Duvet Covers

What comes in the pack

A duvet cover set is the cover plus its pillowcases, and the pillowcase count changes with the size. A single normally comes with one, and double, king and super king each come with two. The duvet itself is not included and is bought separately, which surprises people often enough to be worth saying plainly.

Every product page states its own contents rather than relying on that convention, because ranges differ. If you are buying for a guest room and want two pillowcases on a single bed, check before ordering rather than after.

Cotton or polycotton, and which suits your bed

Pure cotton breathes, takes colour deeply and softens with every wash. It creases, and it takes its time drying. For a main bedroom, and particularly for anyone who sleeps hot, that trade is usually worth making.

Polycotton blends the two fibres, commonly around half and half. It comes out of a low tumble dry with almost no creases, it dries in a fraction of the time and it holds a strong colour through frequent washing. It breathes less well. For a child's bed, a spare room, or a bed that gets stripped weekly, it is the more practical cloth and it is not a compromise so much as a different set of priorities.

Printed, woven and reversible

A printed cover has its design applied to the surface of the cloth, which allows fine detail and photographic artwork but will soften over years of washing. A woven design is built into the fabric itself, so it holds its definition indefinitely and catches the light as the cloth moves, though the pattern is necessarily simpler.

Reversible sets carry a different design on each face, and they are worth more than they look. Flipping the cover halfway through the week changes the room without buying anything, and both faces are finished to the same standard, so it reads as deliberate rather than as a back. Where a set is reversible its product page says so and describes both sides.

Getting the size right

Duvet covers follow the duvet, not the mattress. A double duvet is 200cm by 200cm and a king is 230cm by 220cm, and those are the figures a cover is cut to. If you are replacing a cover for a duvet you already own, measure the duvet rather than the bed.

The commonest sizing error in bedding is assuming a fitted sheet and a duvet cover in the same named size share dimensions. They do not, because they cover different objects. Buying a coordinated set sidesteps it; buying pieces separately from different ranges does not.

Washing and everyday care

Forty degrees suits almost every cover and is gentler on colour than a hotter wash. Wash dark colours separately for the first few cycles, keep bleach away from anything dyed, and turn a printed cover inside out to protect the surface of the design.

Tumble dry on a low heat and take it out promptly, which is most of what stops a polycotton cover needing an iron at all. Pure cotton comes up crisper if it is brought in slightly damp and pressed warm. Buttoning or zipping the cover shut before it goes in the machine stops it swallowing the smaller items in the same load, which is a small habit that saves a lot of untangling.