Because of an accident with a rescue cat who was having more than a few stress problems, I found myself in need of a new lighter-weight quilt to supplement my (thankfully cat-accident-free) down comforter. I was going to get the Amazon Basics brand and after a bit of research chose this one instead, based on the reviews. I received it a day early, which was nice. The colour is good and dark and the comforter is cozy and soft enough right out of the package, but I can tell it's going to be snuggly in the extreme when I wash it. I laid it out on the bed as soon as I received it, so it could air out well until I have a chance to throw it into the washer. I'm someone who is always hot unless it's about 20F or colder. I'm a hot sleeper who leaves windows open in January. But I love to be warm and cozy in bed on a winter's night - who doesn't? - and instead of just one blanket, I like to layer several blankets for fine temperature control during sleep. I'm also a woman of a certain age, as I believe the colloquialism goes, and it's really important sometimes for the health and safety of all living things that I am able to cool down fast and stay cool during those times when one second I'm fine and the very next second it feels like I've morphed without warning into a small, throbbing boil in the armpit of Satan himself as he takes a tour of the furnace room on the ninth circle of his domain. I get these hot flashes from hell is what I'm saying here. Sisters, you know what I'm talking about. This quilt is light enough to layer, light enough to use on its own, and perhaps most importantly light enough to fling violently across the room in a fit of unbridled spontaneous combustion. Still, it's not a perfect thing. The three stars are because: - The quality and feel of the fabric is lower than I expected, as is the fill. I wasn't expecting 8,000-count cashmere grandma alpaca silk, but I can at least guarantee it's better than burlap; - The stitching of the square baffles along the edges stops a full one to two inches before the edges of the blanket, which will be problematic for washing because the fill will eventually bunch down in these gaps, leaving you with a gigantic double-layered stuffed-crust rectangular pancake. It also means that the enormous hassle of dry cleaning is the only way to be sure this is avoided; - In a few places here and there, not many, a few bits of fill had to be pulled out of the seams where it probably got caught during the manufacturing process, and a number of threads had to be snipped; - And finally, I'll have to sew a couple gaps here and there left from removing threads from seams that weren't quite closed and where long threads had been left by the machine. These are rather minor, although annoying fixes, and if they aren't done sooner than later they'll grow to eventually make a mess out of the blanket. But with perhaps an hour's worth of work with a needle and thread - less if I can borrow my niece's sewing machine - I can fly my Cinderella flag and fix these manufacturing flaws and have a really nice little blanket, I think, that will have no problem surviving a washing machine as long as proper washing and drying temps are strictly adhered to. These flaws would be avoided altogether if there was tighter QA on the production line. These are pretty sloppy problems. No cookies for your factory bosses here. I'll update if anything catastrophic or life-changing occurs during or after a couple of washes. In the meantime, if you're willing to do a little work yourself, this is a nice, cozy, comfy quilt. I'll try the Amazon Basics one next time, to compare.
