Vent: bedding - what's what

[DVCLiz]

Me too. I've never made a bed without a top sheet regardless of whether I'm using a comforter, quilt, duvet, or bedspread. I am just learning tonight how wrong I've been doing it all these many years.

Sometimes I inadvertently wad the top sheet up down by my feet but it always has that "too lazy to go get the sheets out of the dryer and make the bed" feeling to me. I never sleep very well unless I am under a top sheet.

 

[MomofKatie]

I have never heard that these are to be used with a top sheet. Only blankets & quilts are to be used with top sheets.

Per DH, the reason they should be used with a top sheet is because they aren't easily washed/dried- too big and puffy for most non-heavy duty size washing machines. One doesn't want all their body oils and other stuff on something not easily and quickly able to be washed/dried.

Personally, I feel like a lot of other posters- I don't feel "right" without a top sheet, regardless of what I've got over it (comforter, duvet w/duvet cover, quilt, bedspread, coverlet, etc).

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

This is giving me a heat stroke just reading about it...

Most of it comes off for summer. In summer I sleep ON my top sheet, the ripped quilt (which is very thin) gets balled up on the cats side of the bed and I cover up with my thermal blanket since I have to be covered. The rest of it is just folded in the corner.

 

[DVCLiz]

I'm getting ready to go to bed - with:

a mattress pad
a bottom fitted sheet
a top sheet
a matelasse bedspread

If I get hot in the night (a regular occurrence these days!) I'll throw it all on the other side of the bed, or just stick my foot out to cool off, and in the winter when I am colder I use a double size electric blanket to pre-warm the sheets and then turn it off and use it as a regular blanket on top of the top sheet but under the bedspread.

There - now everyone in the world knows how I sleep. Fascinating, isn't it?

 

[Imzadi]

Per DH, the reason they should be used with a top sheet is because they aren't easily washed/dried- too big and puffy for most non-heavy duty size washing machines. One doesn't want all their body oils and other stuff on something not easily and quickly able to be washed/dried.

Personally, I feel like a lot of other posters- I don't feel "right" without a top sheet, regardless of what I've got over it (comforter, duvet w/duvet cover, quilt, bedspread, coverlet, etc).

That's what a comforter/duvet cover is for. It keeps the comforter from all the stuff. You slip it off & wash.

I can't sleep with my feet tucked. And top sheets that aren't tucked at the bottom end up wrapping themselves around & strangling my legs.

 

[Imzadi]

I'm getting ready to go to bed - with:

a mattress pad
a bottom fitted sheet
a top sheet
a matelasse bedspread

If I get hot in the night (a regular occurrence these days!) I'll throw it all on the other side of the bed, or just stick my foot out to cool off, and in the winter when I am colder I use a double size electric blanket to pre-warm the sheets and then turn it off and use it as a regular blanket on top of the top sheet but under the bedspread.

There - now everyone in the world knows how I sleep. Fascinating, isn't it?

Wow, Liz. Of all the things to get TMI on you about.

 

[DVCLiz]

Wow, Liz. Of all the things to get TMI on you about.

Oh, I forgot the most important part - I am a stomach sleeper and I usually have one leg drawn up a little, which makes a nice little nest at about knee height. That is where one of the cats sleeps. The other one sleeps by my side stretched out. If I turn over in the night (also frequent) I usually trap the knee sleeping cat in the bedding and the stretched out cat goes flying. That's just the risk you take when you sleep with me...

 

[Luvchefmic]

Oh, I forgot the most important part - I am a stomach sleeper and I usually have one leg drawn up a little, which makes a nice little nest at about knee height. That is where one of the cats sleeps. The other one sleeps by my side stretched out. If I turn over in the night (also frequent) I usually trap the knee sleeping cat in the bedding and the stretched out cat goes flying. That's just the risk you take when you sleep with me...

oh dear God don't tell us what you Do or Do NOT wear...stop right here & go to bed

 

[Imzadi]

Oh, I forgot the most important part - I am a stomach sleeper and I usually have one leg drawn up a little, which makes a nice little nest at about knee height. That is where one of the cats sleeps. The other one sleeps by my side stretched out. If I turn over in the night (also frequent) I usually trap the knee sleeping cat in the bedding and the stretched out cat goes flying. That's just the risk you take when you sleep with me...

Stop! STOP! STOP! TMI!!!

TMI!!!

 

[emdav]

Okay, the decorative thing that's placed over the 'sleeping' linens in the morning so the room looks nice, that's tailored, made out of several pieces of fabric, draping down the sides of the bed, and encasing the pillows as well? That's a bedspread.

A comforter is a blanket with filling - generally either down or some type of poly fiber. It's used with or in place of blankets, for warmth. It's like a quilt, to a degree - not as detailed, but usually thicker.

A duvet is simply the 'pillowcase' or 'slipcover' for a (usually down, because the cover fabric is white or off-white) comforter.

Bedspreads are usually removed from the bed before retiring. Designers, manufacturers, and retailers don't expect consumers to sleep under them. Duvets provide no warmth whatsoever - they're not intended to be slept under 'unstuffed'; that's the purpose of top sheets.

There (yet again ) seems to be some confusion over these terms/items on another thread on the DIS, and I just had to vent somewhere. Now back to your regularly-scheduled Community Board.

Wow! I didn't know people had strong feelings over the names used for bedding. Really??? I have always slept with my bedspread. Guess I'll have to tell my mom she taught me wrong.

 

[Luvchefmic]

Stop! STOP! STOP! TMI!!!

TMI!!!

you owe me a cup of coffee....its all over my desk......

 

[NotUrsula]

Well I have a question for the all knowing bedding people.

What the hell is that piece of fabric that is thrown over the bottom of the bed in a hotel(at least the Marriott chains) that is pretty much useless? I use it as a tablecloth on my lap when I eat but I'm guessing it's for something else.

THAT is a bed scarf, and in a hotel it is strictly there for decor reasons. They are meant to add interest to the look of a white bed. There are some people who maintain that they are useful for protecting the linens from pets that sleep at the foot of the bed, or that they are meant to keep your feet warm, but in most cases they are made from non-washable upholstery fabrics, so if that is part of the purpose it isn't pursued very often.

I grew up in an Irish household transplanted to the US, and the one American housekeeping custom that my mother quickly adopted was the use of a top sheet with all bedding styles. When I travel abroad I take one with me, because most European duvets with a cover on are too thick to tuck under the mattress, but I can't stand the feel of unanchored top covers. On my own bed I use a comforter that we fold back during the night unless it's really cold, with an open-weave cotton thermal blanket between that and the top sheet. I LOVE cotton thermal blankets!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Dear OP,

I have to respectfully disagree on your definition of a duvet.

A duvet is another type of blanket but filled with down or feathers. You use a duvet cover over it for decoration or for easier cleaning since duvets normally have to be dry cleaned. Duvets are very warm but can vary from "summer" or lighter ones to very warm winter ones.

I say sleep under whatever you want to. It's your bed if you make it you have to lie in it!

My primary issue is people confusing bedspreads with comforters. I haven't stayed at a WDW Deluxe resort in years, so don't know what bed covering they provide - but Old Key West, Saratoga Springs, Pop Century, Port Orleans... all have bedspreads over the beds. People on other threads keep calling these comforters and complain about them not being changed between Guests, and how dirty they might be... I don't get it. They're decorative. The intent was never for the Guest to sleep under them, but to remove them at night. Housekeeping (for those who choose to avail themselves of this service) will put them back in the morning.

 

[Luvchefmic]

My primary issue is people confusing bedspreads with comforters. I haven't stayed at a WDW Deluxe resort in years, so don't know what bed covering they provide - but Old Key West, Saratoga Springs, Pop Century, Port Orleans... all have bedspreads over the beds. People on other threads keep calling these comforters and complain about them not being changed between Guests, and how dirty they might be... I don't get it. They're decorative. The intent was never for the Guest to sleep under them, but to remove them at night. Housekeeping (for those who choose to avail themselves of this service) will put them back in the morning.

My issue is Housekeeping confused with Mousekeeping

 

[kaytieeldr]

I refuse to change my terminology based solely on the location of the hotel Mice don't clean my room at Walt Disney World!

 

[Luvchefmic]

I refuse to change my terminology based solely on the location of the hotel Mice don't clean my room at Walt Disney World!

Ahhh that's what you think

(good to see you)

 

[kelly1218]

My cats don't care what you call it.....as long as they can lay on it

 

[NHdisneylover]

In the UK, that's called unnecessary.



This is a duvet or quilt.


This is a duvet cover or quilt cover. This is because it's a cover for the duvet or quilt


Which is why they are unnecessary


Duvets are warm in the UK. In my house, we don't believe in top sheets.

Top sheets? I don't think I could buy one here in Germany if I wanted one You certainly will not find one on the bed at any hotel that is not an American chain or at my house. OP--maybe you could use a more global perscpective on bedding

Thank you, Sandra. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!! THIS is my point!!! People keep talking about the 'disgusting' comforters, and 'don't ever bring a blacklight to a hotel room', and 'there was an episode of 20/20*...' when they MEAN bedspreads. You don't sleep under the bedspread!!!! And the comforter or blanket or quilt (sorry, C.Ann and NHDisneyLover, but rarely found in the hotels I frequent ) is protected from any grubbiness BY the bedspread.

*or some such show

THIS--right here--what I am typing now is my FIRST post on this thread I know i have never complained that housekeeping (or mousekeeping--Disney is not the only place I stay though) does not change the top bedding (by whatever name) daily or even between guests. As long as the part which primarily touches me gets changed I don't think twice about it. I also don't think twice about what to call it OR sleeping under it if I am cold. If they do not want me to sleep under it they had better not put it on the bed.
So anyway, having not posted previously in this thread OR complained about top beding not being changed I fail to understand WHY you are calling me out there?

A man's bedding vent:

Just gimme ONE (1) pillow and ONE (1) blanket----thin one in summer/thicker one in winter.

Don't bother me with bedspreads, duvet covers, shams, dust ruffles, 12 other pillows on the bed, stuffed animals, etc. etc. etc. And why bother making up the bed every day? I just kick all that crap on the floor anyway when I'm ready to go to sleep. And she wonders why I never wanna make the bed.

Thanks...that felt good

Jim

Related vent: And that curtain rod thing that fits within the window frame without any hardware.....why is it called a tension rod when it's really squeezed into compression, not stretched into tension?

My husband has to have 2 pillows--three is better. But he would like them to all be "normal" and in cases (NOT shams)

O.K., I'll bite! From a European point of view and as one who is just as confused about the terminology as everyone else:

A duvet is a big puffy comforter-type thing that is made of down (or down equivalent) and is covered by a duvet cover. For the purist, the duvet cover is washable and looks like a giant pillow case. No top sheet is necessary with a Duvet in a Duvet Cover. In fact a top sheet is discouraged because the warmth of the duvet must settle around you.

A blanket is a blanket.

A comforter is a puffy thing that is washed as one entity. A top sheet and a sometimes a blanket is used with a comforter. My grandmother used to call comforters "eiderdowns." They slipped and slid and are a pain to wash.

A quilt is frequently made by hand and decorative. Top sheets necessary, blankets optional. It may or may not be a coverlet.

A coverlet is another word for bedspread. It may or may not be mattelasse.

A bedspread is a decorative draping (washable) that covers all other linens.

I use a duvet in a washable duvet cover in winter (no top sheet) and a mattelasse bedspread over top sheets in summer!

My mattelasse bedspread is washable and I use it as a light cover as needed.

So confusing?

 

[DVCLiz]

oh dear God don't tell us what you Do or Do NOT wear...stop right here & go to bed

Stop! STOP! STOP! TMI!!!

TMI!!!

Plain white sleeveless cotton nightgown, like your grandma would wear.

 

[goofy4tink]

My primary issue is people confusing bedspreads with comforters. I haven't stayed at a WDW Deluxe resort in years, so don't know what bed covering they provide - but Old Key West, Saratoga Springs, Pop Century, Port Orleans... all have bedspreads over the beds. People on other threads keep calling these comforters and complain about them not being changed between Guests, and how dirty they might be... I don't get it. They're decorative. The intent was never for the Guest to sleep under them, but to remove them at night. Housekeeping (for those who choose to avail themselves of this service) will put them back in the morning.

I routinely sleep under my bedspread...especially in the winter. When at WDW, if the room is chilly (which is how I prefer it), I will keep the bedspread on the bed, with the top sheet over the top of the bedspread. That spread doesn't touch my face!!

BLT has duvets on their beds, with that scarf at the bottom. Very nice indeed. I believe the S/D do as well. I love a good duvet. May be replacing my bedspread with a duvet this fall..but I am not giving up my flannel sheets...top and bottom.

Truly, I doubt Disney or Housekeeping much cares about what we do with their bedspreads.