Mattress protectors and duvet covers
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We spend hundreds of dollars for a wool mattress cover...and then cover it with a waterproof mattress protector. We spend hundreds of dollars for ultra lightweight German Batiste fabric on a down comforter...and then put it inside a duvet cover. Obviously there are trade-offs, but does this make any sense? It seems to me only two choices make sense - use "protection" but don't bother spending extra for the wool and exotic fabric because it's just a waste of money, or take our chances with stains and sleep next to that for which we paid a lot of money. The irony is, if we're just going to buy something cheap because we can't feel it anyway, why spend hundreds of dollars to protect it? The first duvet cover I bought cost almost as much as the down comforter...and was so heavy and thick that it made me hot and defeated one of the desirable qualities of the down comforter - its light weight. The mattress protector I bought is, I think, making me hot. How can it not? How can it distinguish between coffee and perspiration? I think I'm just going to take my chances with an unprotected mattress. The top is removable and can be washed, and practically speaking I have no warranty on anything anyway. For the comforter, when it gets a bit cooler I'm going to try a cover made of cotton sheeting and forgo the fancy cover, and perhaps even the top sheet. Why do I need two sheets between me and the down? For now it has no cover, but I have cats and I need something I can take off and throw in the washer and dry in a dryer. [Wish I had thought this far ahead before I "invested" in the fancy duvet cover.] I would like to hear others thoughts on this. Am I missing something? This message was modified Oct 18, 2007 by haysdb
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Re: Mattress protectors and duvet covers
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You bring up a very good point about not covering your down duvet in a too-heavy duvet cover. The weightless feeling of a bare down comforter is wonderful, but can be completely ruined with the wrong cover. I made a glazed cotton chinz duvet cover for my first king sized down comforter and it weighed a ton. It looked beautiful; however, I would never do that again. My current cover is Ralph Lauren and much lighter weight, but next time I am going to go even lighter, with nothing heavier than a light cotton sheet weight. I will probably have to make my own again in order to get something which is not utterly plain. I think Shabby Chic (from the original Shabby Chic stores, not Target) makes wonderful light weight covers in cotton percale or linen, but unfortunately they do not make a true queen size, just a full/queen combination. If your duvet cover can hold up to frequent laundering, there is no real reason for a top sheet. In Germany we did not use top sheets with our comforters. |
Re: Mattress protectors and duvet covers
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cloud9 wrote: You spend so much money on a big puffy luxurious down comforter. Sticking it in a big pillowcase just seems... anticlimactic... Different strokes for different folks. The Southern Textiles mattress protector is very thin and somewhat stretchy, but you may be onto something, that when it's stretched taut over the mattress, it may act a little like a drum head. But it's more stretchy than the fitted sheet, so it's still not adding up for me. I guess I need to put it back on again and try to forget that I did and see if I notice. This message was modified Oct 21, 2007 by haysdb
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Re: Mattress protectors and duvet covers
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haysdb wrote: Different strokes for different folks. The Southern Textiles mattress protector is very thin and somewhat stretchy, but you may be onto something, that when it's stretched taut over the mattress, it may act a little like a drum head. But it's more stretchy than the fitted sheet, so it's still not adding up for me. I guess I need to put it back on again and try to forget that I did and see if I notice. You would think that the thin stretchy mattress protectors would have enough give not to produce that drum head effect. This seems to happen mostly with the conventional style protectors that contain a layer of somewhat stiff fiberous material on the bottom. The tight quilting on the top seems to accentuate this. The protector I eventually settled on with the wide stripe quilting comes off as feeling quite soft even though it does fit the mattress rather snuggly. |
Re: Mattress protectors and duvet covers
| You're right, it shouldn't. I think whatever I thought I felt when I took the mattress protector off is all in my head. The mattress is certainly sleeping no cooler since I took it off. I didn't put it back on last night, but I will tonight. |