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A quilt by any other name
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Mar 30, 2010 at 2:55 pm #1257129
Just curious -down or fibre filled flat bags are usually referred to as quilts on this forum, yet they are technically a duvet. Is it common in America to call a duvet a quilt? Should we contemplate calling them duvets instead? Not trying to be pedantic here, just thought I'd ask, as to me a quilt conjures up images of my grandma sewing little squares of colourful fabric together ;)
Mar 30, 2010 at 3:54 pm #1592551I think that the vast majority of U.S.'icans call 'em all quilts. I've certainly seen the term in a catalog, but never actually heard it used.
Mar 30, 2010 at 4:16 pm #1592560First, "duvet" is not the usual American term for the item. I'm familiar with the term "duvet", though, but as an exotic term.
Second, a "quilt" can come in many sizes and shapes. Rightly or wrongly, I think of a "duvet" as being rectangular and the right size for a bed. Many of the backpacker quilts have a foot box — not something I associate with a "duvet" (probably my error, but …)
— MV
Mar 30, 2010 at 4:37 pm #1592568I call the blanket on my bed a duvet, which in my crazy mind, is a comforter that is placed inside a fabric bag/cover that can be washed.
The only time I use the term quilt is when I am referring to my backpacking quilt.
I'm probably wrong in my definitions, and I don't know how I came about them, but I'm stickin' with 'em.
Mar 30, 2010 at 4:42 pm #1592571If I cut the zipper off my sleeping bag, does that make it a quilt or a duvet?
–B.G.–
Mar 30, 2010 at 4:44 pm #1592573"If I cut the zipper off my sleeping bag, does that make it a quilt or a duvet?"
If it's a WM bag, it makes it an abomination…..
Mar 30, 2010 at 4:59 pm #1592581""If I cut the zipper off my sleeping bag, does that make it a quilt or a duvet?""
Well, I've said all along that IMHO what you folks are calling a 'quilt' is really just a zipperless and hoodless sleeping bag, unless it's flat like a JRB. By the time you add a footbox, it resembles neither a quilt or a duvet…how about calling them 'comforters'? I think that is the American term for something like a duvet.
On my bed at home I most definitely have a 'duvet'. King sized baffled box construction with 6 inches of loft from highest grade Hungarian down :) I have a 'duvet' cover on it to protect it.
I agree with Douglas that cutting anything except the tags from a WM bag would be an abomination.
Mar 30, 2010 at 5:00 pm #1592582If I cut the zipper off my sleeping bag, does that make it a quilt or a duvet?
If you use it on your bed, it's a duvet, but if it's used for backpacking, it's a quilt. ;)
Mar 30, 2010 at 5:04 pm #1592584I thought a duvet was the cover a person slips his comforter into for protection (?) and to wash it without having to wash the whole comforter…
Most folks think ULers are fruity enough, if we go around calling our quilts 'duvets"… man,…
I'm just sayin', I don't wanna get jumped on the trail…;)
Mar 30, 2010 at 5:34 pm #1592591"I thought a duvet was the cover a person slips his comforter into for protection "
OK, I can see it's a cultural thingy. A duvet cover is what your duvet/quilt/comforter goes into. But calling it a quilt just seems really odd if you haven't been brought up thinking of them like that. I have several 'quilts' that my great grandmother made. They are beautiful works of finely crafted decorative art, but nothing at all like what you guys call that thing you carry on the trail.
BTW, The word 'quilt' is derived from the Latin culcita, meaning a padded and tied mattress.
Anyway, it looks like the term 'quilt' is here to stay, so I'll go with the flow. Then again, I might just stick to zipperless hoodless sleeping bag ;)
Mar 30, 2010 at 5:46 pm #1592593Traditionally a "quilt" is that patchwork of leftover pieces that women used to sit together and sew. It is usually not very thick and wasn't used as the warmest item in bed. What people often refer to as the "down quilt" is actually, in America, a "comforter", or a "duvet" in British parlance. The backpacker's quilt is actually a new thing for which there really wasn't any term before, and so "quilt" was adopted. I'd say it is more akin to a "bedroll" (though it is not one) or an Australian "swag" (which it also isn't). Then again the act of sewing together two pieces of fabric with insulation sandwiched between is called "quilting", so that further makes everything confusing. I'm at a loss as to why the backpacking quilt wasn't called a "pocket pita", or "sugar cone", which it most closely resembles, especially to bears. Personally I'm partial to "swaddle", as it conjures up times when I really did manage to get some proper sleep, as in, "Hey guys, I'm gonna head out to the crags and bivouac on the north face in me swaddle!" Doesn't that just give you the shivers in that image of warmth in the face of adversity?
Mar 30, 2010 at 5:53 pm #1592596"I have several 'quilts' that my great grandmother made."
I still have one I had made (well, I helped!) for my wife. A 'friends' quilt. Got a bunch of her best friends and favorite family members to donate a pair of their worn blue jeans, then I cut all the jeans up into squares (lots of work!), and then had a quilter put them all together! That sucker is heavy! Doesn't need much insulation at all! It's a beautiful piece, though! Them were happy tears when I gave her that!
Mar 30, 2010 at 6:03 pm #1592599Pita Pocket LOL. Maybe we could call them 'burritos' or 'burros' for short. yeah, I like that…I'm gonna go burrow into my burro ;)
Mar 30, 2010 at 6:15 pm #1592604We could call them, "souvlakis", too! With hot sauce! "I'm warm and toasty in my souvlaki!"
Mar 30, 2010 at 6:28 pm #1592607Why not just call them 'hot dogs'?
Mar 30, 2010 at 6:32 pm #1592608See? That's the problem! It's actually all about food!
Mar 31, 2010 at 5:23 am #1592739I'd call it a doona on my bed and a quilt in my pack.
Why do you foreigners use such funny words?
Mar 31, 2010 at 6:19 am #1592754I don't even know what a duvet is. If I would have guessed before reading this thread, I would have thought it's that little cylindrical pillow on the bed in catalogs.
I think they used the term quilt because there wasn't a word to go with the item. It's not zipped up like a sleeping bag so it's more like a comforter on your bed, which is often called a quilt. But it's nothing like a comforter on your bed because it doesn't lay flat.
Mar 31, 2010 at 6:32 am #1592755The first reference to backpacking quilt I've heard is in Ray Jardine's book "Beyond Backpacking".
Blame him for the name :)
Now, it's in common usage so impossible to change the name.
Mar 31, 2010 at 6:59 am #1592761How about we at least try to bring the quilt monopoly down then?
I propose a "dumbledore" or a "wookie". Both sound soft, fluffy, and properly defiant!
Mar 31, 2010 at 7:12 am #1592763>Now, it's in common usage so impossible to change the name.
As an English teacher, I have to agree. What we have here is a case of the old argument between "prescriptive" and "descriptive" grammarians. In the end, if a term goes into common usage, trying to expunge it is like "boltin' the barn door after the horse has already gotten out," as my sainted father used to say.
Stargazer
Mar 31, 2010 at 7:19 am #1592764If it was practical, I would think a synthetic quilt with a shell made of multi-colored scraps of lightweight pertex and momentum fabric would be interesting!
Mar 31, 2010 at 7:58 am #1592772Doesn't / didn't Jardine recommend to quilt the insulation to the shell on his Ray-way kits ?
Mar 31, 2010 at 10:07 am #1592832"Doesn't / didn't Jardine recommend to quilt the insulation to the shell on his Ray-way kits ?"
Indeed, although it's a loose loop of yarn rather than directly stitching the insulation to the outer fabric, in order not to create any cold spots. Quite effective and very relaxing to do after struggling with the sewing machine to make the rest of the quilt!
"Quilt" and "duvet" for down or polyester filled bed covers are interchangeable terms here in the UK; "comforter" is virtually unknown and most people would probably assume it was something like a baby's favourite little blanket. Doesn't seem an odd word for it, given that Jardine's design is indeed quilted.
Mar 31, 2010 at 12:25 pm #1592890My vote is for changing the name of quilts to 'controlled fluff"
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