroom and nobody has to like the pattern.
Looking after it
Silk is a protein fibre, closer to hair than to cotton, and it wants to be treated the same way.
Wash it cool. Hand washing in a basin with a mild detergent made for delicates is the gentlest option, and it takes five minutes. If you would rather use the machine, put the case in a mesh laundry bag and run a cold, gentle cycle on its own or with other light items. Keep it away from towels, zips and anything heavy.
Skip the fabric softener. Silk does not need it and the residue dulls the surface. Skip bleach and anything with optical brighteners too, since those attack the fibre directly.
When the wash finishes, press the water out gently. Do not wring it. Hang it or lay it flat somewhere out of direct sunlight and away from a radiator. It dries quickly.
If it needs pressing, use a cool iron on the reverse while the fabric is still slightly damp. Most of the time it will not need it.
One practical suggestion: buy two. Having a spare means one can be in the wash while the other is on the bed, and neither gets worn out by constant laundering.
What it will not do
Silk is a smooth fabric. That is the honest description of what it offers, and it is enough. Hair and skin move across it with far less friction than a cotton weave, it feels cool, and it looks good on the bed.
It is not a treatment and it is not a fix for anything. Anyone selling a pillowcase on the strength of dramatic promises is selling you the promise rather than the fabric. The fabric here is 19 momme mulberry silk on both faces, cut to a continental square, with no zip. That is what you get.
The short version
If you have a 65 x 65 cm square pillow and you want it in silk, this covers the specifics. The silk is 100% mulberry at 19 momme, a weight that holds its shape without costing what the heavy grades cost. Both sides are silk, so it does not matter which way it lands. The envelope closure means nothing hard sits near your head.
Measure your pillow first. Wash it cool and dry it on a line. Consider a second one so you always have a clean case ready. That is the whole job.