Buying duvet sets - how can it be so difficult?

[Mrs Trellis]

I would like to buy a couple of new duvet covers with pillow cases - but oblong ones as OH doesn't like the big square pillows in France.  So I thought I'd try buying online from UK.

So:  Tesco - don't deliver abroad except clothes.

Laura Ashley - I found nice duvet covers but no matching pillowcases.  They sell them 'singularly' which presumably means singly or separately.

Debenhams and John Lewis - rather expensive.

M & S had some I liked but referred me to their French site which had 5 and none I liked.

A friend suggested La Redoute but the choice wasn't great - too flouncy or cartoony.

Littlewoods Europe?  I Googled it but just got referred to the UK site - which says try Littlewoods Europe. 

A certain UK shopping service will deliver to Cahors - about 25 miles away, so not bad - but did not reply to my email enquiry re delivery to their depot (food shopping can only be delivered in a 2 hour slot on a specific day which wouldn't work for bedlinen) and when the next delivery would be to Cahors.

Argghh!  Please don't suggest I make them.  I am not great at sewing, material is expensive (if I can find some I like) and I'm not feeling too well at the moment.  I just felt like buying something new as we've had one of our duvet covers 10 years and it's a bit cat attacked. 

[Tancrède]

Like you I almost despaired.  All the French ones seem to be 'wacky', tasteless, or have stripes running in the wrong direction, or an unwanted alligator on them somewhere.

I finally got exactly what I wanted (including excellent Egyptian cotton sheets too) from :

http://www.viceroybedding.co.uk

They can be accessed via Ebay, and the rubric saying  May not deliver to France  is (for some reason) twaddle.  They do deliver to France and, in my case, very promptly.

 

[idun]

I still have perfectly nice and good quality oblong pillow cases that I bought in France, probably 10, maybe 15 years ago. I admit that there was no chance of getting an oblong pillow or pillow case in my first 10 years or so, but for years it has been easy peasy.

If no where else, Carrefour sells them, had some in when I was there a few weeks ago. But I have certainly bought them from elsewhere, including shops.

And try this site, and I'm sure La Redoute etc etc sell them too.

http://www.3suisses.fr/N-34Z1z0zhjm?searchTerms=taille%20de%20traversin%2050x70#breadcrumbs

The only thing that I never could buy was housse de couette, 220x230, a UK King size. The good things was when I got to France the french single duvets were bigger than the UK ones, no idea if they still are, but I bought some and then the covers were easy to get. The only thing I reckon I would have trouble getting is an 80x80 pillow in France, or it's cover[:$]

[woolybanana]

Do you not have someone coming over who can receive the stuff for you in UK and then bring it over? So much easier.

Or fone Marks and Spencer, explain the problem of choice and see if it can be worked out!

[HoneySuckleDreams]

it's odd isn't it.

IKEA in Belgium...just over the border from here in Luxembourg do oblong, IKEA France do square

Tell you what... have a look at the IKEA catalogue, tell me what you want and I will post it onwards.

[nectarine]

With M&S, go to the UK site and find the set you like, then copy the reference number. Go to the French site and type in the reference number ... and you will find the item. Always works for me.

[NormanH]

There is no problem getting rectangular pillow cases from Laredoute.

You just have to specify the dimensions (50x70 for example)

[NormanH]

There is no problem getting rectangular pillow cases from Laredoute.

You just have to specify the dimensions (50x70 for example)

I have some of these

[Russethouse]

John Lewis currently have a sale, but it may be worth looking at their House range if you are looking for better value.

[5-element]

While living in the UK, I used to buy my duvet covers + pillowcases from IKEA, because they had  such a good range of tasteful, not expensive, 100% cotton ones. I found that IKEA France has the same range, and whenever (rarely) I go to IKEA, I am always tempted by their "housses de couette" - however, they don't always have rectangular pillow cases available - with some models, they only have the square ones. So you have to be a little careful and check with a given set.

So, buying duvet sets, no, that is one thing I have never find difficult to get - provided you have access to an IKEA branch.

[idun]

As has been said, there is not a problem at all with pillow cases, in fact housse de taille d'oreiller either, thinking about that, I bought my last ones from Super U and there was a choice in 50x70's.

Duvet covers, however are not all the same size in the UK as they are in France. And in Switzerland they are different too. Every nation apparently has it's own idea of what is appropriate to sleep under.

I have bought some horrible bedding over the years, goes bobbly, or rough to the touch. I know what I like these days and invest in nice pure cotton soft fabrics. As they say, good shoes and a good bed and I'll add to that, good bedding too, as if we aren't on our feet, we are in our beds.

[Chancer]

The warmth rating of duvets in France still clings on to an outmoded weight per m2 rating which has no place in the modern world, a superb modern lightweight but warm duvet will be ignored in favor of a heavier colder one, in fact there is no incentive for thjem to make warm duvets, just to use heavier non insulating filling, I guess that was always the case with proper down filled ones compared to synthetic, the UK took the pragmatic view and created the "Tog" ratings but I dont think they are used in other countries.

A similar problem exists with light bulbs, both domestic and auto, the light output is expressed in watts which is actually a measure of power consumed and not light output, it was OK when all we had was incandescent bulbs but should be changed now.

My pillowcase beef concerns memory foam pillows, they are much smaller than the standard pillowcase and I cannot find any compatible ones, Ikea do sell 50 * 70 pillowcases in france as has been said  but they dwarf the memory foam pillows that they sell.

I have the problem resolved in the UK as I found full size memory foam pillows in either Lidl or Aldi for a good price, I should have bought 2 sets as I havnt seen them here yet.

[idun]

And yet my single french duvets are superb. A friend stayed and thought them 'down', not feather and down, but 'down'. And they are lovely. I suspect that I bought them either in Carrefour or the Camif. Whichever, I have been on the hunt for something as good in England and not found anything to compare, in the synthetic range.

Me, I have a down one and it is scrumptious. I'm just too mean to pay so much for the other beds in the house, but would like something good, but at a fraction of the price[Www]

[Mrs Trellis]

Hi all,

Thanks for helpful comments.  I got a quick reply from M & S and the next day found my way to the French site in English. The 2 duvets sets I particularly liked are not available and one is now not available in UK in the size I need. 

I saw one I liked in Ikea ages ago but the pillow cases were square.

No-one is planning to visit by car.  The shopping service replied when prompted and quoted 15-20 but omitted to say whether that was £ euro or %.

When I have the time and energy I will check out the French supermarkets - or maybe order something from M & S France even if it isn't my first choice!

 

[idun]

You seem to have royally ignored the option of french catalogues. You can always send the things back if they do not like them.

I have to say that over the years, some things that I wanted when living in France, only appeared to be available in catalogues, as we had no internet then. Maybe if I had lived in Lyons or Paris, I could have got these things, but not where I lived, even  in

the nearby cities.

3 Suisses is fine, as is La Redoute and Blance Porte is not quite as good, or at least that is my opinion on it and yet I have had some decent things from there too.

Frankly I do not like most of M&S bedding these days. On the odd ocassion  I have been in M&S I have felt their bedding and it is not as 'soft' to the touch as I prefer. Much of their bedding is poly cotton, when I prefer cotton, yes, I know that they do some things in pure cotton, but their quality is no better than available than elsewhere and they are often dearer.

Now Seymours of Darlington, do some fabulous bedding. As I live in the NE I wanted to see what they did and got a friend to have a drive through with me. Yes, they have some poly cotton, I'm sure, they do, but the other stuff, my goodness, makes me realise what I would buy if I win that £157 million tonight......................those eider down quilts that cost over £7000 for a king size winter duvet with a heavy silk cover and the Hamam towels (never ever felt anything like them). And for the moment, I just bought an extra deep sheet, as a special treat, and it is and if I needed pillow cases would not hesitate to buy from them.

[Russethouse]

I rarely buy sets, but I do have a selection of pillow cases that go with most duvets I have, white, blue, pink, coffee etc.....bottom sheets are nearly always white.

BTW I have found high count cotton items are cheaper in the USA.

[minnie]

Debenhams have a sale on at present with up to 70 percent off. I've just ordered a king size cover, pillowcases, fitted cotton sheet and postage for £40. I don't think you could do much better! Worth looking at their website.

[Mrs Trellis]

Thanks for that very kind offer.  My son is going to post birthday presents as unable to visit, so will make up a parcel to the max weight.  I ordered 2 duvet covers from Ikea to be delivered to him.  One I saw in Ikea Toulouse last year but didn't buy because of the square pillow cases.  The 2nd is not my favourite design but OK and they come with 4 pillow cases instead of the usual two!