Duvet Covers

Emilee Franklin

            Since people often ask me what I like about Ireland and my quick response is naturally to say everything, I have decided to start blogging about some of the things I don’t particularly enjoy.  Some of these blog posts will be for my own reference; others will be just too simply compare and contrast things in Ireland to Minnesota. I do not personally hate anyone or anything I just have a strong disliking to a few things.

If you caught a glimpse of my blog last year you would already know my stance on duvet covers… I personally think they are terrible and one of the WORST ideas ever. Ok, ok, so that may be a bit harsh, and I may not have had the same opinion if I had grown up with them, but I do think they are a huge pain. For those of you at home saying to yourselves what on earth is a duvet cover, and why do they upset you so much; A duvet cover is very much like a comforter, it is a soft downy like bag filled with down, feathers, wool, or some type of synthetics. The difference is a duvet itself typically does not have any patterns or colors, it is usually stark white, and you would cover it with a colored or patterned Duvet cover of your choice. The idea behind it being that you could change the cover for the different seasons, and that it is easier since you don’t have to wash the entire duvet, merely the cover. It is the cover that causes me great problems. When the bedding is dirty and needs to be washed instead of just throwing the comforter and sheets in the washer, you must first attempt to take the Duvet cover off. If you are successful in doing this the easy part is done. If you are not used to duvet covers you will find the process of putting the clean duvet cover back on absolutely agonizing. What would only take a few minutes to make your entire bed, you spend merely contemplating on how the big duvet fits in such a small cover, and for god sakes which way does it go! I have found through lots of practice and struggling that I can nearly fit the entire duvet into the cover no problem. The problem lies rather with trying to make the duvet lie nice without giant bumps and bunches of fabric, making the whole bed look like a disaster.

A plethora of people and online websites claim that duvets are much easier to clean and to take care of than a tradition quilt or comforter, but have these people had the experience of wrestling with a full size duvet cover that just does not seem to fit whichever way you turn it? You know that you cannot believe everything you find off the internet to be true, and I do not believe that duvet reviews are made by real people, rather by the companies themselves, because they have not gotten enough sales. I find comforters to be far easier to manage, clean, as well as have a better name. Why would you want to go to sleep in your nice warm bed and be “Duveted” when you could be comforted by your comforter? All joking aside the duvet originated in Europe, and they are still very popular over here. If I ever get the chance to live over in Ireland for an extended period of time I just might be able to get used to the idea of having a duvet, although I do find comforters far superior. If having a duvet gets me back however, I would go out and purchase one this instant.