The suppressed duvet

[bluescreen]

My continental rellies use a tucked-in sheet under the duvet, and the duvet cover has a sort of tongue that tucks in under the mattress. To keep it in its place. All of which, to my mind, negates some of the advantages of the duvet, not least its lightness and kick-off-ability.
And then when it comes to laundry the top and bottom sheet get done weekly but the duvet cover only so often. Is this a reasonable way of living, I ask you.

Perhaps I need to draw a diagram.

This would not suit me at all.

I like to toss and turn from side to side and hug the side flap of the duvet, also fan the duvet off and on myself if too warm or cold. By morning my bedding is well scrunched.

I’d feel suffocated in that scenario, I can’t sleep unless I have one leg out of the covers, and upon waking my bed looks like I’ve been thrashing about all night lol

It does not suit me at all, FrogFairy. It is like sleeping under blankets, except just one lighter weight blanket. I loathe being tucked in, even at the bottom of the bed.

Queen Yes. Even if I don't have one leg out of the covers, I want to feel able to. At least the sides in this scenario are untuckable (they are indeed sometimes tucked in).

Yeah that wouldn't work for me either. I'm not great at sharing duvets and I tend to get warmer than my husband so we have a thick blanket and a duvet on the bed. The duvet needs to be untucked so I can steal it if I get too cold with just the blanket

If I go on holiday, before getting into bed I always untuck the duvet, otherwise it just feels so restrictive

No no no I like my tootsies to stick out.

Pretty much the way that every bed is made in Australia and so I found bed making in the UK confusing originally. I still make a bed with a fitted bottom sheet, flat top sheet (which is tucked in on three sides) then doona (or duvet) with a nice doona cover. The sheets are changed weekly and the doona cover is washed regularly. In winter a blanket is added between the fitted and flat sheet.

IvyFluids That is fascinating. I had no idea. The first time I came across duvets was, erm, a very long time ago on the Continong, as it was then called, and they were fabulous, liberating, a toe-tally freeing experience. That's what was so liberating about duvets: they were very light, you could kick them away, they were wonderfully warm.

But that was in Austria. What once held good for Austria doesn't now hold good for the entire Continong (or at least certain Francophone parts thereof).

When I went on a French exchange trip, I was put in a spare room with what looked like a giant understuffed cushion with a satin cover.

It was an eiderdown duvet.

Honestly, it was huge.

I only use duvets at home, and, yes, I love their 'kickability'. But on the odd occasion I've had to sleep under traditional sheets and blankets and coverlets...my god, I've slept like a baby. There's just something about their weight and cosiness that sends you to the land of nod like nothing else.

Witchcraft!
I believe I may breathe through gills in my feet as if I don't have at least one out of the bed, I truly feel suffocated. Youngest DC is the same weirdo I'm oddly proud.

FeralBeryl It's possible we may belong to the same tribe.

They do this in New Zealand too!! They think you are scabby if you don't give them a top sheet because they hardly ever wash their duvet covers. Duvet covers here are ruinously expensive fancy things rather than the "chuck in the wash" type you'd get in any Ikea/Sainsbury/Tesco in the UK.

I have a duvet cover with a tongue, I got it in a discount shop for a fancy bed linen company that was continental I think. It was lovely quality cotton, only seen it in that shop though.

I'm in Australia and none of my friends use top sheets - maybe before but not now. When we had to buy them in sheet sets we used to use the fitted sheet till it wore out, then use the top sheet as a flat bottom sheet. They sell them all separately now so no problem. I only have fitted sheets and duvet covers.

Best nights sleep I ever had was in a hotel in Prague. A king size bed with two double duvets on it. That way DH and I could sausage roll or kick the covers off without annoying the other.

I hate tucked in bedding and in hotels always pull it out. I get hot feet.

Also in Australia and don't use a top sheet, nor do most people whose houses I've stayed in. The warmer sleepers in my family do like a top sheet in summer tho so they can kick off the doona and just have a sheet. I just like to stick my leg out.

Even with a top sheet I treat the doona covers like sheets and wash them every time sheets are washed tho. There's nothing particularly special about them - that must be just in NZ?

And no one adds a blanket between the fitted and flat sheet. That's just a weird thing, not an Australian thing.

Not continental. That sounds like France. In Germany, for example, they tend to have massive beds, separate mattresses and separate duvets. No sheets/blankets.

In Australia- always use a top sheet- and always end up with one from Adair’s or bed bath and table. I quite like them now. Took a while to get used to it, but all my sheet sets have it included so embraced it.

Im not sure its a conternetal thing both sets of my grand parents used to make beds like this. Complete with candlewick counterpains on top so fitted sheet below (often flannelette, definately flannelette in the winter) top sheet (yes tucked in) duvet in duvet cover, counterpain. First thing id do is "untuck" the top sheet by pulling at it and rolling around so i could work my feet out.

I'll try and get a picture. But it was definately how beds used to be made even in the uk

I’m in Australia and I do use a top sheet under my doona cover. I’d feel very odd without it - just so used to it, I suppose. In summer, just the top sheet.

These two pictures are exactly how my grandmothers made beds, the top sheet would be folded over the top of the duvet then the counterpane pulled over right to the pillows like the pink one or the top sheet folded over the duvet and the counterpane just underneth the fold more like the white one

Do people actually sleep with it all tucked in? I had no idea.

I always wondered about what the point of tucking it all in in hotel beds was because you then have to undo it all to get in the bed and sleep in it. I just thought it was someone's misguided idea of what looked nice, a bit like that scrap of fabric across the bottom of bed and the ridiculous number of decorative cushions that most hotel beds have.

Maybe that's why some people go on about how they like hotels and maid service, which I see as unnecessary and quite intrusive, because they remake and totally tuck the bed in every day, whereas I just give the duvet a rudimetary shake and make sure it is approximately aligned with the bed.