I like having a duvet over an insert comforter. Of course, you can use any old comforter inside your duvet.
I’m not very skilled, but I have a sewing machine and I’ve sewed ribbon loops onto the top corners of an old comforter, and pairs of ribbon ties onto the top inside corners of duvets that didn’t come with them.
I’ve even sewed queen sized duvets smaller, by just sewing off the top few inches, if they were too big for their chosen comforter. It is frustrating how much variation there is in full/queen sizes! I think that duvets only wrinkle and look annoyingly flaccid when they are too big for their inserts.
To insert them, place the duvet flat on the bed. Place the comforter on top, and fold the left side over the right, or vice versa, so that you have something that is one third the width but the full length. Then, take the top of that bundle and insert in inside the duvet. Unfold the top piece and tie off the loop on the comforter to the ribbons on the duvet. You have to spelunk a little bit to get it done. Unfold the second flap and tie off to the other side. Crawl out, grab those tied off top corners from the outside and shake. The rest should fall into place and then you can fasten the buttons at the bottom.
Yeah, I’m not sure the cat and I can get it done that way. My eyes were kind of sliding off the page when I was reading your method. The cat was licking her shoulder.
I finally figured out a trick that keeps me from climbing inside the duvet. Turn the duvet inside out and lay it flat on the floor with the duvet opening against the floor. Put the filler on top and attach all around. I like to attach the corners and the midway point on each side to make sure it never shifts. Then all you have to do is turn the whole thing right side out. I have found that the comforter clips at Bed Bath and Beyond hold really well.
I like to make our bed with a quilted or matelasse coverlet pulled very smooth across the bed with the duvet folded in thirds at the foot of the bed. And lots of pillows! BunsenBurner, the pearl coverlet you mentioned upthread is very nice. It’s made by Matouk which is carried at Bloomingdales and Neiman Marcus. I was able to get a different Matouk coverlet at Bloomies last week for 25% off so watch for sales.
The thing that has really changed my life is double sheeting the bed. My decorator suggested it in place of using the coverlet but of course she wanted me to buy ridiculously expensive sheets to fold back in layers. That ain’t happening!! But I did give her idea a try with normal sheets and I absolutely love how it feels. I use 2 top sheets with a thin blanket sandwiched in between. This way you never touch the blanket and just feel the wonderful sheets all around. It also means I don’t have to launder the blanket nearly as often.
When I was a kid my mother used seersucker blanket covers on every bed. Top sheet, blanket, blanket cover: fold the top sheet over the blanket and blanket cover at the head of the bed. Tuck in all around using hospital corners.
Just got the LL Bean Home catalog in the mail. Lots of nice looking stuff and you know that they’ll stand by their product with great customer service.
@BunsenBurner That one guy with the ex-girlfriends comment - haha.
Interesting read, tangentially related - a little bit science, anthropology, history…and makes me realize why I personally prefer a blanket/coverlet combo to a duvet.
