Traditional Comforters

Patchwork Quilts

• A classic patchwork quilt is ideal for a child's room. The bright colors are cheerful and mask any spills or smudges until laundry day. Hunt for patchwork quilts in country stores and children's bedding shops. Or make your own with leftover squares of material in a collage of colors of your own design.

Hand-blocked Comforters

• Traditional Indian and Asian textile designs used for comforters, pillows and upholstery are referred to as hand-blocked comforters. The fabric is stamped with block-printed mud designs. Once the mud dries, the material is dipped in vats of dye until the desired color or mix of colors is achieved. The cloth is then spread out to dry and, ultimately, the mud is washed off. The final design is washable and durable, one-of-a-kind and an example of an age-old craft that is still valued as good design today.

Amish Quilts

• Contemporary comforters may borrow traditional designs from folk art treasures like those at the American Folk Art Museum. Amish seamstresses pieced together original and geometrically complex patterns for their bedding that are today valuable collectibles. The designs are timeless, ranging from extremely plain, very orthodox "simple" quilts in two or three colors to the kaleidoscope of colors and intricate patterns stitched by the most imaginative quilt makers. If you have an original, you may want to mount it on the wall. You can find copies in cotton which are more practical for contemporary comforters than the wool used a century ago.

Down Comforter

• One of the most elegant and practical traditional bedding choices is a plain white down comforter. A lightweight comforter is all you need to stay comfortable during the summer or winter, and the feather-light bedding floats up over the sheets to cover the bed in seconds. It looks luxurious and slightly rumpled, and you never have to make the bed. Down comforters can be slipped inside duvet covers, which you can wash and dry more quickly than a fluffy duvet made of duck or goose feathers.