How warm are Hudson Bay point blankets?

February 3, 2011 10:00 AM

I'm considering buying a Hudson Bay Point blanket (4 point, full/double size) but how warm would it actually keep me?

Would sleeping underneath a flannel top-sheet and a point blanket be sufficient to keep me cozy during a cold winter, or would I need more than one blanket? Or is this an idea so impractical I should just forget it and stick with my comforter?

posted by Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo to Home & Garden (14 answers total)

This is going to be so dependent on where you live, how warm you like to be, how warm you keep your house etc that I don't think anyone is going to be able to really answer you.
posted by ghharr at 10:07 AM on February 3, 2011 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Hudson Bay blankets are warm, but they're warm like wool blankets are warm, not like down comforters are warm. They're heavier than most wool blankets, but even a medium weight comforter provides more insulation. Or at least that's how it seems to me, having slept under both.
posted by OmieWise at 10:11 AM on February 3, 2011 [2 favorites]

Best answer: We're in Los Angeles, and on cold nights we layer a couple of Hudson Bay blankets with other bedding. They are cozy wool blankets, but not as warm as a down comforter.
posted by Scram at 10:12 AM on February 3, 2011

What ghharr said about needing to know your definition of 'warm' and 'cold'.

Wool blankets are warm and heavy, so if you like that, it's going to work best in a combination with, say, a spring/autumn duvet. (Layers, layers.) In that setup, you can fold down the blanket to give your feet some extra warmth, if they get chilly in winter.
posted by holgate at 10:18 AM on February 3, 2011

Hudson's Bay Blankets have long since stopped being a functional item, IMHO. They are purchased (and priced!) for style, rather than as a true piece of bedding. I was at the Bay this Christmas, and saw them selling fleece and cotton blankets in the Hudson's Bay point colours, along with the traditional wool. If you want the look of the blanket, by all means. But don't waste your money on it if all you want is a warm blanket.
posted by LN at 10:19 AM on February 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

Best answer: It's not so much the heaviness of the blanket that keeps you warm, but the number of trapped air pockets it creates, which act as insulation to slow heat loss from your body. In my decades of questing for warm sleep, I've never found a blanket, whether wool or any other fiber, that would keep me near as warm as a good comforter (especially down).

Another issue: a wool blanket (or stack thereof) heavy enough to be meaningfully warm is also heavy enough to squish away some of the nice layer of warm air that you want next to your skin.

For a fabric blanket, polyester fleece can't be beat, unless you're looking for class. If you added one under the Hudson blanket, that might be cozy.
posted by Corvid at 10:34 AM on February 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I was thinking the same thing as LN above. Keep the duvet and lay the Hudson's Bay blanket across the foot of your bed for style. They weigh a ton, and they're no warmer than any other wool blanket. I bought the fleece version last winter because I love the look of the Hudson's bay stripes, but I don't have hundreds of dollars to spend on a blanket. Some day when I'm rich I'll buy an HB blanket coat.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 10:38 AM on February 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: To clarify, a top sheet and a medium weight polyester comforter keep me nice and toasty on all but the very coldest of nights.

I'm almost definitely going to buy a point blanket, because I've wanted one since I was a child and am finally in a position to afford one, but, having only ever seen them in books, I had no idea how warm one would be and whether it would be sufficient to replace my comforter.

Thanks for the answers so far; it looks like I'm either going to have to switch to ordinary wool or fleece blankets with the point blanket on top or a lightweight comforter with a blanket on top.
posted by Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo at 10:52 AM on February 3, 2011

Best answer: As a kid who grew up in a Massachusetts house with an unheated upstairs, I can tell you that two thermal cotton blankets plus one Hudson's Bay blanket kept me warm enough even on the days when I could see my breath in my bedroom. They're warmer than many wool blankets because they're heavier and a tighter weave, but as others have said, the advantage of down or polyfill comforters is the thermal aspect.
posted by Sidhedevil at 12:53 PM on February 3, 2011

Go for a cheap-a$$ Army aurplus wool blanket, and put a fleece HB blanket on top to hide it. (Maybe a featherbed, too, if you like being extra toasty in the winter!)

I, too, always loved the look & history, but the ones that are warm enough are too expensive and the ones that are affordable aren't warm enough.
posted by wenestvedt at 12:53 PM on February 3, 2011

Yeah, I was going to mention military issue wool blankets as an underblanket option. Only caveats are that they're often sold with moth treatments that require some airing out in a well-vented space.

(When I was very young, the standard bed arrangement was top-sheet, blanket, bedspread, with an extra blanket on top for cold nights. I don't really miss switching to duvets.)
posted by holgate at 2:02 PM on February 3, 2011

Best answer: We have an old Hudson's Bay blanket (not with points; but old wool) that we add to our blanket mix for the colder nights. It wouldn't be enough by itself, IMO, but in combination with cotton blanker and poly-filled quilt, it makes the difference between "chilly" and "mmm" on cold nights. My experience as a kid at summer camp was that it took a long time to warm the bed up if all you have is wool blankets, but once the bed is warm they're good. Without scientific testing, I feel like down quilts let the bed warm up a little faster. But I also like the weight of the wool. I say go for, but keep your other blankets to use as a combo.
posted by LobsterMitten at 2:17 PM on February 3, 2011

Best answer: I just got one too, but mine is old. I expect they are still the same. I live in Ontario, Canada. I have two cotton sheets and the wool blanket in the winter, and am toast-y. I keep my thermostat set at avg. room temp (like 70?).
posted by Acer_saccharum at 2:21 PM on February 3, 2011

We have 2 heirloom wool blankets [handwoven in a village in Greece from coarse scratchy local wool] that are mind-bogglingly warm. A sheet, possibly a thermal blanket, and one of these Old Skool blankets and you are coccooned in glorious warmth. Recommend a hot water bottle at the foot for more Old Skool comfort.
posted by ohshenandoah at 5:35 PM on February 3, 2011