Swapping out a duvet cover ranks among those deceptively tricky household chores. Over the years, I've experimented with practically every approach — flipping the cover inside-out and wrestling with corners through the fabric, recruiting help to wrangle the opposite end, even crawling inside the thing like I was assembling it from within. Nothing quite clicked.
The burrito method seemed almost suspiciously simple when I stumbled across it: lay everything flat, roll it up, slip the cover over one end, then unroll the whole thing. Could it really beat all my previous strategies? Turns out, yes. It's now the only technique I use. Here's the breakdown.
1. Lay the cover and comforter flat
Start by laying your duvet cover on the bed, turned inside out, with the opening at the bottom of the bed and left undone. Place your comforter or duvet insert on top of the cover, lining up the corners and edges as precisely as possible.
If your cover is slightly larger or smaller than your comforter, center the insert as best you can. The goal is to have both layers aligned so they roll evenly in the next step.
This initial setup is crucial. Taking an extra minute to line everything up properly makes the rest of the process much smoother. I found that smoothing out wrinkles in both layers before rolling prevented bunching later on.
2. Roll them together tightly
Starting at the top of the bed (the end opposite the duvet cover opening), begin rolling both layers together toward the bottom. Roll tightly and evenly, keeping the edges aligned as you go. The roll should look like a burrito by the time you reach the bottom.
This step confused me the first time I tried it because it seemed too simple to actually work. But all you're doing is creating one tight roll with both the cover and insert together. Make sure to keep the roll relatively firm, as a loose roll makes the next step harder.
When you reach the bottom of the bed, you should have a complete roll with the open end of the duvet cover visible at one end.
3. Pull the cover over the roll and unroll
Take the open end of the duvet cover and pull it over one end of the roll. Once the cover is pulled over that end, button or zip the opening closed to secure the comforter inside.
Now unroll everything from bottom to top. As you unroll, the duvet cover magically ends up on the outside, right-side out, with the comforter inside. I genuinely couldn't believe it worked the first time, it really does feel like a bit of a magic trick.
Then simply give the duvet a shake to distribute the comforter evenly inside the cover, and you're done. The entire process took me less than three minutes, compared to the ten minutes I used to spend struggling with the inside-out method.
If you're more of a visual learner, check out the video below that inspired me to give the burrito method a go.
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