My duvet always slips down inside the cover. Help!

September 26, 2023 8:54 AM

Despite adding ties to each of the corners, my duvet always slips down inside its cover while I go to pull it up at night, and it's driving me crazy. How do I remedy this?

I'm looking to have the experience of pulling the thicket duvet (just like a thick blanket) up over my shoulders. Right now, when I pull it, I get a thin sheet over my shoulders and the thicker portion of the actual duvet about a few inches down.

Is my duvet cover too big?
Is my duvet too small, or not thick enough?
Is there such a thing as zipping a duvet in, or attaching it along the length of the top of the cover with additional ties?
Am I just not a duvet person and need some sort of thicker blanket? (my husband prefers the duvet, and I like how sanitary it is, so would love to keep it)

Would love your advice on how to remedy this, as I don't know much about duvets, clearly, and am struggling to find out the answer without purchasing hundreds of dollars of different types.

Thanks in advance!

posted by knownassociate to Home & Garden (21 answers total)

So what's going on with the ties? Are you saying you tie it in each corner and it slips out of the ties? Have you tried tying it really tightly, even with a knot?

We are duvet people, and we have covers with and without ties. Sometimes the untied duvet does slip down; we remedy this by sort of shaking it all out until it's even, just before bedtime. But I've never had a tied duvet come untied.

And yes, have you double-checked that you have matching duvet + cover sizing? I guess if you have a smaller duvet in a too-large cover it will indeed not stay where you want it.
posted by BlahLaLa at 9:00 AM on September 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

Does it stay in place in the corners with the ties? I ultimately started safety-pinning the corners of my comforter inside the duvet, and it doesn't slip down very much. So maybe it's not a good fit? The idea of pinning the duvet/comforter on the seam by my head gives me the heebie jeebies, but maybe it would work for you.
posted by obfuscation at 9:01 AM on September 26, 2023

Two! Twin! Duvets! It’s a huge improvement, you each get your own(!!!), the smaller duvet size tends to hold everything together in a more stable way. I dont even have to tie the corners on them.

Also twin size is a breeze to clean.
posted by mochapickle at 9:03 AM on September 26, 2023 [8 favorites]

Back when I used a duvet, I ended up using a King-sized duvet in a Queen-sized duvet cover. I did this because I typically run cold, and it also, in my opinion, looks nicer on the bed (much fluffier and more luxurious). I feel like it might solve your problem, though: since there's so much more duvet in the same amount of cover, I found there to be fewer 'bare' spots. Obviously YMMV, though, and I suppose it would be expensive to try (and if you need a king duvet cover, this method wouldn't work)...
posted by ClaireBear at 9:06 AM on September 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

I have this exact same problem - the corners are tied, but the duvet slips down inside the cover such that I end up with two layers of cover fabric folded over, still tied to the duvet bunched up at the bottom. This is with a full sized duvet inside one of those Full/Queen sized covers.

I have noticed that the fabric matters - there are some covers that are more slippery where this is a much worse problem than with a cotton fabric. I still have the problem with cotton though, and I suspect it's a combination of these three issues: 1.) the size mismatch for the Full/Queen cover, 2.) the fabric of the duvet itself, 3.) my failure as a sleeper to lay perfectly still. I'll be watching to see if anyone has better solutions.
posted by past unusual at 9:09 AM on September 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

We just give ours a good shake when it slides around too much or one of the corners breaks free of a not-tight-enough tie, and that gets the job done well enough for me. But you might do some searching on "duvet clips" or "comforter clips" - I know they exist in several formats and one of them might work for you. Depending on your comfort with a bit of hand-sewing, I think it probably also wouldn't be too hard a task to sew an extra set of ties and loops along the edges of the duvet so it's not held only at the corners.
posted by Stacey at 9:10 AM on September 26, 2023

I have this issue, and it occurs to me, why couldn't I sew short lengths of something--like maybe bias tape or satin ribbon--along the top edge of the duvet at regular intervals roughly matching where the buttonholes are on duvet covers? Then I could thread the ribbon or tape or whatever through the buttonholes, button it, and tie the tape in a little bow. Maybe it would A) look really stupid or B) crowd the duvet cover buttonholes too much and make it hard to button closed. Plus... I always situate the button end at the bottom of the bed because I don't want buttons knocking me in the teeth as I slumber.

O, wait up, no! Forget the button thing, sew one short length of tape to each corner on both the bottom seam of the closed end of the cover and the duvet itself, ditto in the middle, and then two halfway between the middle and the corner, so five equipositioned pairs of bias tape. Then when you do the burrito-roll thing (see countless youtubes for the method) before you roll it up, you tie the duvet to the cover using your pre-sewn ribbons/tapes.
posted by Don Pepino at 9:13 AM on September 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

I'm watching this curiously. My solution has always been to just make sure that I don't just grab the cover when curling up with the duvet, I focus on grabbing the fluffy duvet and then the cover comes with it. This means there's usually several inches of empty cover at the top, but that doesn't get it my way and I try and remember to give it a good shake every week or so.
posted by platypus of the universe at 9:18 AM on September 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

I use these pins on my duvet corners instead of ties, but there's no reason you couldn't use more than 4 per duvet, perhaps an additional one in the middle of each side? I don't notice them as annoying in the corners, not sure if they'd be annoying elsewhere. This is just the particular product I bought, a quick glance through amazon shows there are a ton of options for "duvet clips"
posted by cgg at 9:23 AM on September 26, 2023

There's like a million different formats for duvet clips, if you want to go one of those routes.

I do think fabric matters as well. I've had really shifty duvets in the past and the ones I have now (microfiber cover on both the comforter and the cover) seem really grippy.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:24 AM on September 26, 2023

I was going to ask this exact question last year and didn’t need to because I found duvet stays! They are like an upholstered button with a pin sticking out of it that fits firmly into another upholstered button. They can be released by pinching a pair of clever spring buttons on the side. They also make magnetic versions but I haven’t tried those. You can buy a dozen of them and place them all along the edges of your duvet and the slippage problem will be solved. However, it might introduce another issue if you don’t like having them along the top side where you can feel them.
posted by oxisos at 9:25 AM on September 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

You can just get a comforter. If a bed-sized one doesn't fit in your washer, you can go with two smaller ones as mochapickle suggested.
posted by metasarah at 9:29 AM on September 26, 2023 [4 favorites]

here are the two things I do:

I use the Burrito Method which works well because you need to turn the cover inside out. I sew the top end of the comforter to the duvet in 3 or 4 places. this helps prevent the comforter from sliding down and bunching.

every time I change the sheets I reverse the head to foot direction of the cover. this helps redistribute the fluff inside the cover, which tends to migrate towards the foot end.
posted by supermedusa at 9:57 AM on September 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

Don't pull it up from the middle. When you get in bed, fold the corner of the duvet back, then fold it back up over you from the corner. You can also use a larger safety pin to secure the duvet at the middle of the top end.
posted by theora55 at 10:24 AM on September 26, 2023

I think there is nothing worse than waking up in the middle of the night and pulling up the duvet and getting....no insert.

So i refuse to do duvet covers. I literally just ordered this one from garnet hill thats meant to not have a cover. But really, it doesn't matter, i just do a flat sheet, comforter, and then a light quilt/coverlette on top to sandwich the comforter between so Im never really touching it. Is it as perfect a solution as a duvet cover? No, but I honestly think those things are designed to make you angry.
posted by zara at 10:46 AM on September 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

Maybe I'm just unlucky, but every safety pin/duvet clip I used just ended up poking me in the eye while I was asleep. I eventually went with sewing one end of a ~6-inch long piece of ribbon onto the duvet itself, about every 2 feet. I added additional pieces of ribbon to the corresponding places inside the duvet cover. Then you can tie the ribbons together and the duvet won't go anywhere. If you don't have a sewing machine, it would be pretty easy to do by hand since it all gets hidden inside the cover and doesn't need to be neatly sewn.
posted by little king trashmouth at 11:23 AM on September 26, 2023

I've just realised I used to have this problem a lot too, but it stopped after I started work as a hotel housekeeper and so started making my own bed in the same 'hotel way' each day.

So adding a flat sheet between me at the duvet was new for me, and making the bed properly each day to help ensure everything is flat and evenly spread, with the duvet top positioned about a third of the way over the pillows (keep the pillows off the bed until after making the rest of the bed is easier to line everything up).

My flat sheet is oversized, so it folds back over the top of the duvet 'hotel style' (as well as any additional blankets if it's winter). The cotton also matches the fitted sheet cotton so they slide over each other well.

And like described above, I tend to fold a big corner back when getting in and out of bed, so as not to disturb things too much.

Then when in bed, for extra coziness I'm pulling the flat sheet up (with the duvet & cover tucked inside the top sheet fold), and the duvet comes with it.
Maybe there's less stretch in my flat sheet so the duvet kind if happily sits above it and stays nicely balanced inside.

I don't even need to tie the corners in anymore like I used to.
posted by many-things at 11:27 AM on September 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

We had this happen frequently with our duvet. It was king sized, as were the covers, obvs. Every night, almost without fail, the duvet would fold itself halfway down inside the cover and I would be left with the empty cover.

The solution, it turned out, was a thicker duvet. Our old one was very thin (silk-filled, so very good at maintaining a comfortable temperature but not much more than a thick blanket in heft) and the new one, while still thinner than average, stays in place inside the cover.
posted by Martha My Dear Prudence at 12:00 PM on September 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

For my last duvet I did the same as little king trashmouth and sewed little ribbons at intervals along the edges of the duvet and at the corresponding places on the duvet covers. It really didn’t add much time to getting the cover on and off!
posted by Edna Million at 1:29 PM on September 26, 2023

(OMG today my life was saved by learning of the existence of DUVET CLIPS....like, for real, this issue plagues me because they have started making duvet ties out of SATIN WHICH YOU WILL NOT STAY TIED JESUS GOD HELP ME why would they pick SATIN?). Thanks yet again, AskMe.
posted by tristeza at 1:33 PM on September 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

To add on one more thing-- the year I slept on a futon with an oval open window on the cover, I don't remember having this issue. I know that partially it was better because it was a single-sized and very fluffy futon comforter, and partially because it was easier to readjust when needed since I could just reach through the window. I've somewhat frequently wondered if either buying or making an equivalent would solve my woes.
posted by past unusual at 5:54 PM on September 26, 2023