solascriptura Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 As the temps goes down, I'm beginning to think I want a new blanket for my king bed. I'm sick of struggling with the duvet covers and comforters. It always shifts and it's a little too hot when used together. We usually will just use the inside comforter, but it's starting to yellow. We keep our house pretty cool so I need something warm, but washable. Anyone have any luck with this? I would prefer cotton and soft. I can't stand scratchy bedding. TIA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3 ladybugs Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 Make one. You can get it quilted for you and you would have a nice family heirloom! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solascriptura Posted November 8, 2017 Author Share Posted November 8, 2017 Make one. You can get it quilted for you and you would have a nice family heirloom! I have absolutely no idea how I would go about doing that. What does that mean? I have a general idea, but who would quilt it for me? That sounds very expensive. I'm not being obtuse on purpose, but in no way am I crafty enough to know how to do any of this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaraby Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 Quilts are not cheap. Fabric is expensive. Quilting a king size one on a home machine is not for the faint of heart and long arm quilters can add quite a bit more to the cost of the finished piece. I know of what I speak - the blocks for my king size bed are sitting in a tote in my sewing room awaiting the extra funds to buy the solid fabric needed to set the blocks on point. I have lost count of how much money I have spent on the fabric for the blocks, and enough fabric for both the front and the backing will run me around $100. Plus, there’s the batting, but I know a long armer who will quilt it for free cuz she's my mom and she loves me. Buy a quilt from Target. Bedding is on sale right now and they have nice ones that are very similar weight wise to the standard quilt batting from Warm & Natural. Plus, it’s way cheaper and faster. I started mine a couple of years ago. ;) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3 ladybugs Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 I have absolutely no idea how I would go about doing that. What does that mean? I have a general idea, but who would quilt it for me? That sounds very expensive. I'm not being obtuse on purpose, but in no way am I crafty enough to know how to do any of this. You can make a simple quilt out of any number of blocks. Craftsy has kits that are fairly cheap but even if you don't feel that creative (or don't want to spend money on things like rotary cutters and mats) you can make a quilt out of "layer cakes" (10 inch square blocks), "Charm packs" (5 inch squares), or "Jelly rolls" (2.5 inches wide by width of fabric... generally 40-44 inches long). You can buy batting relatively inexpensively and if you wanted you could send it out to be quilted (Missouri Star Quilt company charges per inch, or there are others out there) or you can hand tie it. Hand tying it is when you take a few strands of embroidery floss, and every 5-6 inches tie the quilt through all the layers. This way you see little cut tales on the top side of your quilt. Now all of this is assuming you have access to a sewing machine. I would guess for a quilt 120 inches by 120 inches you would pay $200 ish if you didn't get anything on sale. Not including thread, sewing machine or things like sewing pins. I just looked on Craftsy and you could get 144 10 inch squares (sew together simply), batting, backing and binding for around $130 ish. Seems cheap to me. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 I'm a quilter but I think you should buy a quilt. You just want to be warm, not create your own warmth. An inexpensive way to add warmth is to buy a large piece of polar fleece from Joann's, on sale, of course, and sandwich it between your top sheet and quilt/comforter. It will add a lot of warmth and can often be had for less than $20. No need to hem the raw edges, as they roll a bit do not unravel. And it's soft. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bambam Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 I'll second the polar fleece. It is warm and lightweight and super easy to wash. If you buy fabric - probably 2.5 yards should be enough. If you have a King size bed, you may want to get two large pieces and sew them together. We have several pieces of fleece that we use for extra blankets. I also bought a couple of the fleece throws (the big ones) from LL Bean - that fleece is much superior to the fleece from the fabric stores - both in softness and in warmth. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solascriptura Posted November 8, 2017 Author Share Posted November 8, 2017 You can make a simple quilt out of any number of blocks. Craftsy has kits that are fairly cheap but even if you don't feel that creative (or don't want to spend money on things like rotary cutters and mats) you can make a quilt out of "layer cakes" (10 inch square blocks), "Charm packs" (5 inch squares), or "Jelly rolls" (2.5 inches wide by width of fabric... generally 40-44 inches long). You can buy batting relatively inexpensively and if you wanted you could send it out to be quilted (Missouri Star Quilt company charges per inch, or there are others out there) or you can hand tie it. Hand tying it is when you take a few strands of embroidery floss, and every 5-6 inches tie the quilt through all the layers. This way you see little cut tales on the top side of your quilt. Now all of this is assuming you have access to a sewing machine. I would guess for a quilt 120 inches by 120 inches you would pay $200 ish if you didn't get anything on sale. Not including thread, sewing machine or things like sewing pins. I just looked on Craftsy and you could get 144 10 inch squares (sew together simply), batting, backing and binding for around $130 ish. Seems cheap to me. :) Wow! Everything you just wrote has just confused me. It’s like you’re speaking a foreign language! I have no idea what batting, backing, or binding is. Clearly, quilting is not for me. Thank you for the advice though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 Get any lightweight bedcover that you think is pretty, but invest in a heated mattress pad. It's the best. It doesn't slip. Nobody can steal the warmth and take it to their side. You can get dual zones so your side of the bed is just right. I love mine. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 Fleece is polyester, not cotton, but it IS soft and warm and washes/dries easily and quickly. I got tired of the hassle of comforters and now use a fleece blanket as our spread, with a contrasting blanket folded at the foot so if we need more warmth during the night. It looks fine, feels great and wasn't very expensive. So I'd say get a fleece blanket for warmth and softness (if you don't really need cotton due to allergies). I think I got ours at either Target or Bed Bath and Beyond. Each of those probably has washable quilts, too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuvToRead Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 (edited) Quilts are not cheap. Fabric is expensive. Quilting a king size one on a home machine is not for the faint of heart and long arm quilters can add quite a bit more to the cost of the finished piece. I know of what I speak - the blocks for my king size bed are sitting in a tote in my sewing room awaiting the extra funds to buy the solid fabric needed to set the blocks on point. I have lost count of how much money I have spent on the fabric for the blocks, and enough fabric for both the front and the backing will run me around $100. Plus, there’s the batting, but I know a long armer who will quilt it for free cuz she's my mom and she loves me. Buy a quilt from Target. Bedding is on sale right now and they have nice ones that are very similar weight wise to the standard quilt batting from Warm & Natural. Plus, it’s way cheaper and faster. I started mine a couple of years ago. ;) I recently spent almost $200 on fabric for my DD15 to make a lap quilt. I did buy extra fabric, and we purchased it from a locally owned store, so I could have spent less. I didn't even buy batting, she just tied the layers together. It turned out really cute, but it was an expensive 4-H project! Edited November 8, 2017 by LuvToRead 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 You can get duvets in lots of different weights and using artificial down so they're machine washable. Why not just invest in a lighter weight one? And I don't understand the shifting. Your duvet doesn't have ties inside the cover? Ours has 7, 3 for each side (corner, middle, corner), and one less on the open side. There is no major shifting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 It sounds like you would like a rag quilt made with fleece and flannel. You could probably go to Etsy and get one made for you. There's a FB group for rag quilting, and you could probably get someone to make one for you.Minky rag quilt | Etsy Oh dear, they're $300-400 for king size on Etsy. Well seriously, we're talking SQUARES here. If you have a friend who remotely likes sewing, they'd probably do it for you if you supplied the fabric. You cut the squares, layer them, sew, and snip. Minky is an extra smooth polyester fleece. Joanns sells it and you could get it with a 40% coupon. The fun thing about rag quilts is the color from the back becomes the lines on the front. Gives you lots of expression (white furry look, hot pink, whatever) without being really complex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAJinBE Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 I feel the same frustration. We have a queen size duvet from Ikea and a cotton duvet cover for it that I wash, but it is a pain to get the duvet back in evenly. My cover doesn't have any ties but I've tried safety pins. I feel like the duvet on it's own is lighter and more breathable. I use it without the cover occasionally when the cover is still being washed and it feels a lot better on its own. But it is just white and I have a dog that comes up on the bed sometimes, hence the need for a cover. I can't see cramming the whole duvet into the washing machine very often. I've been considering doing what my Norwegian friend does. She has two twin size duvets with covers side-by-side on her bed. She and her husband never have to fight over the blankets. And they are easier to wash since they are smaller. With my hot flashes at night now all these little things seem more important than they used to seem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 It sounds like you would like a rag quilt made with fleece and flannel. You could probably go to Etsy and get one made for you. There's a FB group for rag quilting, and you could probably get someone to make one for you.Minky rag quilt | Etsy Oh dear, they're $300-400 for king size on Etsy. Well seriously, we're talking SQUARES here. If you have a friend who remotely likes sewing, they'd probably do it for you if you supplied the fabric. You cut the squares, layer them, sew, and snip. Minky is an extra smooth polyester fleece. Joanns sells it and you could get it with a 40% coupon. The fun thing about rag quilts is the color from the back becomes the lines on the front. Gives you lots of expression (white furry look, hot pink, whatever) without being really complex. I charge more to make a quilt that has minky fabric. It's a pain in the butt to work with compared to quality cotton. Thankfully most people only want it in a baby quilt so it's a quick pain in the butt. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 Yeah, the joanns mink especially is a pain. Quilt shop minky is better but more $$. I did minky on some unwashed quilts with bamboo batting that I really liked, but they weren't ragged, just regular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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