I've been looking around at duvet inserts myself since I just made a cover and was planning to use a comforter I love to put inside but wanted to see what was out there. You have a choice of 'down alternative' (polyester fill), a mix of poly and down, or down, I think that would be the order of weight as well, with the poly the lightest.

Washing any of them seems the big drawback, almost impossible at home and pricey at the cleaners since you need the industrial sized washer and dryer. Even then it seems likely to get filling that lumps up, though I've read clean tennis balls or white sneakers in the dryer help to keep it fluffed up while drying. Good luck on your search!

Yes you will need to go to the laundramat. .but if you use and I highly recommend a duvet cover, besides you can change color and patterns..you than only need to wash the down or other filled duvet every 3--4 months. Its actuslly quite easy..throw it in the 50 pound machine, add detergent of your choice but no enzymes and no fabric softener no chlorine bleach .dry in dryer with new tennis balls or clean white tennis shoes. Drying is critical if its not completely dry it will mold...I have never had this happen. I try do do mine on a nice sunny day in the morning and after its dry I hang it on the line in the sun, but you don't have to line it.

I would look for a thick or winter weight down comforter if you want big and fluffy. A good down duvet will last several lifetimes. Good luck

I am a little confused and maybe now is the time to ask.....I was told a duvet is a cover that is washable and used with a fluffy something inside...is this right? You take the "something out" and wash the duvet cover and when dry reinsert the "something". Do they make "something" you can buy to put in a duvet? At one time I asked if I could get a king size duvet and use it over my king size quilted bedspread and was told that I could not. So didn't pursue a duvet (I had thought to use it to change the colors in my room) and just continued to use my bedspread. Could someone explain this to me...please? Actually, I have never seen anyone use a duvet, just a comforter OR are they one and the same?

I like down alternative and using a cover, the insert itself should not need frequent washes. I've mentioned before that we don't use our top coverings to actually cover up with. We are sheet and blanket/quilt kind of people. The top cover is pulled back at night. Of course, you may want to cover up with yours. I'll give you a little tip from a blog I read about a nice fluffy "looking" duvet or comforter (Shee will probably recognize this blogger!). If you are folding the duvet/comforter back, simply add a couple of pillows (side by side) between the folds. Voila! Looks nice and fluffy.

Knowing you are in the same general part of the country as I am, I thought I ought to caution that you could get one so fluffy you never use it. When we decided to get a new comforter, we checked both the old ones we'd had and ones my parents had as well as a chart for determining warmth level based on night room temps. We had tropical or super light and the chart said anywhere from super light to medium. If you get one that is too fluffy and too heavy, it may be too warm for you to actually use. We bought the lightest weight and in this past mild weather we hardly used it. We could use it alone or the cover alone, but both together were too warm.

I would think that large baffles -- a big, open quilting pattern and a high fill power but light weight fill might be ideal. The Company Store also has a guide for selecting comforters and I wouldn't hesitate to call them and get their suggestions.

Erinsean, the word duvet in French means Down as in Down filled, although comforters with any type of filling is often referred to as a duvet. So you have your duvet (comforter) and your duvet cover which is used to keep your duvet clean and acts as your top sheet. The duvet cover should be washed weekly along with the bottom sheet and pillowcases. IMO there is nothing like snuggling down into a big fluffy duvet in the middle of a cold climate winter.

DH and I bought a king size mid weight down comforter from Bed Bath and Beyond several years ago which closed box stitching, and I was able to wash it in my washing machine.

I used a duvet cover, and as others mentioned usually just washed the cover. It was so fluffy people would jump on it as in grown ups because it looked just like the OPs pic. After you make your bed you need to shake the comforter to help it fluff.

Good luck.

One time, while at BBB, I asked sales clerk to show me fluffy duvet inserts, as I pointed at one of their pretty displays. She chuckled and told me they stuffed TWO inserts for that look. I thought about it and gave up the fluffy look as I didn't want to wrangle w/double inserts. In Houston I can comfortably get by w/a slender look.

Thank you mamapinkyO.

Don't forget that if you sleep under the comforter that adding a duvet cover will also increase the heat retention of the comforter. In the winter I use alternative down on all of my beds and I sew my own covers from king size sheets. But I've learned to look for lighter weight sheets so that we don't roast underneath all of that insulation.

I launder my queen comforters in my front loaders but I do take my oversize king to the laundromat.

I LOVE sleeping under my down comforter even in summer. It is not so fluffy and not so king size anymore, but I love it, and so does the puppy. I put it in another room during the day so the puppy doesn't chew on the cover. I leave an old empty duvet cover on the bed in case the puppy needs to do some nervous chewing (she has toys, but sometimes she can't help herself).

I would suggest closing the door of your bedroom so that the cats can't get in there, or storing your duvet in another room or the closet during the day.

My duvet is not for decor. It's for sleeping comfort. Sometimes I can't sleep well without it - there is nothing like sleeping under a fluffy cloud that conforms to your body (kind of like memory foam, but better/softer). I might try the trick of stuffing a second one inside the duvet cover if I feel like I need it for decor.

BTW, they sell little clips you can use to secure your comforter to the inside corners of the duvet cover.

Boossyvossy, I've heard of other displays using two comforters inside a cover to make them look nice and plump.

Erinseean, I use comforter and cover because duvet seems to be used by some to refer to one, the other or both together. When I'm not sure which someone is referring to, I try to take cues from the context. If being certain matters, ask.

A duvet cover MUST be washable as it's a pain to wash/dry clean a down comforter which goes inside the cover. It's pretty easy to make a cover with two large sheets - just a bit unwieldy but doable.

As for "big and fluffy". Do you sleep in a barn in the winter? No heat? These things are WARM! Many years ago, a friend in Maine decided to splurge on a custom made down comforter from Cuddledown of Maine. They had a LOT of down put in and even with no heat upstairs at night, they could not sleep under that thing - had to return it to have a ton of the down removed.

I live in KY. I'm a widow and sleep alone except for a small dog that sleeps between the down pillows. In the daytime, my zoned upstairs HVAC is set at 65; I turn it off when I come up at night and open one window about 6". What do I sleep under? I have a thin down BLANKET (bought it at Target). Over that is a thin quilt. If it's really cold, I add a mohair throw just over the trunk of my body and my shoulders. In the morning, it is usually 56 to 58 degrees in my bedroom and I've been toasty warm. When it gets below zero outside, I get out my old fluffy down comforter with a nice duvet cover on it (sheeting weight) and use it as well. That's about 2 nights each winter.

Down is one of the best insulators on earth The heat generated by your own body is kept under the covers and keeps you warm. With two people in the bed, there is a LOT of heat being generated. Think long and hard about "big and fluffy".

Thanks to all for the comments and links. I'm going to keep mulling this over and seeing what all is out there. I'm in no rush to buy a duvet but may add one before winter rolls around this year. One of my greatest pleasures is sinking into a beautiful, comfy bed and I do think I'd like the sort of duvet I have in mind.

Hey, don't get me wrong. I love down just like you know I love linen. You just don't need a thick pile of it to be snug in Texas. A lightweight duvet.comforter or even a down blanket is enough 95% of the time, unless you turn off the heat at night.

I am in Sunny SoCal and love my duvet. If it is hot (no A/C here at the coast) I open windows and run the fan, but the duvet stays on the bed even if I am on top of it. Since this room also has no heat, gotta love an old house, I am looking at a heavy weight one from Ikea most likely. I have a nice feather bed too. Even over my brand new mattress. :)

my grandmother used to make her own duvets using the down from the geese she raised. I still have them (too thread bare to use) but I loved sleeping between them in the drafty unheated attic rooms in Denmark. You could keep them "closed" shiver down the narrow stairs to the bathroom downstairs and out back and make it back and the bed would still be toasty

Question for those who sew covers from sheets: I did this a few years back, and hated the look. It looked unfinished, like I had slung a sheet over my bed. A regular comforter is going to have some sort of stitching to form baffles, or at least add interest.

I have a light weight duvet from IKEA, and fabric to make a cover (a decorating project that has yet to start). The fabric is patterned, but since it will take three widths, I thought of maybe sewing narrow strips of a solid over the seams, just to make it look like I didn't just sling a piece of fabric over the bed.

:?

I made a duvet cover from sheets years ago and once the filling was in place, I sewed the baffles.

I have a big fluffy down comforter folded at end of bed, no duvet cover because I use a top sheet and also have a thin down alternative blanket over that. It is mainly there for looks but it does get pulled up over us a few nights in the winter. I love the look.

aok, while a comforter is quilted/baffles, a duvet cover is not. At least I don't recall ever seeing a quilted duvet cover. I do wonder, if you would sew it just a bit smaller than the insert though, just like using a smaller pillow cover than the insert???

What part of the bed do you like? The comforter looks to be hanging over the foot board of the bed, which makes the center of the bed one you can sink in, but you really don't.

@tinam61 ... I guess I could sew it smaller, but I'm not sure what that would accomplish? Maybe make it smoother/tighter? I didn't care for the look of just spreading a sheet on the bed. I don't do the separate folded piece at the foot. I want to pull the duvet/comforter/spread up and be done.

@IdaClaire ... sorry for the hijack. :/

I've use duvet covers smaller than the comforter, it makes it bunch up more along the sides and the rest looks more flat, it doesn't look uniform.

I do want to say, if its the sinking down into fluff your looking for, a down comforter goes over you and surrounds you in fluff...but there are Down or Feather matteress pads that you put over the matteress to lay on, they come in different thicknesses..those you do sink down into fluff LOL.

One thing I would look at with the duvet is the measurements. Most of the ones that I have seen are not made to drape over the sides of the beds all that much. Just something to think about when considering it.

I have a duvet on my bed year round. I think that we picked it up at J.C. Penney. It has large baffle boxes and is probably a medium weight. I can cram the whole thing into my front loader washing machine if needed and then I hang it over the half wall of my stairway to dry. I try to hang it up around bedtime because wet down does reek. If the weather is right, once in I while I will just hang it outside in the sun to freshen up instead of going into the wash.

We have a linen cover from Restoration Hardware that we use on it. My house is not air conditioned and I use it most nights (although it is definitely less humid here than where you are). Personally, I do not like the way the synthetic stuff shifts or feels (which makes finding a pillow I like difficult, too) so definitely spend some time feeling the different inserts.

The best sleep I ever had was at my son's house a few years ago. It was winter and he turned the heat down, which I prefer anyway. The mattress had the thickest pillow top I've ever seen, along with a heavy but not thick comforter, thermal blanket, and top sheet.

I don't think I moved all night! But it was the combination of the bedding along with the super thick and soft pillow top mattress that made it feel like heaven, and made me feel like I was "sinking" in it. Didn't affect my sometimes sore back either.

Read the labels carefully. Dry cleaning was recommended on the last cover that I read, which I think is crazy for bedding.

I dislike that most duvets barely fall over the corners of the bed. I have a King-sized duvet/cover for my queen size bed, and it fits perfectly.