Feathers everywhere, and poking me to boot!

October 28, 2008 11:04 PM

So I had a regular sized (full) feather bed, I'm real tall, I thought to take the feathers out of the bed and put them into a king sized duvet and -- Viola! A king sized feather comforter! A good plan. So I bought the duvet, dumped the feathers in, and the thing is warm. But now, feathers large and small are poking through, and poking ME, there's feathers everywhere, I look like a chicken coop landed on me.

So. It was a good plan. I intended to sew the thing closed and sew every six inches, as is done with a quilt, to keep the feathers/down from bunching up too badly. But the thing is poking the hell out of me, it's like sleeping with a porcupine (I imagine) or a prickly woman (experience). Is the fabric usually used for these things different, somehow tighter woven? The duvet *seems* as tight as the material that held the feathers/down before. Does this whole thing just need to go to the dumpster? How do 'they' make these things so the feathers won't come through? How do I do so? I'd love to have this thing to sleep under but so far it's just a mess...

posted by dancestoblue to Grab Bag (9 answers total)

the feathers used in a feather bed are different from that used in down comforters. i.e. "feathers" and "down." they're not as soft. thus your problem.
posted by violetk at 11:10 PM on October 28, 2008

Have you tried slipping your new feather comforter into a second duvet cover? Maybe two layers will help protect you from the majority of the prickliness?
posted by platinum at 11:22 PM on October 28, 2008

VioletK is right, you probably have more feather quills than down.

You might be able to stick the whole thing inside another duvet/protector with a high thread count, and save yourself some....er, poking.
posted by HopperFan at 11:28 PM on October 28, 2008

What you might be looking for is ticking. It is a tightly woven fabric that keeps feathers in. In the past it may have been waxed on the inside although I doubt they do that anymore. It is heavy so it may not be what you want. It seems that pillows these days are no longer made with ticking which means my bedroom looks like I have been plucking chickens in there. The only solution I have found is two pillowcases. You may have to put your duvet inside a duvet. There is such a thing as featherproof cotton twill that I have seen duvets made from but I have never seen sold as fabric.
posted by Foam Pants at 12:05 AM on October 29, 2008

Argh! Ticking two
posted by Foam Pants at 12:07 AM on October 29, 2008

I believe Foam Pants has it. A duvet cover (what you probably bought) is, like a pillowcase, not intended to hold feathers directly. Ticking or other "down-proof" fabric is what you'd need.
posted by jon1270 at 3:12 AM on October 29, 2008

I have a nice down comforter. It's encased in feather-proof fabric. The whole thing goes inside the duvet cover. You're missing a layer there.
posted by caution live frogs at 6:13 AM on October 29, 2008

Thirding the ticking. Even my eider down comforter needs one, and it's a lot fluffier than feather.
posted by sunshinesky at 9:38 AM on October 29, 2008

What caution live frogs and jon1270 said. Just like a pillow goes inside a pillowcase. You're missing the outside of the pillow, basically. If you can't find ticking at the fabric store or don't want to DIY, you might be able to make the inner lining out of a pair of VERY high thread count sheet.. but the ticking route is prob gonna be cheaper.
posted by keptwench at 9:19 PM on October 29, 2008