I’ve been on the lookout for a new bed quilt for a good year without luck. I’ll admit to not hard core looking but if I’m in Home Goods or the like, I have been looking. I have a blue/white print in mind. So far, I’ve found nothing. I don’t want to pay an arm and a leg.
I prefer quilts over heavy comforters. I’ve noticed some duvet covers that might work. I know I’ll have to make the initial purchase of a duvet.
How does a duvet work for you? Heavier than a quilt? Lighter than a big fluffy comforter? Do you find yourself changing out the cover often? Does the duvet last awhile? Any duvets brands you recommend?
I use duvets. I love the covers at West Elm, and they usually have some nice blue/white prints on sale. They have teis on the inside corners, which keep the comforter in place. I just use a comforter inside - I search online for one with the dimensions of the duvet cover and a weight I want (light, medium, winter, etc.).
FYI - If you can’t find what you want, but can find fabric, there are super simple instructions on how to make a duvet cover. It’s mostly just a really big pillow case.
You can choose how heavy a insert to use inside, from a quilt to an over-stuffed down comforter. The covers I’ve seen are meant to be washed and often used instead of a flat sheet. I got DD a solid sea foam colored one from Ikea. She is just beginning to use it. It takes a good fluff to get it to lay right on the bed without looking messy.
I tried duvets and did not like them. I hate wrinkled bedding, so duvet covers are out of question for me. I also do not have the patience in the morning to fuss with making the bed. If those two things you care about, don’t go with duvets.
Macy aka Messy usually has a good selection of quilts. I like their solid ones from Hotel line. They often go on clearance.
All of our beds have duvets now. Much easier to make a bed and quite comfy. I can wash a duvet in the washer but a king size comforter I cannot. Very good for the RV, too because they are easy to make the bed. There are BB&B duck down midweight comforters in each. I have bought the duvets and comforters at BB&B and they vary from soft and comfy to flat and no wrinkles. You can have them on a master with 2 individually placed beside each other like they do in Germany and other places without the top sheet.
You could make a quilt. Just saying. However, duvets. The cover has to be roughly the same size. It’s a royal pain changing the cover. I now have a method that works a little better than the old wrestling match but the cat and I are pretty wasted by the time it’s done. I guess it’s worth it because I keep doing it. I use light cotton quilts in the summer and duvets in the winter.
Duvets make it easy to make a bed IMO. Lots of family members use them. Personally, I’m not a fan. Regardless of weight of the duvet, they tend to make me too hot when I sleep. My preference is for high quality sheets, a cotton blanket, and a matelasse type cover.
Sure I could make a duvet. I could also build a house. I don’t have the skills, interest or time to do either!!
I don’t sew. And while I like shopping (for certain things) I have no desire to make trips to department store after department store to find one item.
I sew, so I’ve always made duvets for all our bedrooms to match window treatments or some room element. All are stuffed with down comforters. I don’t understand the wrinkle comments, none of mine wrinkle in any noticeable way. We live in the desert. In the summer, I remove the comforters, and we just use the empty comforter atop the sheets. I love being able to pop them in the washer and air dry them in the sun.
I have made duvet covers and it is not so simple. Most fabric doesn’t come wide enough and you need to seam it. If you don’t know what you are doing it isn’t that simple.
When I met my H many years ago (38 years ago) he had a down quilt. I had never slept with one. He called it his Omi quilt ( his grandmother came to the US as an adult and in Europe they were common.) all the down quilts and duvets I’ve purchased have never been as nice as that first down quilt.
All our beds have duvets. How warm it runs depends on what you put inside and the weight of the cover. Covers can vary widely in weight depending on the fabric. If you run hot put a lightweight comforter inside and buy a lightweight cover that is made out of sheet like fabric. IKEA makes some nice ones and they aren’t that expensive.
I presently have a linen embroidered cover from Restoration Hardware that was expensive. I like how it looks. Pottery Barn makes some nice covers.
Duvet covers are like sheets you can spend a lot or a little. Personal preference. Some like it to look like a sheet and others like them more decorative.
We only use duvets. First in Japan. H also has brought them back from Europe. We’ve inherited some nice quality ones from dead people. Now it’s mostly IKEA.
Nothing is easier when it comes to making a bed everyday. But there’s some fuss when it’s laundry day.
I have never worried about wrinkles in my bedding. It’s a foreign concept to me. Maybe if I didn’t feel like child rearing was like herding cats, I might have some mental space to think about wrinkled sheets.
We use these on all our beds for ease of making the bed (although we use @doschicos combo in summer in at least one room.). If you want, you can have different weights of duvet for the different seasons. What I like is how easy it is to change the cover, whether to clean it or to have a new look in the room. Easy as in doesn’t require the purchase of a new comforter. It is always a bit awkward, whether the cat is helping or not.
Here is The Company Store’s guide to their comforters/duvets: http://www.thecompanystore.com/comforter-buying-guide.html. While not inexpensive, if taken care of, it will last forever. Just change the duvet cover for a fresh look. We’ve had our’s for many years and the current cover is a patchwork of pagne fabrics my daughter had made in Cameroon. She just bought one along with a white on white striped cover from Target.
@abasket you might want to look at the YouTube videos of how to put a duvet cover on. We had a duvet…and co re for a short while…and it was just a twin size. It was just plain a PITA (in our opinion) to putmthe duvet cover back on after washing.
I can’t imagine doing this with a queen or king size one.
For us, the messy look comes from the comforter not lying evenly inside the duvet cover when DD tries to make the bed. I much rather have a thin modern look quilt. Plus, I like sheets and definitely get too hot for all that fabric.
Have always used a duvet/duvet cover and so do our girls. We do not use top sheets at all. In the summer we take the cover off and just use the comforter. Around late October the duvet cover goes back on. No problem making the beds. Shake them out and turn down the top. If the duvet starts to scrunch down I just fold it over the bottom rail of our bed for the day or turn it around. No wrinkles.
I also do not have the patience in the morning to fuss with making the bed. If those two things you care about, don’t go with duvets.