<p>I’m thinking about getting a down or down alternative comforter for me - not the kid at school. I’m confused about whether the down alternative will be equivalent and what warmth to get. I live in the midwest (not the frigid cold part) but I like warmth and weight in the winter. I’ll use a duvet cover so I’m not concerned about washer vs dry cleaning. I want an oversized king but I am worried about finding duvet covers that will fit. And I know I need a high thread count to keep the feathers in (if I go with down) and a high fill for fluffy and staying put inside. Anything else I should be thinking about? Recommendations?? Thoughts???</p>
<p>Go with the down. (Unless you are allergic.) I have been using them for over 20 years. I bought my first one when I moved to Chicago. Great in the winter to keep you warm and is cool in the summer.</p>
<p>You won’t have a problem finding a duvet for the king sized. I have made several duvets and they are very easy to make. (Best tip is to by the stip of snaps and just sew it on inside to close it.)</p>
<p>Fredo- Nice that your buying something for yourself Born and raised in Ca I had no idea that there are parts of the midwest that aren’t frigid.
I have a down comforter and we live in coastal California. When we went to a king bed from a queen I was shocked at how expensive a down comforter can be. I had great luck at either TJ Maxx or Marshalls I forgot which one it was. The one I have now I have had for 8 years. The previous one we got for a wedding gift and is still in use on another bed. We also just recently put to rest my husband’s down comforter from childhood. His Dad was from Europe so he used down long before the masses. I don’t know about the longevity of the synthetics.
I do know that for sleeping bags the down alternative is now preferred over down.</p>
<p>Go to Companystore.com. I love their La Crosse comforters. I have several down ones – and they sell lots of duvets to fit them. Here is the link to the down alternative:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.thecompanystore.com/parent.asp?product=KM81x&dept_id=3102[/url]”>http://www.thecompanystore.com/parent.asp?product=KM81x&dept_id=3102</a></p>
<p>Just be careful about the baffling. We have one that is great at keeping feet warm, with its long channels…</p>
<p>We’ve used down alternative for many years and have been quite happy with them. I agree with newmassdad about baffling. I’ve gotten wonderful, greatly marked down ones on Overstock. (For those in frigid climates, the Overstock European flannel sheets are worth every penny. Much better than llbean, etc.)</p>
<p>I also vote for the Company Store; I have one of their comforters that is at least twenty years old. I do find it annoying that there don’t seem to be standard size for comforters and duvets anymore.</p>
<p>newmassdad: what specifically about the baffling should I be looking at?</p>
<p>As to size, I have a king bed so I want to get an oversized king. I looked at Company store and there’s such a variety! It’s hard to know which one to pick. I see also that their’s aren’t gussetted on the sides, which as I understand it helps keep warmth in the corners? </p>
<p>Am I over-researching and over-thinking this?? I can tend to do that!</p>
<p>I emailed CS customer service when I was trying to figure out the differences between their down pillows and they were very helpful.</p>
<p>By baffling I think he means when comforters are sewn with the long tubes filled with feathers. Company Store doesn’t make any like that. What happens is the feathers all shift to the bottom. </p>
<p>I like it when the comforters are sewn with squares (boxes) – like the La Crosse ones. (Of course, this matters less if you don’t have feathers in there). The other thing I really like about La Crosse is it is the only down comforters I’ve owned that don’t leak feathers! I had some comforters from Marshall’s and there were always feathers all over the room. Like I don’t have enough to clean up. (They are also mostly made in USA.)</p>
<p>Higher thread counts will prevent the down from leaking. I received a new CS catalog this week. Already recycled it, but I think there were comforters on sale.</p>
<p>A couple of things to think about regarding comforters:</p>
<p>Baffles are what keep the down from being all in one lump, usually in a corner. A general rule is the better the baffle, the higher the price.</p>
<p>tube baffles are advertized as letting you adjust the comfort of the conforter. Don’t believe it. All the down will be at the bottom, and shaking the comforter to distribute it evenly is very hard. </p>
<p>A better choice is, as someone said, box baffles, where the down is confined to a foot square or so box.</p>
<p>Now for other considerations: True baffles or sewn through? The latter is what it sounds like, and can lead to cold spots, although if you have a comforter suitable for overheated american bedrooms, and put a duvet cover over the thing, it probably does not matter.</p>
<p>But a euro luxury comforter will have internal walls for baffling, dividing the down into true fabric boxes. These are expensive to make, as each box must be separately sewn and filled. But they are great for those nights where the heating has failed.</p>
<p>Don’t think that the biggest and fluffiest is the best. Unless you keep the heat below 60 degrees in the winter, the highest fill down comforters are too warm - they really are great at trapping the heat. This leads to you or your sleeping buddy throwing all the covers off and then getting too cold, etc. </p>
<p>Look for a listing of what constitutes “medium warmth.” Different companies will vary.</p>
<p>Thanks all for the information! I just ordered a medium weight La Crosse comforter for my youngest last night. Now I get mine back for the winter :)</p>
<p>BTW, never ever dry clean down comforters or sleeping bags. </p>
<p>They are really easy to wash. You just have to do them in the large front-loading commercial machines at a laundromat – the delicate stitching of the baffles doesn’t like the agitators of home machines. </p>
<p>Very easy to tumble dry on on low. Just put three tennis balls in the dry. The tennis balls fluff up the down. In fact, it’s not a bad idea to air dry with the tennis balls every few months just to fluff up the down.</p>
<p>Since you have a king size bed, perhaps it is more functional to buy two twin sized comforters, one for you , one for dh. IMHO the way to enjoy the luxury of sleeping with a down comforter is to fold both sides under you, like a tube or sleeping bag, so you feel as if you are on a cloud.</p>
<p>cbreeze: hahahahaha…there is no DH. So it’s ALL for me! It’s kind of my divorce gift to myself - redoing the bedroom to exactly what I want!</p>
<p>Endomom: exactly which comforter did you order? There’s a lot of different ones the website.</p>
<p>It’s the new La CrosseT goose down comforter, it cost $89 +shipping for a mid-weight twin size. It has a square pattern and is sewn through rather than baffled. The sewn through is a lot cheaper (who knows if my D will want to redecorate again in a couple of years?!) and I don’t think the cold spots will be much of a problem in a heated house and on top of a couple of blankets (not like a sleeping bag where it’s your only protection from very cold surrounding air). </p>
<p>Thanks for the washing & drying tips interesteddad!</p>