As boisterous children, my cousins and I would run into our grandparents’ bedroom when we visited, chest diving onto their rolled up piezyna (Polish for duvet).

As Europeans, my grandparents had separate duvets, wrapped in white covers and full of feathers rolled at the end of their bed. The duvets seemed to reach the sky, and we were jumping into the fluffy clouds.

These were not the duvets that we have now. My grandparents made their own duvets in one large case, filled with feathers. Back then feathers were hard to come by, and I do not know where they got them from.

Contemporary duvets can be made of chicken, duck or goose feathers, or wool, or microfibre and polyester, usually sewn into channels or squares, keeping the air pockets warm.

In bedding and manchester stores, special merchandising duvets are made, extra full, to create the look of full and luxurious fluffy duvets. When I am styling homes, or in my store, I use two duvets in the one cover to create a full look. Often, I will put a super-king duvet inside a king-sized cover, or a king duvet inside a queen cover. This makes the bedding look fuller and more inviting.

I like to use a larger duvet wherever possible, co-ordinating my duvet linen with display pillows (known as shams).

Changing a duvet cover can be quite a challenge. From years of practice, my approach is to take hold of a corner of the cover in each hand, then I roll the cover back over my arms so that the cover is inside out. I then take hold of the duvet insert and I reverse the duvet cover back over the duvet, fastening the buttons once the insert is in position. Some covers have special ties sewn into them to attach the corners of the insert to the inside of the cover.

I recently purchased a new super-king duvet cover, which generously hangs either side of the bed. The cover design lines up with the edges of the king-sized mattress. Now I can tell when my duvet has been rolled and pulled off me during the night: I see where the lines of the design have been re-located to when I wake up each morning with a cold bottom!

Published in the April 2021 Issue of The Trentham Trumpet