top sheet under duvet cover or not?

I use a top sheet in navel blue, because my duvet covers are quite heavy white pure cotton with blue designs on, and the top sheet, folded over, means there's less likelihood of coffee stains etc on the cover. Plus, they are a b****r to iron!

I don't use a top sheet either. This came as a shock to DH when we got married, as his mother always used a one.
We have king size duvet and covers, I'm only little, changing the cover is a cardiovascular workout for me!!

No top sheet for me. When hotels have top sheets I have to un tuck them I don't like feeling confined.

I've always used the next size duvet to the size of bed. Double on a single, king size on standard double. DH likes to be the sausage in the duvet roll Where as I often sleep with one foot on top the duvet.

No top sheet - hate it; the top is either too short or too long over the top of the duvet and then slithers about all over the place.......
I used to get the late Mr Marmite to hold the ends of the duvet/cover while I was up at the business end. I do tend to get in a bit of a bad tempered mess these days. The inside out method is slightly easier but I usually end arse end up inside the bloomin' thing.
GA I had my first duvet in 1969 when I moved into a flat share. The first time I came across one was on holiday in Germany in 1964 and, as it was folded in half on the bed, I hadn't got a clue what to do with it [dimMarmightemoticon]

N top sheet for us or anything else that's fiddly DH gets tangled up in things. We couldn't possibly have a four poster with hangings DH would be garotting himself by the end of the night. I have to whip the cushions of the bed before he comes up as in his view these are all unnecessary objects which will entrap him.

I always use a top sheet. Suffer badly with night sweats so with a top sheet I can throw the duvet off but still have some covering. Also nothing beats the feeling of fresh cotton sheets! I also change the duvet cover every week when I change the sheets

thatbags - that's a great idea about the bannister!

I don't use top sheets with duvets. I never iron bedding, though I might do the odd pillow case if it looks very creased. I think the bedding we use is all treated cotton or else part man-made fibre so it looks 'good enough' with a shake and a manual smoothing

No top sheet - nothing more irritating.
Always do the inside-out method but not with banisters included in the process. Will try new system next time

Anyone chuck duvets out the window to air (not completely chuck, obviously) on good weather days? Mine's out now - a fresh, sunny autumn morning.

Typically I just read bags method, having changed the duvet cover last night. Using the banister is a new idea to me and I shall try it next time. Thanks thatbags.
Only caveat is not ironing it first! Mine are white cotton and would look like dish rags if not ironed. Must be the unreconstructed housewife lurking very deeply within me

That should be "inventive as ever".

ging

I think I can claim to have had the first duvet ever: my mother, inventive as already, sewed buttons on to both ends of our blankets, and made buttonholes in our top sheets, top and bottom. These were then buttoned together, so the three of us could make our beds with relative ease as children. She also fashioned fitted sheets on the mattresses with folds and safety pins!

My gran was scandalised, I was always slightly embarrassed when friends came for sleepovers.

Years later I only realised how brilliant she was.

No top sheet here either. I use bags inside out method for changing but lay the duvet flat on the bed.

Ga, we bought duvets in 1972 and they cost a fortune! We had just moved house and buying new curtains in a really nice shop in Shrewsbury when we saw them. We were the first of our friends to have them! My mum bought us a big ornage blanket to go with it ' in case we were cold'

Never. Just Duvet and cover

Never use a top sheet.
I'm just wondering when duvets became the norm here in the UK. When I bought mine in early 1970 I think they had only just become available to buy here. Did anyone buy one earlier?

Grannyknot...Thou shalt not covet thou husband's duvet

Pre duvet days I absolutely hated sheets and blankets. Life's too short.

Duvet covers are easy to put on if you use clothes pegs to anchor the top corners while you feed the rest of it in.

My Swiss SIL uses bags' method but without the bannister.

Top sheet? You must be joking.

Icyalittle Given your post of 21:59 hrs 13/10/14 about being hot in bed, I think you should change your user name forthwith.

You have misrepresented yourself.

Yes always! A sheet tucks in around your toes and you do not have to change the duvet cover so often, which is always a struggle.

Cover!

I am so inept at changing the duvet covet, that my husband can't stand to watch and takes over. He uses bags' method. So, it works for me!

No sheet here either except like rosequartz after major surgery I thought that it would be easier to change the sheet weekly and the duvet cover less often but I did not find the sheet comfortable so I had to find other means of changing the duvet cover. Like phoenix I also have a king size quilt so it is so much more difficult to change the cover.

They are only thin, tog4s. They dry very quickly. i wouldn't do it on any other. And if you have dodgy hips, it's really hard to keep changing the quilt cover.

Washing a duvet every week???

I think a top sheet would get all screwed up and wrinkly. Or are we just restless sleepers? We went somewhere where there was one, but I can't remember where. We got very confused as to why it was there and what we were meant to do with it. It ended up being ripped off halfway through the night because it got wrapped around DBH's legs, so it certainly didn't save any washing.

I have read of people buying tog 4s and similar, and sewing the corners into the duvet. Because it is so light they can throw the whole thing into the machine every week. I'm tempted, because we use one all year and then have a huge quilted cotton cover over that during the winter.

Single duvets are tiny - only suitable for a small child's bed, really.

We've always gone for a double for a single bed and king-sized for a double bed.