Just What is a Duvet Cover?

Just What is a Duvet Cover?

Like many American men I must confess that the first time I heard someone refer to a Duvet or Duvet Cover, I had no idea what they could be referring to. In fact I think it’s probably been less than two years ago that I first heard of a Duvet and I’m in my thirties. So, I suspect that I’m not the only person that hadn’t heard of a duvet or a duvet cover or would even have an idea of where one might be found. For those of you that don’t know, it’s related to bedding. Coming from a tradition where we had sheets, blankets, quilts, covers and spreads I really was somewhat surprised when I started reading about the idea of a duvet or duvet cover.

So, the word duvet comes to us from French. The word originally means down and so it refers to a down filled cover for a bed. This type of bed covering originated in continental Europe and observers from other places found it quite an unusual practice. One writer even commented that they sleep upon one mattress filled with down and cover themselves with a second down mattress. This was essentially the duvet and it was used in place of separate sheets and quilts or blankets. So you may see that the duvet has some advantages, if nothing else it makes the task of making a bed extremely easy and straightforward. There is only one covering to be placed over the bed.

Duvet Covers are simply designed to be decorative or protective coverings for the duvet. They come in many sizes as the duvets do. Some duvet covers come with the idea of preventing dust mites or other allergens from entering into the down filling. They also may come in silk and other materials to match different peoples tastes or fabric preferences. They even come in different colors and designs to help people match the decor of their bedrooms or even to change out their decor with a fresh duvet cover without having to change out the duvet.

In many places in Europe it’s even common for two, single size duvets to be placed on a queen or larger size bed. The advantage to this can be that for couples they can have individualized thicknesses of the duvet and it also solves the perennial problem of one person stealing the covers. Did I say different thicknesses? Yes, duvets and duvet covers can have different tog ratings to refer to different heat retention capabilities. Higher tog ratings translate into a warmer cover. These days the filling of a duvet doesn’t have to be down, but can be most any other fiber that is used for quilting material from man made to natural materials the variety is really up to the preference of the buyer. Some will want to avoid down for allergy reasons for instance.

So now you can no longer claim that you don’t know what a duvet is. This type of bedding that was once uniquely European has now made it literally around the world and it will go by different names. In some places it’s known as a duvet, others as a dyne or doona. It has been called a continental quilt and in Pakistan it is even known as a Ralli Quilt. Whatever the name, for many it spells warmth and comfort!