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Cover Ups

Friday, March 29, 2024

I love my duvet!

So, what’s a duvet? What’s a duvet cover? I started wondering while working part-time as a clerk in the store’s home department. Many customers asked if our shelves carried duvets and duvet covers. To learn, I went around examining packages, and found many labeled “Duvet,” but none “Duvet Cover.” Over time when customers asked about duvet covers, I’d say, “We have duvets but no duvet covers.” A typical response was, “I’m not surprised because I keep looking for duvet covers, and can’t find them.”

I knew little about duvets and duvet covers other than the package labels. I was barely interested in their relationship to what I know as a “comforter.” But early one morning, a questioner asked about the difference between a duvet and a duvet cover. I guessed at an answer, got away with it, and decided to become educated.

I went online with questions, and the answers aligned somewhat with my guessing but better described the differences. A duvet is a large blanket with sewn inserts for padding and can have interchangeable covers; a comforter, however, is a single unit. Soon after I learned this, an arriving customer asked the difference between a duvet and a comforter. I waxed eloquently!

I started thinking of getting a duvet for myself. My old feather-filled comforter never gets used because its feathers squirrel around and bunch in various corners, leaving me covered by an empty double sheet. A duvet with sewn inserts could be a satisfying alternative.

I ordered a duvet, used it a time or two, and then ordered a duvet cover. Now, after weeks of sleeping under my duvet, I fully admit to loving it. During the nightly “brief awake moments,” I feel very protected, and in a little tunnel, safe and warm.

Dear Friends: Now, I’m a super explainer and seller of duvets and covers. Diana

Sew-Ups

Thursday, February 22, 2024

I am always searching for the “right towels” for after-showering. The easily available plush, lush, and oversized towels are beautiful, but their soft fibers simply move water dampness around. I search among towel stacks that I stumble on for a type that immediately best absorbs water. That has existed, for I have such a towel.

This good towel has been with me for years, does its job perfectly, and has become irreplaceable. I bought several of “it” long ago–cheap towels–when I was starting out on my own with very little money. Over time, some of those first towels became ragged and got tossed, or became lost, or whatever. Now, I find myself left with just a single really likable one.

In wintertime especially, stepping while still wet from a shower compartment can kind of freeze a body. When sudden colder air hits, there’s less discomfort if a “good towel” has done its work before one leaves the stall.

Yesterday, I was a checkout clerk in the Home Department. That Store stocks new towels for sale in plush and beautiful stacks. I went around feeling fabrics between my fingers, and no surprises, every towel felt too soft to do good work.

I might be an anomaly because yesterday many customers bought those plush, soft towels. Some even raved about the beauty and wonder of soft towels. I did my job by agreeing with them, finally recognizing that it’s high sales of plush that prevent finding rougher towels that (to me) absorb better.

I might have to create “good towels” on my own. There might be available toweling fabrics of various densities and different thread types. I’ll start researching and learn what’s possible. Maybe I could become a self-starter towel builder.

Dear Friends: Someday, I’ll share my ideas for improving bra designs. Diana