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 ;)

I 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.

First, "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

I 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.

If I cut the zipper off my sleeping bag, does that make it a quilt or a duvet?

--B.G.--

"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.....

""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.

If 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. ;)

I 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...;)

"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 ;)

Traditionally 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?

"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!

Pita Pocket LOL. Maybe we could call them 'burritos' or 'burros' for short. yeah, I like that...I'm gonna go burrow into my burro ;)

Edited by retropump on 03/30/2010 19:11:36 MDT.

We could call them, "souvlakis", too! With hot sauce! "I'm warm and toasty in my souvlaki!"

Edited by butuki on 03/30/2010 19:17:59 MDT.

Why not just call them 'hot dogs'?

See? That's the problem! It's actually all about food!

I'd call it a doona on my bed and a quilt in my pack.

Why do you foreigners use such funny words?

I 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.

The 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.

How 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!