This is the time of year to cuddle up under a fluffy down bedding comforter--but seeing the right one can be anything but relaxing. Though the basic department-store model may cost or less, there's a lavish assortment at prices as high as ,500. Rest assured, you can buy a luxurious and affordable bedding comforter if you know which ones are worth the price.
What to Look For in a Down Comforter
Down Comforter
Down, the cottony material at the base of goose and duck feathers, is an ideal insulator: Its almost-weightless structure traps body heat, yet it breathes, so you won't feel sweaty or clammy. But just because a bedding comforter's label says down doesn't mean it's 100% pure. Industry guidelines say that a down goods need contain only 70% actual down and soft feather stems. The remaining 30% may be feathers, residue and random fibers. So when shopping, check what percentage of the fill is undoubtedly down. The lower it is, the more prickly and uncomfortable the bedding will feel.
Retailers entice consumers with phrases like "Hungarian goose down" or "European white goose down." A better indicator of down's quality and durability is its "fill power," a part of down's volume. The amount tells you how many cubic inches one ounce of down will fill. The higher the fill power, the fluffier and more efficient the down, meaning that the bedding comforter will keep you warmer with less weight.
Most warm-weather or year-round comforters contain down with 500 to 575 fill power. Medium-warmth ones have 575 to 650, while the warmest and most luxurious contain down with fill power of 650 or more. As you might expect, when the fill power climbs so does the price--a hard-to-find 800-fill-power model will cost at least ,000. Luckily, most of us would find a exterior like this too warm.
Indeed, the feather-lightness of down can lead person accustomed to buying heavy blankets into bedding-comforter overkill. So be realistic about how warm you undoubtedly want to be.
The Outer Shell of a Down Bedding Comforter
Some marketers sell their comforters based on colors or on fancy stitching, but neither should count for much. What's most foremost is that the fabric surrounding the down be leak proof. Check the shell's thread count, which indicates how tightly the fabric is woven. A cotton cover with a thread count of at least 200--that is, 200 threads per quadrate inch of fabric--will do the trick. Fancy bedding comforters with thread counts in the 300s or those covered in silk or decorative fabrics, like jacquard or damask, are more curious to the eye and the touch. These aren't worth the extra money for their shell alone.
Here's why: If you want your comforter to survive many winters, the best way to preserve it is to encase it in a duvet cover (which may cost as much as the quilt itself, if you go the designer route). A duvet cover protects the comforter from everyday soil and can be removed and washed regularly. That way, your comforter will need cleaning only every two to five years. Most manufacturers recommend pro laundering--not dry cleaning. Chemicals can harm the down.
Holding the Comforter Together
Without quilting, most down would shift to the sides and lowest of your comforter, leaving you to shiver in the center. Therefore, it's foremost that you look for sewn-through building in a box or diamond pattern. This means that the top and the lowest of the cover are stitched together and the down is held within compartments. There is an exception: If you are buying a heavyweight comforter, spring for one with so-called baffled box construction. A baffle is a piece of fabric sewn vertically between the top and lowest of the duvet that adds depth to the quilted squares. Baffles allow down to loft more fully within each quadrate so you stay warmer. They also sell out cold spots along seams.
Allergic to down?
Many retailers sell bedding made with Primaloft, a polyester microfiber filling that's approximately as light and lofty as down. A truer, if more expensive, substitute: Ogallala bedding comforters (often called Hypodown), containing a mixture of natural down and syriaca, or milkweed, which neutralizes allergens in the down.
If you're allergic, you'll need to wash any comforter in hot water (not recommended by manufacturers) to keep the dust mite citizen down (dust mites, as well as down, are a coarse cause of allergies). Otherwise, you'll need a dust-mite-proof cover, which will cosset your allergies but make the comforter less comforting.
Down Bedding Comforters Without Plucking Your Wallet Clean