Duggars by the Dozen- Part 23: Even more Duggary

[missegeno]

1 minute ago, Lurky said:

Maybe you didn't know the duvet cover is removable, and generally washed regularly, and in hotels, as a a standard always washed between guests?  There are sometimes other things with no covers, but in English that's "eiderdowns" and should come with sheets etc.  Duvet, by it's nature, has washable cover.

ETA I have no idea about USA bedding (and don't care, except for when it's Duggar-ly denied to kids) but duvets are not inherently unhygienic!  And now I'm laughing at myself about why I care

Oh, yes, I'm sorry I wasn't clear. Yes, I always had a duvet cover, both at home and when traveling and was perfectly fine with the cleaning practices. It's didn't mean to imply that it was dirty, (and I see now that is a clearer interpretation than my intention). But I'm more likely to get a layer of fancy, extra silky sheets than I am to get a duvet cover of that description. I feel like the top layer needs a more durable material, but now that I think of it I can't think of a compelling reason why. Plus, I want more customization options. I am one of the people who *HAS* to have at least one layer over me, and the flat sheet of US bedding is perfect and the rest can be either removed or adjusted to just cover lower body or whatever. Even an exhausted hostel duvet (which I personally put linens on myself) was a bit much for Italy in August. It was full fluff or absolutely nothing. And when having sweet fellowship (not at hostels), a flat sheet protects against cold bedroom air without being as heavy or sweat-inducing as a duvet (with clean cover). Sorry for the TMI, I'll show myself out.

[Lurky]

3 minutes ago, missegeno said:

It was full fluff or absolutely nothing. And when having sweet fellowship (not at hostels), a flat sheet protects against cold bedroom air without being as heavy or sweat-inducing as a duvet (with clean cover). Sorry for the TMI, I'll show myself out.

Grinning at you! I tried to find the perfect emoticon, but none are perfect enough!

[Timetostoplurking]

3 hours ago, Coconut Flan said:

Yes, people are allowed to be bigoted jerks and we're allowed to call it out.  I have no idea where the poster got the idea that Americans all have inferior bedding practices.  I can honestly say the only bed that I've put not thrown a blanket on without an undersheet was a crib that did have a proper crib sheet on it.  The Duggars are not an example of standard United States behavior.

Yes!!  Thank you for saying this.  American here.... and everyone, I mean everyone uses sheets and normal bedding.  The only people I have ever seen with bedding like the Duggars, are the Duggars.

[MargaretElliott]

Yeah, I'm a little confused by @Iokaste's comment as well (not offended, just perplexed!) When I go to Europe, it's just a bottom sheet and a duvet (with a washable cover). First time I went there, I was confused- I asked my mother if they had forgotten to put on the sheets! I have my bottom sheet, top sheet, duvet or comforter, and in the winter, add an afghan, an electric blanket, a heated mattress pad... I live in New England in a drafty Victorian house, don't judge 

Of course, I generally visit Britain, so maybe you're from somewhere where they pile eiderdowns and fluffy blankets on a bed with tons of pillows... sounds like heaven.

[Palimpsest]

OMG, it's the duvet wars all over again!  So many people in the USA go ape over that. 

It's the European in me (and I converted Mr. P. ) but we use a bottom sheet and a washable duvet cover.  If you put a top sheet in between the duvet and you - it interferes with the duvet molding to your body.  Lose that top sheet.

Simple solution to the duvet wars - just wash your all your bed-coverings on a regular basis and don't sweat the details of how other people like to make their beds.

Unless they are Duggars. 0

[Imaginary_Wonderland]

Wow, this is quite fascinating.  I didn't realise bedding issue was so complicated and confusing. I'm off to google eiderdowns, comforters, flat sheets, top sheets etc. No idea what could be used instead of washable duvet cover.

[feministxtian]

The Xtian's bed...quilted mattress cover, bottom sheet, top sheet, comforter. Absolutely necessary for my comfort...Oh...and pillows. Lots of pillows (between the 2 of us we have 6). 

One of my kids just wanted a bottom sheet and a blanket...whatever...

[HarleyQuinn]

Okay, I skipped all that bedding talk, but weren't the boys shown sleeping with blankets later on, though in jeans? I just don't know how they could justify no covers. That would be awful. 

[bellina]

15 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

If you put a top sheet in between the duvet and you - it interferes with the duvet molding to your body.  Lose that top sheet.

Interesting, this is the first time I've heard that! I am so curious, how is it beneficial to have the duvet molding to your body? I'm totally open to learning about this! The belief here is that part of the advantage of the USian layered top sheet-blanket-duvet system in the winter is that it traps more air and keeps one warmer. Some of us do have to sleep with one foot outside the covers, though, on all but the coldest nights. LOL.

The washable duvet cover, no-flat-sheet thing is getting more popular in the US in large part to the increased popularity of Ikea. 

[samurai_sarah]

21 minutes ago, bellina said:

Interesting, this is the first time I've heard that! I am so curious, how is it beneficial to have the duvet molding to your body?

(snip)

If you sleep like me, then a sheet disconnecting you from the duvet is just a hindrance. I need my duvet, nay require, my duvet to cover my ears, and if I can't stick my feet out from beneath in the middle of the night, rioting might ensue.

But at the end of the day, it's just a sleeping preference. Preference, not life or death!

[bellina]

12 minutes ago, samurai_sarah said:

If you sleep like me, then a sheet disconnecting you from the duvet is just a hindrance. I need my duvet, nay require, my duvet to cover my ears, and if I can't stick my feet out from beneath in the middle of the night, rioting might ensue.

But at the end of the day, it's just a sleeping preference. Preference, not life or death!

Haha that's awesome. A lot of us with top sheets do exactly the same (with the sheet untucked for feet), since the sheet follows the same contours as the duvet cover. I guess it's just habit and more laundry, but I swear the top sheet feels more comfortable than duvet cover alone.

[samurai_sarah]

7 minutes ago, bellina said:

Haha that's awesome. A lot of us with top sheets do exactly the same, since the sheet follows the same contours as the duvet cover. I guess it's just habit and more laundry, but I swear the top sheet feels more comfortable than duvet cover alone.

I'd swear the opposite thing, but I guess you are right - habit. I love my fitted sheets and duvet. That's what I'm used to. Sheets I always get tangled in. And since I always hug the duvet in the end, I get weirded out by "who else has been snuggling that thing without a washable cover?".

Just one of those things!

[December]

25 minutes ago, bellina said:

The washable duvet cover, no-flat-sheet thing is getting more popular in the US in large part to the increased popularity of Ikea. 

Yep, I definitely didn't see them for sale in the US until I went to an IKEA. 

I think it's partly because patterned comforters are seen as decorative and so people don't want to wash them multiple times per month and wear them out quickly. I grew up in a very cold area of the US and it was always fitted bed sheet, top sheet, 1 or 2 heavy blankets, and a patterned comforter on top that was thin but looked nice. 

If anyone wants a real bedding horror story, I had a friend in college who decided she wanted her bed to always look pristine in case visitors came into her dorm room. So she had a fully made up bed that she slept on top of with just a fleece blanket to stay warm. That way she only had to fold the fleece blanket in the morning to "make" her bed. Nobody had the heart to tell her no one cared if her bed was made! 

[church_of_dog]

I recently asked my mom if I had been swaddled as a baby (she said no) because of how wrapped up in my bedcovers I like to be.  I learned years ago to not use a top sheet because, as someone said above, it ends up separating from the blankets because of how much I toss and turn during the night.  The only time I use a top sheet is in the summer when it's too hot for anything else (because yes, body must be covered by something -- otherwise the breeze would tickle me, a mosquito might get me, it just feels necessary to be wrapped up!  On the bottom, I have a wooly mattress pad and a flannel bottom sheet (I use flannel 11 months of the year, only switch to cotton briefly during the hottest summer weather -- I favor dark colors but solid, no pattern).  On top I have either wool blankets (one, two or three, depending on weather) and/or a down comforter inside a cotton removable cover.  I wear nightclothes, and yes, my nightclothes touch the wool blankets or the comforter cover directly.  So be it.  Even a wool blanket can be aired out, shaken, vacuumed, if not washed regularly.

[Coconut Flan]

I will now introduce - ta da - triple sheeting!!  As long as the maid is making the bed, that one works sort of for me.

A comforter and a duvet are not really the same thing.  I have both in my house.   I use fitted sheet, flat sheet, blanket (that does not go sliding anywhere), and a covered duvet.  I am not into unstuffing and restuffing that duvet and cover very often and neither is my housekeeper.  I only use it if I get really cold so the flat sheet and blanket is a much better choice for me.  Everyone else can figure out what they like. 

[Palimpsest]

3 minutes ago, December said:

I think it's partly because patterned comforters are seen as decorative and so people don't want to wash them multiple times per month and wear them out quickly.

And herein is the issue.

A "patterned comforter" is not a duvet.  It is a "comforter" AKA an "eiderdown."  It is warm and decorative, goes over sheets and blankets, but it is not a duvet.

A duvet is a fluffy white thing filled with down (or down substitute).  It isn't decorative but is intended to go inside a duvet cover.  A good duvet cover is made of comfy sheet-like fabric that is just as washable as a sheet.

@samurai_sarah explained the no top sheet concept well.  The top sheet is just something to get tangled in.

A duvet in a good duvet cover without a top sheet also makes bed-making a breeze.  Fluff pillows, smooth bottom sheet as necessary, then stand at foot of bed and grab bottom corners of duvet.  Toss in air, shake, and let it float back to rest back on the bed.  Done.

Of course, fancy European hotels have now invented a bed scarfy thing.  That is supposed to go on the foot of the bed over the duvet and serves no function whatsoever except to be decorative.  I prefer function over "decor' so do without.

[December]

7 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

A "patterned comforter" is not a duvet.  It is a "comforter" AKA an "eiderdown."  It is warm and decorative, goes over sheets and blankets, but it is not a duvet.

Exactly. But where I grew up, I never saw anything but patterned comforters filled with cotton. It's just a difference in terminology, with both sides talking about completely different items! 

I switched to a duvet cover + "real" down comforter a few years ago and I enjoy it. But taking the duvet cover off irritates me, so I use it with a top sheet. I guess my style would horrify both sides of the argument!  

[church_of_dog]

OK @Palimpsest I guess mine is a duvet then, even though I called it a comforter.  I don't really understand the distinction but mine is made of down and is "bare" -- doesn't look or feel especially nice by itself, so I always use it in a removable/washable cover.

I don't think I could stand to have bedding that was just for looks and wasn't functional!

Lately I've been using two wool blankets but in the last week or so it's gotten cold (and is about to get quite a bit colder -- next Tues is forecast to be down to 7F overnight!), so the blankets aren't enough for the last half of the night.  So I added the duvet on top, but kept the blankets, just because I'm lazy and also because I like the weight of heavy bedding.  I start with the duvet folded down to only cover the lower half of the bed, and then around 2am I pull it up over the blankets and am instantly toasty again...

[Coconut Flan]

1 minute ago, December said:

But taking the duvet cover off irritates me, so I use it with a top sheet. I guess my style would horrify both sides of the argument!  

You're in excellent company it's what I do and what my family does. 

[church_of_dog]

13 minutes ago, Coconut Flan said:

I will now introduce - ta da - triple sheeting!!  As long as the maid is making the bed, that one works sort of for me.

A comforter and a duvet are not really the same thing.  I have both in my house.   I use fitted sheet, flat sheet, blanket (that does not go sliding anywhere), and a covered duvet.  I am not into unstuffing and restuffing that duvet and cover very often and neither is my housekeeper.  I only use it if I get really cold so the flat sheet and blanket is a much better choice for me.  Everyone else can figure out what they like. 

For me the flat sheet under a blanket probably WOULD go sliding around.  I think it's a function of how much one turns over during the night (and perhaps how "neatly" one does so).  I have woken up with my blankets laying sideways on the bed.  No idea how I do that, but it's just how I roll, I guess -- literally!

[Coconut Flan]

On my bed the blankets are tucked with the sheet under the mattress at the foot of the bed.  I have no idea when we started that but I've noticed all my children (who are now adults) do it also. 

[Palimpsest]

The real question is - do you all make your beds (duvets or not) every day?  Like Teri Maxwell who gets out of bed and tells everyone that it is vitally important to make it immediately.

I do make my bed before I get back into it.  I confess I sometimes fold back the duvet and leave it until lunchtime - but that's OK because my mama told me beds need to air!  

[Jana'sHairScrunchie]

I make the bed everyday, but I work from home so I just do it whenever I feel like it. Although today I did not make it, and it was a big mess when my husband went to bed. I occasionally miss the days when I lived alone and never made the bed, just burrito-ed in my sheets and comforter.

I recently learned for the first time that a friend of mine doesn't use flat sheets and hates them. I had no clue that was a thing, but per usual FJ is readily available to open my eyes to a whole new world.

[LovelyLuna]

I always have to have a heavy comforter or a duvet even in the summer. I don’t feel ‘safe’ otherwise. I think I would benefit from a weighted blanket. I also burrito so Mr. Luna and I have separate bedding. 

[ViolaSebastian]

This is one of the weirder thread drifts I've encountered here, I got all excited when I saw "hot" on this thread and thought something amazing had happened to one of the Duggars. 

That said, I used to love duvets until I moved to the south. I'd rather not die of heat stroke, so I stick to a top sheet and quilt. But add me to the people who "need" to have a fairly heavy top cover--I think it's related to my insomnia. Weighted blankets have been shown to help with symptoms.  https://www.jscimedcentral.com/SleepMedicine/sleepmedicine-2-1022.pdf