Duvet sets, amirite?
November 30, 2016 10:52 AM   Subscribe

Why don't duvet sets come with a fitted sheet?

I'm trying to switch from a fitted sheet/flat sheet/comforter setup to a fitted sheet/duvet bed. All the duvet sets I've been able to find, however, only come with pillowcases and the duvet cover. I don't expect them to come with the duvet itself, but why isn't there something to go on the mattress? Are you supposed to sleep on the mattress pad? Or make yourself into a duvet burrito? Sheet sets for comforters include flat and fitted sheets so what's going on here?
posted by orrnyereg to Home & Garden (76 answers total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
It's been years and years since I bought a flat and fitted sheet together, all my fitted sheets came on their own. Then I can use them with my duvet and sometimes a top sheet if I feel like it. Just buy everything separate and mix and match.
posted by shelleycat at 10:55 AM on November 30, 2016 [6 favorites]


We just buy single fitted sheets in a colour to match the duvets sets (beige or white usually). Each set gets one fitted sheet and they just go through the wash rotation together. Been doing this for close to 25 years now.
posted by bonehead at 10:55 AM on November 30, 2016 [6 favorites]


we use fitted sheet/flat sheet/duvet cover... so...

the point of having a duvet was so we could customize the aesthetics of the bedspread with the right kind of coverlet filling (a silk down duvet). I understand you can take the cover off the duvet to wash, but man I am not doing that every week or two like we wash our sheets. That is a PITA to put on the duvet.

You can buy just a fitted sheet, btw. They don't all come in full sheet sets (flat, fitted, pillowcases.
posted by lizbunny at 10:55 AM on November 30, 2016 [9 favorites]


Duvet covers & the pillowcases that come with them (usually decorative/shams) are not generally meant to match your sheet set (fitted sheet, flat sheet, pillowcases you would actually use) - they're meant to be the pretty thing on top.
posted by brainmouse at 10:56 AM on November 30, 2016 [30 favorites]


Because having them all sold together would mess with my carefully orchestrated seasonal rotation of cotton sheet+duvet cover, then flannel sheet + cotton duvet cover this time of year, graduating to EVERYTHING IN FLANNEL sometime around Christmas, then slowly reverting again in the early spring as the evenings get warmer.
posted by Stacey at 10:59 AM on November 30, 2016 [15 favorites]


You purchase a fitted sheet separately, which is easy. And then you are in the wonderful world of life without a top sheet. Top sheets were created by Satan, FYI. Fitted sheet + duvet = a universe of happy bedtimes.
posted by BlahLaLa at 11:11 AM on November 30, 2016 [26 favorites]


I guess because I'd be pissed off if my duvet cover came with a fitted sheet that matched the duvet cover, rather than matching the flat sheet that I'm putting on the bed.
posted by janey47 at 11:39 AM on November 30, 2016


I think it's just that in the US duvet covers are still considered newfangled, so not enough people have them, so when they're selling sheet sets it's only aiming at the lowest common denominator (people who have never heard of duvets and want all their sheet needs at once). The duvet cover is seen as an extra, not as part of a set. Plus apparently some people sleep with a flat sheet under their duvet (?) I am totally with you in wanting that to be a thing, though - it's not just the fitted sheet, you also need 2 more pillowcases so you're not sleeping with just one pillow like a savage.

TL;DR just throw the flat sheet out or use it to be a ghost. Or write your congressperson. I dunno.
posted by Mchelly at 11:41 AM on November 30, 2016 [4 favorites]


My experience with duvets is in Germany, where everyone I've met uses them, and I've only ever seen white or beige fitted sheets on the mattress. (Wait, the teens might have had solid colors. Crazy kids!). The pillow is not decorative; that's the pillow you sleep on. Everything -- pillow case, duvet cover, fitted sheet -- is stripped weekly or bi-weekly and washed, just like beds in the US.
posted by JawnBigboote at 11:49 AM on November 30, 2016 [2 favorites]


I know some people who have a double bed but a king-size duvet so need a different-size fitted sheet.
posted by theseldomseenkid at 11:50 AM on November 30, 2016 [14 favorites]


I have a king size bed and a full/queen duvet because my husband and I don't share blankets. Having sheets with them would by uselesss. Just buy sheets (sets or fitted) separately. I also don't care one ounce about matching. When you make your bed the sheets likely won't be seen unless you do a fold down.

(Now my annoyance that king sheet sets come with king pillowcases that I have to fold over my standard pillows ....)
posted by Crystalinne at 11:55 AM on November 30, 2016 [3 favorites]


Do Americans really use a loose sheet under their duvet or am I misreading answers here? Mind. Boggled. Why?

Anyway the reason is as described above: most people don't match the sheets and covers. I use white duvet covers and dark colored fitted sheets personally but either way it looks nicer with contrast. Duvets aren't designed to hang way down off the bed like comforters so you can generally see the sheets at least somewhat with a Euro style duvet.
posted by fshgrl at 11:57 AM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]


GAH. Because a correctly formatted duvet set consists of a duvet cover and two housewife pillow cases. These are all laundered together, but they are laundered with less frequency than the separately acquired fitted sheet and matching standard pillowcases. (Obviously, you sleep with your head on the more frequently washed standard pillowcases.)

Any other system would mean your matched duvet cover, four pillow cases, and bottom fitted sheet faded unevenly given the disparity in their assigned laundry rotations. Anarchy would ensue.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:08 PM on November 30, 2016 [14 favorites]


Mind boggled indeed. The duvet cover and pillowcases are the things that go together. The fitted and flat sheet sets go on the bed, and are the things that are washed regularly (along with the pillowcases) as those are the things that touch you. If you don't have a flat sheet under the duvet, then you would need to disassemble the duvet and wash its cover every few days. Certainly on a superking duvet I wouldn't be wanting to do that too often!

Also, some duvet covers are mostly for prettiness and can have embroidery, raised bits and whatever, and shouldn't be washed too often. Not to mention being a bit uncomfortable to have next to you. If you buy two sets of really high quality fitted/flat sheets you can simply swap them and put the dirty ones in the laundry whenever you like and have the luxury of lovely clean sheets as often as you want.

No flat sheet under duvet = ewwwwwww!
posted by tillsbury at 12:11 PM on November 30, 2016 [15 favorites]


I am totally with you on this. Personally, I don't like things to be matchy-matchy, but so many people do, especially with bedding. It seems fairly weird to not have that option available. I know it also isn't a thing in Europe, land of the duvet, but it still strikes me as a little strange.

Also: a flat sheet underneath the duvet???? Do you guys literally not move at all at night? As it is I get completely tangled in my duvet-- I cannot imagine how a flat sheet could ever stay put in that scenario. A duvet is absolutely supposed to take the role of the flat sheet. Unbuttoning the duvet cover and replacing it with a clean one every week is not exactly the drama of the century. Count me as extremely confused.
posted by thegreatfleecircus at 12:25 PM on November 30, 2016 [4 favorites]


Flat sheet under the blanket is common for "comforter" or quilt arrangements. The insulated cover is simply treated like a blanket. It may or may not have a cover on it, and gets washed quite infrequently.

A euro "duvet" is as JawnBigboote and others describe, slept under directly with no flat sheet. Duvet and pillow covers get replaced weekly and washed. These are the sets that, say, IKEA sells. They come as a cover and two matching pillow cases. They're intended for use, not decorative.
posted by bonehead at 12:32 PM on November 30, 2016 [3 favorites]


American here. Yes, we use fitted sheets, flat sheets, and a duvet cover. We wash the fitted and flat sheets weekly. The duvet cover gets washed... monthly? Every two month? (Not very often.) The flat sheet does not get tangled up under the duvet because we tuck the bottom in. And it's not like I'm separating the duvet from the flat sheets when I'm sleeping. They get treated as one thing and then get pulled straight in the morning.

Also, I splurge on really nice comfy sheets. For the duvet cover, I choose it more for its aesthetic appeal. I have several duvet covers that I rotate depending on my mood, but my flat sheets are boring off white colored.

We are considering getting rid of the flat sheet because it's kind of annoying to have the extra thing. But then I remember that it's also annoying to take off and put on the duvet cover.

As for the pillows, if you look at how things are "supposed" to work, a queen/double bed has 4 pillows. Two of them use the "basic" pillowcases that match the sheets. Two of them uses the "pretty" pillowcases that match the duvet cover. We only use one pillow each so we just use the comfortable basic pillowcases. But that's why sheet sets come with pillow cases and duvet cover sets also come with pillowcases.
posted by ethidda at 12:33 PM on November 30, 2016 [7 favorites]


Using a flat sheet under a duvet seems really weird to this non-American. The flat sheet is there because (presumably) you don't want to be washing your blanket or comforter or whatever-it-is too often. Hence the need for a flat sheet to keep that thing clean - as seen in most hotels. But a duvet cover is designed to be washed regularly - typically you'd have at least two of them, and rotate every week or so. The duvet itself can be washed a couple of times a year, when you switch from your winter to your summer duvet.

Agreed that the pillow cases typically match the duvet, but any secondary pillow cases are normally white or whatever neutral colour your bottom sheet is.

Fitted sheets also come in different depths - our mattress requires extra deep fitted sheets, for example. Also, many people still prefer to use a flat sheet on the bottom, with 'hospital corners'. Keeping this item separate from the duvet/pillow set means you can go with whatever combination you prefer.
posted by pipeski at 12:48 PM on November 30, 2016 [6 favorites]


PS, I am also from the US, but have spent time in Europe. I have still never heard of anyone using a flat sheet with a duvet, on either continent. Apparently it's a thing.
posted by thegreatfleecircus at 12:48 PM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]


We have a duvet with cover, but use it only as a comforter in the coldest months, and then with a flat sheet and a couple of thinner blankets, because we have such differing temperatures. My husband will happily roll up like a burrito in as many covers as possible while I need near-arctic temperatures to sleep. Just sticking a foot outside the duvet to regulate temperature, as I have been told people do, means I have a cold foot and overheated everything else. But a series of covers means I can regulate my temperature throughout the night as I heat up and cool down.
posted by telophase at 12:51 PM on November 30, 2016


I was my duvet cover every week or two. I think it's no big deal but I guess I'm used to it. I think decorative bedding is definitely a US thing, I only have the pillows we use and nothing that can't go in the washer and dryer makes it onto my bed so no worries there.
posted by fshgrl at 1:08 PM on November 30, 2016


The duvet cover doesn't come with pillowcases, exactly. They're "shams" which are meant to be decorative pillow covers. Here's an explainer.
posted by radioamy at 1:10 PM on November 30, 2016


I use a flat sheet with a duvet because sometimes you get hot and don't want that whole duvet on top of you. Having multiple layers provides more temperature flexibility.
posted by something something at 1:35 PM on November 30, 2016 [6 favorites]


In my experience duvet covers and pillows are the things that people see when the bed is made. They tend to have fancier patterns on and it makes sense that they match. The sheet is only visible when you're getting into or out of bed, so it doesn't need to be pretty. A bog standard one in plain white or a single colour is more than enough to get the job done and by selling it separately, the customer gets the choice of whether to go with fitted or flat. (Or both in the case of those wacky Americans.)

Previous AskMe about whether an additional flat sheet is necessary with a duvet.
posted by the latin mouse at 1:46 PM on November 30, 2016 [2 favorites]


What's a housewife pillow case, DarlingBri?

I think fitted sheets are a snare and a delusion, personally, all you need are flat sheets and then you can distribute them as your aesthetics and climate and laundry-cycle dictate. If you use a flat top sheet, you know how to tuck in the corners; do the foot-end corners of the top and bottom sheets together and the top-sheet will stay in place. Fitted sheets wear out more quickly at the shirring and can't be reused on slightly different sized beds and aren't worth turning. (I may be the only person left who turns sheets, but it's worth it to save money on linen ones. )
posted by clew at 1:49 PM on November 30, 2016


I have multiple sets of sheets and only one duvet cover. I change the sheets every week or two, but I hardly ever wash the duvet cover. The idea of buying sheets and a duvet as a single set (and then not using a top sheet) is weird to me because then, what, are you removing and washing your duvet cover every couple of weeks?

To me there is no conceptual difference between a duvet and a comforter. A duvet is just a comforter with a big giant pillowcase on it, and you say you currently use a comforter and a fitted sheet and flat sheet. I'm not sure I understand what it is about comforters vs duvets that's making you think you need a completely different sheet setup.
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:35 PM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]


Ha ha! You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic Metafilter debates - the most famous of which is "is Ralph Wiggum literally a Viking when he sleeps" - but only slightly less well-known is this: "Europeans think the use of a top sheet with a duvet is super weird."
posted by MsMolly at 8:06 PM on November 30, 2016 [23 favorites]


are you removing and washing your duvet cover every couple of weeks?

yes

why do u hate hygiene
posted by poffin boffin at 8:07 PM on November 30, 2016 [8 favorites]


"To me there is no conceptual difference between a duvet and a comforter. A duvet is just a comforter with a big giant pillowcase on it, and you say you currently use a comforter and a fitted sheet and flat sheet. I'm not sure I understand what it is about comforters vs duvets that's making you think you need a completely different sheet setup."

To an American. You are me. I am you. This is how the universe is organized.

My boyfriend is British. Enter the great, "why the hell is this extra sheet on the bed?"

Alas, Europeans don't really use comforters. They use duvets. And they use them alone with a fitted sheet (sometimes a tucked flat sheet). The duvet cover, fitted sheet and pillow cases are washed regularly. Yes, unbuttoning is not the worst but still...

I have adapted to this new custom. I am lazy and it makes it easier to make the bed in the morning. I feel like I live like a savage.
posted by shoesietart at 8:12 PM on November 30, 2016 [7 favorites]


The whole reason to get a duvet cover is to do away with flat sheets tangling up and getting in the way and plus be able to make your bed in 2 seconds when you get out of it. When you change the sheets, you change the duvet cover. Is it really that hard? maybe.
posted by Mchelly at 8:14 PM on November 30, 2016 [3 favorites]


yes

why do u hate hygiene


I mean, there's a sheet between me and the mattress and I don't wash my mattress every 2 weeks, so if there's a sheet between me and the duvet...
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:14 PM on November 30, 2016 [5 favorites]


When you change the sheets, you change the duvet cover. Is it really that hard?

I mean... putting a flat sheet on a bed takes like a minute and, at least in the savage untrained American way that I do it, re-stuffing a duvet cover takes like 10 minutes and requires a duvet-sized area of floor to lay it out on.

Do you guys have some sort of magical duvet-stuffing trick that makes changing a duvet cover not a massive pain in the ass?
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:17 PM on November 30, 2016 [8 favorites]


you hold the corners and then get inside it
posted by poffin boffin at 8:19 PM on November 30, 2016 [19 favorites]


it's hilarious
posted by poffin boffin at 8:19 PM on November 30, 2016 [5 favorites]


Like... like in a potato sack race?
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:20 PM on November 30, 2016


no you go in headfirst

that would also make potato sack races far more entertaining imho
posted by poffin boffin at 8:22 PM on November 30, 2016 [12 favorites]


you hold the corners and then get inside it

Alternatively, you turn the cover inside out, match the corners and reverse the cover again. Takes about 30 seconds, but it's probably less fun.

Also there's this sausage thingy, but that looks like too much work to me.
posted by bonehead at 8:51 PM on November 30, 2016 [5 favorites]


Clean duvet cover is on bed, arranged so you can see its insides, especially the two corners not adjacent to an opening.

Put the duvet between you and the cover, grab two corresponding duvet corners, grab also the duvet-cover corners. Now raise your arms in the air while scooping the duvet cover over both you and the duvet. Shimmy until it's all fallen down around you. Let go of the corners, back out, button it up.

With two people, no-one has to get inside the duvet cover.

Even better, sew tapes to the corners-that-would-be-grabbed so you can tie the duvet into place and shake the cover over it.
posted by clew at 8:53 PM on November 30, 2016


Come to think of it, our favorite two-person technique involves one person inverting the duvet cover over themselves while puppet-mouthing the inner corners; the second person feeds the duvet to the puppets and then pulls the duvet cover over the duvet. Cats are right that getting into the clean sheets is fun.
posted by clew at 8:55 PM on November 30, 2016 [6 favorites]


I don't know, but I'd like to point out this image from the dawn of the duvet. Habitat was matching the sheet to the duvet cover.
posted by betweenthebars at 9:59 PM on November 30, 2016


I stuff end of the duvet into the far corners of the cover then the two near ends into their corners and shove the rest of the duvet all inside. Then I hold the near ends and shake/ flip it over the bed. Then button if you have a button one. Takes two minutes and you don't have to lay anything out.
posted by fshgrl at 11:47 PM on November 30, 2016 [2 favorites]


I mean... putting a flat sheet on a bed takes like a minute and, at least in the savage untrained American way that I do it, re-stuffing a duvet cover takes like 10 minutes and requires a duvet-sized area of floor to lay it out on.

Why would you put clean laundry on the floor when you have a flat area the literal size of the duvet right in front of you at a more convenient height aka the bed?

If you launder your duvet cover regularly, you get really quick at replacing the cover. My preferred way is just a 1, 2, 3 process.

1. Lay duvet flat on the bed and stand at the foot with my hands thrust into the far corners of the inside out duvet cover.

2. Firmly grip the corners of the duvet through the inside out duvet cover.

3. Fling your hands up above your head and give it a bit of a shake. Gravity does the rest.

Decades of practice mean that I can do this super quickly. The idea of instead having to get tangled up in a flat sheet at night and then spend time making my bed every single day has zero appeal.
posted by the latin mouse at 12:27 AM on December 1, 2016 [3 favorites]


PS, I am also from the US, but have spent time in Europe. I have still never heard of anyone using a flat sheet with a duvet, on either continent.

Bonjour ! Je m'appelle fraula, et je mets un drap plat en dessous de ma couette, comme beaucoup de monde ici.

I know a lot of people here in France who use flat sheets under their duvet. It was what I learned from my French family-then-not-quite-in-law. Privately-owned (i.e. not chain) hotels included. It actually gets less twisted than duvet alone, FWIW. The flat sheet "sticks" to the duvet cover, and since the flat sheet is bigger, you don't get caught on the edge of the duvet, thus resolving most causes of duvet-burrito. Also yes, if you have a fancy duvet cover, it means you don't need to wash it as often. Plus, since duvets are often juuuust the right size, a big flat sheet means you get a touch extra coverage keeping all that nice heat in. No slivers of cold sneaking in.

Making my bed in the morning takes about five seconds. Ten if there's a cat involved.

As for putting on a duvet cover, nthing let gravity do the work.
posted by fraula at 1:05 AM on December 1, 2016 [2 favorites]


Also! Most people I know (so my sampling may be skewed as they're more creative sorts, they are French though) mix and match. Duvet sets tend to be pretty low-quality and are meant for students. It's fun to get a pretty duvet cover and then get fitted + flat sheets in a solid accent color from it, or other complementary color, ditto for the pillowcases. So, say I have a beautiful woven duvet cover that has dots in pastel green, yellow, blue, and pink set off by other dots in cream and light grey. I could get a cream flat sheet, pastel blue fitted sheet, and pastel green pillowcases. And since I also have a grey flat sheet, navy fitted sheet, and cream pillowcases, I can do that when the first set needs washed. :)
posted by fraula at 1:25 AM on December 1, 2016


Please do study the image that betweenthebars posted, showing Brits how to use a duvet when they were first introduced here in glorious 1970s decor.

No flat sheet needed, unless you want one. It can all match, or contrast, or not as you prefer.

You can use a flat sheet as the bottom sheet, that's what hospital corners are for.

"20 seconds job done"
posted by Helga-woo at 1:38 AM on December 1, 2016 [1 favorite]


The easiest way to insert a duvet into its cover: Turn duvet cover inside out. Insert hands into duvet cover, grasping the far corners with your hands. You are now holding duvet cover and duvet corners. Now just shake. The duvet cover will magically turn right side out and your duvet will be encased in seconds.
posted by thegreatfleecircus at 2:51 AM on December 1, 2016 [5 favorites]


I first noticed encountering a bed with a duvet without sheet at a hotel in Germany. My coworker noted it and I concurred that my room was also set up that way and we sort of thought about it and decided that, it being Germany, they'd probably determined some MASSIVELY MORE EFFICIENT AND OPTIMIZED way of sleeping. Because Germany.
posted by rmd1023 at 6:10 AM on December 1, 2016 [2 favorites]


Maybe I'm missing something, but all the 'it's easy to put on the cover' answers seem to assume that the duvet and cover are very close to human-sized. Ours is for a king-sized bed and is well over 2m in both dimensions. I *can* scrunch up the cover and grab the corners, but there's no 'it's easy, gravity does the rest' at that point.
posted by BlueDuke at 6:33 AM on December 1, 2016 [8 favorites]


The way to make the duvet cover easy to put on is to use, instead of a bed-sized duvet, a human sized duvet. My husband (a Russian who converted me to this much-better way of sleeping) and I have two twin-size duvets on a king-size bed. No flat sheet. It's so much cuddlier and less fussy and rumpled than a flat sheet.

But agreed, we can never find a fitted sheet with duvet covers. Buy separately. Some places have duvet covers that match fitted sheets. Brooklinen definitely does.
posted by millipede at 6:51 AM on December 1, 2016 [1 favorite]


The way to make the duvet cover easy to put on is to use, instead of a bed-sized duvet, a human sized duvet.

Yes, that was my point. I suspect a portion of the confusion is that on the US side, we're mostly dealing with (and envisioning) what are basically down-comforters-with-covers, while most everyone else is dealing with euro-style human-scale duvets.
posted by BlueDuke at 7:11 AM on December 1, 2016 [1 favorite]


The last time we talked about this, I asked about the relative sexual frequency of top-sheeters v. non-top-sheeters. My question still stands.
posted by pupsocket at 10:42 AM on December 1, 2016


"Ours is for a king-sized bed and is well over 2m in both dimensions. I *can* scrunch up the cover and grab the corners, but there's no 'it's easy, gravity does the rest' at that point."

For larger duvets, I just stand on the bed to give myself a bit of extra height before commencing Operation Gravity. That's always been enough to deal with even a king size duvet, but I concede that it would probably be a non-starter if you're on the shorter side or have a back injury or something.
posted by the latin mouse at 11:05 AM on December 1, 2016 [2 favorites]


Flat sheet under the duvet because I can tuck in a flat sheet, and my wife steals the covers. The duvet is not as long as the sheet. If not for the sheet, my feet would be sticking out into cold air and I'd wake up annoyed.

It isn't my fault that American beds are not built to accommodate someone who is over 6 feet tall.
posted by caution live frogs at 12:09 PM on December 1, 2016 [1 favorite]


So, where are the duvet-lovers in the US buying their duvets, anyways?
posted by rmd1023 at 12:52 PM on December 1, 2016


Nordstrom Rack is where I bought one a couple of months ago. (With matching pillowcases)
posted by shoesietart at 1:52 PM on December 1, 2016


I got mine from Ikea, complete with an adorable sheep cover.
posted by spinifex23 at 2:59 PM on December 1, 2016


Let Martha change your life with her duvet cover sorcery.
posted by Freyja at 3:55 PM on December 1, 2016 [1 favorite]


So, where are the duvet-lovers in the US buying their duvets, anyways?

restoration hardware and pacific coast
posted by poffin boffin at 4:20 PM on December 1, 2016


I am now curious about the two twin-sized duvets because my other half is a furnace and I am an iceblock at night. I think I'll tack a twin duvet onto my side of our phase-change blanket.
posted by clew at 4:24 PM on December 1, 2016


"Maybe I'm missing something, but all the 'it's easy to put on the cover' answers seem to assume that the duvet and cover are very close to human-sized. Ours is for a king-sized bed and is well over 2m in both dimensions. I *can* scrunch up the cover and grab the corners, but there's no 'it's easy, gravity does the rest' at that point."

Most (all? There's a lot of beer.) of the double beds I've seen or slept in in Germany had two single duvets, which I know has been mentioned on the green before. With matching covers! It's much easier to change covers, and because you change regularly, you get skilled.
posted by JawnBigboote at 6:01 PM on December 1, 2016


So, where are the duvet-lovers in the US buying their duvets, anyways?

Overstock.com is fantastic for high thread-count down duvets. Also IKEA for summerweight synthetic duvets.

As for putting on the cover... turn it inside out. Position the duvet so that the tag will be on the closed end. Ideally, your cover will have ties and your duvet will have buttons sewn onto its corners or there will be some other way to attach the corners. Once the top two corners have been placed/attached, reach into the inside-out cover and shake from the top two corners. The cover will roll down over the rest of the duvet. If there are buttons or other attaching devices, attach the bottom two corners. Otherwise, leave them loose. I close up the bottom of the cover occasionally, but the most effective way to smooth it out is to grab the top two corners of the cover and the duvet and then shake so that the extra cover fabric cascades to the bottom of the duvet and the top part of the duvet - which is closest to your face has the cover full of duvet.

I may need to draw diagrams for this.

I've definitely done the ghost thing - throwing the cover over your head and stumbling around looking for the duvet, but since I learned the correct way there are no ghosts in my house.
posted by bendy at 6:29 PM on December 1, 2016 [1 favorite]


I have a long size duvet and my method still works and takes 90 seconds. I don't use gravity, I put the corners of the duvet in the cover corners, stuff the rest inside as described above and flip flip over the bed like I'm shaking sand out of a towel. That's how I learned as a kid.

And yes I knew French people used sheets under duvets but I thought it was weird then too. I don't think anyone does in the countries duvets originated in.
posted by fshgrl at 2:05 PM on December 2, 2016


Do you guys have some sort of magical duvet-stuffing trick that makes changing a duvet cover not a massive pain in the ass?

Turn the cover inside-out, fasten the corners of the duvet to the cover with safety-pins, and revert.
Bonus: no more bunching up inside the cover!

I guess I'm a weird European that uses a duvet with a flat sheet, and washes them both at the same time!
posted by HFSH at 2:00 AM on December 3, 2016


you hold the corners and then get inside it

Really?! I do the top corners, shake, then bottom corners and shake. I love the idea that there are millions of people who encase themselves in their doona cover every week.

I have a top sheet because I have no airconditioning, it's already 21C at midnight and it's only the forth day of summer. The doona (summer weight) will be mostly for decoration for the next few months. The extra layer also makes a significant difference in winter too (no central heating either).
posted by kjs4 at 5:05 AM on December 3, 2016


So, where are the duvet-lovers in the US buying their duvets, anyways?

Groupon has good deals every so often.

I'm on team topsheet+duvet because I like to sleep warmly in a cool room in the winter, and I like to have options in the summer (fall asleep with the duvet, adjust overnight to only have top sheet).

And, to insert king-sized duvet cover into IKEA duvet cover, I simply put the duvet on the bed, put the duvet cover over the duvet - align corners - then insert duvet into cover. And shake shake shake till the duvet fits its cover. Takes only a couple of minutes.
posted by seawallrunner at 2:20 PM on December 3, 2016


Top sheet and duvet, I'm not a philistine. Who showers before bed?

TEAM TOP SHEET.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 7:59 PM on December 3, 2016 [2 favorites]


For years and years I slept under a down comforter / duvet. I cherished the pillowy weight of it on my body as it calmed me to sleep like a dog inside a thundershirt. Alas, the advent of new love brought with it changes and compromise, as it does, and my sweetness's allergy to down effectively ended my duvet years. We have heavy blankets now, and nightly snuggles are like manna from heaven, but every time I'm on a work trip curled up beneath a Westin Dream(TM) bedding set I think about my duvet, currently stuffed in a plastic box in the closet (because I cannot let go of things), and remember those halcyon days of uninterrupted feathery sleep.

FOR GOD'S SAKE PEOPLE LET YOUR DUVET KNOW YOU LOVE IT WHILE YOU STILL CAN
posted by grumpybear69 at 6:07 AM on December 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


But for those of you who are team no top sheet what do you do during the night when it gets too hot for a duvet? Seems like your only option is naked exposure to air. I do not want to be lying naked on my bed with no covering. But inevitably duvet gets too hot at some point and i want only top sheet on me. This is like that British people not rinsing their dishes thing. Some cultural diifferences are just immense gaps.
posted by TestamentToGrace at 1:04 PM on December 5, 2016


I grew up as part of Team Groovy Duvet (“Clan Continental Quilt” if you were fancy) in Scotland in the 1970s. North American bedding gives me a sad with all the layers and sneeze-inducing blankets. Flat sheets prevent you from doing the most important duvet manoeuvre, looping your big toe through the cover snap and hoiking the duvet back down to cover exposed and freezing feet. Also, you can't do the Sad Duvet Yeti on the couch with sheets and blankets if you're off sick.
posted by scruss at 7:48 AM on December 6, 2016 [2 favorites]


I have been washing my bedding on a weekly basis for over 20 years. I have always had a duvet and until recently I never used a top sheet. Fitted sheet + duvet made it so much easier to make the bed and everything was more streamlined without a flat sheet getting all bunched up underneath (which, even if you can't see it when the bed is made, still drives me crazy when I know it's like that). I've used duvet covers with ties, I've used clips, and I always went back to just reaching in through the cover, grabbing the corners of the duvet and flipping it as the easiest and fastest method.

I recently got a king size bed and king size duvets change the game. It takes significantly more time and strength to stuff the whole duvet inside and then flip it out. I've pretty much mastered doing it with a queen size, but doing the same with a king size almost feels beyond my physical capacity (as a 5'4" tall person) without doubling the time I spend doing it.

Plus, duvet covers are expensive (especially in king size) and washing them weekly fades and wears them out much more quickly than I would like, for what I'm spending on them. So I gave in and got flat sheets, which I wash weekly, saving my duvet cover for once a month washing. My bedding is not as streamlined as I would like, but I really, really love not having to fight with a duvet cover every week.

Place that I like to look for duvet covers:

Pottery Barn Teen (I like their bright and cheery patterns better than the regular Pottery Barn ones)
Cuddledown
The Company Store
Crane & Canopy
Garnet Hill

All of these places have pretty great sales on the regular. I'm not sure I've ever paid full price for a duvet cover/shams.
posted by triggerfinger at 7:36 PM on December 6, 2016


I' very late to this party because I managed to miss this thread and only heard about it on the New Year's podcast, which I've only just listened to, BUT it's made me want to say - if anyone comes back to read - that I love you all and this sort of discussion makes the 11 years (2003-2014) that I spent as a North American in Europe all worth it. You all rock!
posted by mollymillions at 8:05 PM on January 4, 2017


So this was just on Kottke - MIND. BLOWN.
posted by Mchelly at 7:12 AM on January 5, 2017


The California Roll method is too fiddly and complex. The standard inside out is super fast and very easy.
posted by DarlingBri at 7:09 PM on January 13, 2017 [1 favorite]


I'm on team topsheet+duvet because I like to sleep warmly in a cool room in the winter, and I like to have options in the summer

We do change duvets summer and winter (gives one time to get them cleaned or simply just to air for a week or so before being packed away), though in the hottest part of summer, we might use the cover only as a sheet.
posted by bonehead at 8:45 PM on January 13, 2017


The standard inside out is super fast and very easy.

It is if your duvet cover is already inside-out. Otherwise, turning it inside-out adds an extra step.

In the case where the duvet cover is rightside-out, I find it quicker to lay the cover loosely over the bed, then grab the two top corners of the duvet, and insert those two corners into the cover, pushing them to the inside-top corners of the cover. Then I transfer each hand from the inside of the corner to the outside of the corner, holding the corner of the duvet insider the corner of the cover. Lift and shake the whole thing to get the rest of the cover over the duvet. Sounds insanely complicated now I've typed it out, but it seems quicker to me, so I'll continue to use two quite different, but topographically similar, ways to put a cover on a duvet, depending on the inside-outness of the cover.
posted by pipeski at 4:05 PM on January 15, 2017


"When Jen Jones first arrived in Wales in 1971, she found a land where the Welsh woollen mills no longer produced vast quantities of their remarkable narrow loom blankets for the world's markets. Driven out of business by the soulless and ubiquitous duvet, those industrious craftswomen, the Welsh quilters, had also stopped making their practical and original quilts. "

THE SOULLESS AND UBIQUITOUS DUVET
posted by clew at 4:19 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


« Older Threaded rod shelving shelf ends.   |   How even do you talk to people? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.