Replies

1. 
   Ray | Sep 20, 2006 06:10am | #1

   The hotels in Northern Finland use a duvet on them.  It appears to be like a sheet.  I'm not a fabrics person, just spent some time there on business one winter.  It was kind of strange, duvet on the featherbed & a duvet on the down quilt - - no sheets on the bed. :-)

1. 
   hlechat | Sep 26, 2006 03:45am | #2

   Ray,

    

   Thanks for the anwer!

    

   Fun to find out that bedding can be so different in different parts of the world, eh?

    

   :-)

    

    

2. 
   MikeK | Sep 30, 2006 07:14am | #3

   My wife and I used to have a featherbed. Hated it. Every once in awhile I would jet poked by a feather. We got rid of it. We now have a memory foam mattress topper over a standard mattress. The memory foam is the most comfortable thing to sleep on. You can get a 5" thick high density topper for a few hundred $.

3. 
   DebSilber | Oct 20, 2006 07:51pm | #4

   Hi Megan,

   I wrote the article for Inspired House (Issue #12, Sept-Oct 2005) that focused on choosing a comforter--and much of the same advice applies to featherbeds. I can't relay it all here, but if you can find that issue it would be of help to you.

   One of the things to remember--as Mike pointed out--is that the ticking (fabric casing) of a true featherbed (that is, one that contains real feathers or down) must be woven tightly enough so that it is "downproof." That's important to make sure that dust mites don't get inside and feathers don't poke out. So look for a thread count of at least 220.

   Using a cover is also a good idea. The ideal thing to do is treat the cover as you would a sheet, so it keeps the featherbed itself clean. It's similar to the way comforters are used in Europe...with a cover, but not a sheet. It's so much easier to make the bed!!!

   Hope this helps --

   Deb