I bought the thickest down comforter on ebay. It weighs 20 pounds dry and it is only a queen size. Too hot for indoor use. My wife and I put it on top of our memory foam mattress pad and then put a cotton mattress pad/cover it. Very useful for getting away from memory foam, but you need fitted sheets that have a lot of room and a stretchy elastic that goes all around the sheet to get it on.

MamaP

I think you now after first wash at laundrymat can wash it at home with good results. As we dont have laundrymats I always have washed everything at home even when I did not have my huge amerikan bosch washer, it got cramed in the machine, miele, came out clean but fluff or doghair did not xome off, dryer took care of that.

I got both down and synthetic comforters, Ikea king size, my down I wash in my big machine but after it is done most of the time its not spun dry so in the miele it goes for extra rinse and spin, it shrinks so much wet it can easyly be washed in a eu washer.

Linus, next time it needs washed I'll try it again at home. I think its the cotton wicking cover, its so water resistant, but I will try again.

I washed my down comforter queen sized rather heavy warmth in my Duet a few weeks ago, it filled the machine so I did a drain/spin extra rinse to extract the air. It worked...during the main wash it compressed down to the bottom of the tub. I was worried about the weight as wet down is HEAVY, but it washed beautifully and it never missed a beat during spin. I won't make a habit of this though, I just think its too heavy for a Duet.

So far I haven't found anything my Duet couldn't handle and give me excellent results as I expect...my favorate washer ever. Epic!!!

These comforters are made to be washed at 140F and dried on hot. Only catch is minimum order of 4 for the blanket weight, and 2 for the regular weight. I suppose one could sell extras on ebay.

http://www.ahscompany.com/Pacific-Coast-Duralux-Blanket-Full-80x96-White-4-Per-Case-Price-Per-Each_p_5532.html

http://www.ahscompany.com/Pacific-Coast-Duralux-Comforter-Full-86x98-2-Per-Case-Price-Per-Each_p_5541.html

Very kind of your cousin Mamapinky0! I have to agree though, I don't care for down alternative (man made fiber fill) comforters/duvets. Although many claim they breath, they don't. My husband bought us a nice down alternative duvet from The Bay one year. It was quite expensive too. I also ended up giving it to my daughter and replacing it with a good down one. being in Canada, I need something warm. Much better. If one can't use down, I'd recommend anything natural over poly fiber fill. Like you mentioned, wool would be lovely, or even just cotton or maybe a cotton blend for ease of care.

Kathy LOL. Did you read my above post about poly fill? I gave it to my grand who is always cold, it holds the body heat in. I mostly use down filled, I have winter and summer weights and prefer them. I do have an older down alternative that says made with 100% cotton fill and 100% cotton cover which I enjoy. Generally I only use 100% cotton matter of fact I go to great lengths to have the finest 100% long staple cotton percale sheets from days gone by. I'm really cray-cray when it comes to beds being two things...quality cotton and brilliantly white. I've succeeded in this but it sure did cost me many hours of labor.

I have this temperature regulating synthetic comforter from Cuddledown and love it. I use it for travel because it's so thin and lightweight and it's never too hot for me. https://www.cuddledown.com/itemdy00.aspx?ID=70,3276&T1=Z1487+100+10+01

I had the same one. Or maybe it's been updated, as there was no mention of ClimaBalance technology when I bought it. Anyway, I loved it, but my wife couldn't stand the noise from the shell.

As I said, we use our heavy down comforter as a mattress pad. In the winter we use a thick Pendleton wool blanket that we got one time when we visited the Pendleton woolen mill. It is heavy but very comfortable in winter. In the summer we just use a bedspread that is thinly quilted. Is that a duvet?

A duvet is a down filled covering, a comforter. Many people will refer to all filled comforters as being a duvet. A duvet cover is a large covering the duvet goes into to protect it from soils, it looks like a large pillowcase.

Nerdy, one of my favorites is a wool blanket put into a cotton duvet cover, heavenly. I'm very much a duvet cover person. Any covering against the body needs washed weekly, this way only the duvet cover needs washed. Besides who wants to wash comforters weekly lol.

+1 for wool blanket in a cotton duvet cover! and linen sheets = heaven!!! just changed from a down to wool comforter and am very happy so far. little bit heavier which feels good this winter and with a flu the last few days with chills and fevers- no clamminess either. with down, i would be throwing it off or sticking my legs out.

also a silk comforter might be another alternative. i considered silk but couldn't find any that was machine washable. there are wool comforters that are washable and others that are dry clean only.