Quilts and Coverlets Our Editors Love for a Warm, Weighted Snooze

There are almost too many options when it comes to finding the best quilts and coverlets. But across the board, we love them for their ability to (aesthetically) straddle temperature extremes: the sweaty nights of summer that call for breathable fabrics and the bone-chilling winter sleeps that require some heavy layering.

Our Top Picks for the Best Quilts and Coverlets

Best All-Season Quilt

Quince European Linen Quilt

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$160

Quince

Best Cotton Quilt

Schoolhouse Channeled Cotton Quilt

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$299 $179 (40% off)

Schoolhouse

Best Heirloom Quilt

Les Indiennes Kristina Quilt

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$400

Nickey Kehoe

Quilts and coverlets are the perfect mid-weight solution to this Goldilocks sleeping conundrum. They’re not too hefty for summer and won’t leave you in a pool of your own sweat come sunrise. In the winter, you can pull one on so you don’t wake up shivering. They also occupy the middle ground between comforters and duvets, landing in the solid and vague bedspread territory, so you don’t have to swap out your bedding more than twice a season—chances are they’ll feel just right despite the temporary fluctuations throughout the year.

Lately, we’ve been seeing throwback cabin quilt sets, graphic designs, and heirloom-quality linens in rich colors taking over bedscapes, but there are also lots of high quality minimal options if you’re looking for more subtle bed covers. Below, the AD team tested and reviewed the best quilts and coverlets from retailers worth considering as a top layer, including some budget options. Rest assured: There’s something in this category to suit sleepers of all kinds.

A mid-weight linen quilt might seem like it’ll keep things a little too toasty, but contributor Megan Wahn disagrees. This one is “filled with polyester to give it a loft that’s reminiscent of a comforter, making it a great happy medium to those committed to the duvet or comforter life,” she says. “The weight combined with the smooth linen makes the quilt feel like a sigh of comfort I never want to leave.” It comes in 20 colors ranging from the lightest blush to the deepest blues, so it’s sure to complement the rest of your bedding. Made from European flax, it arrives supersoft and a little worn in, so there’s no off-gassing or starchiness to endure.

Schoolhouse Channeled Cotton Quilt

$299 $179 (40% off)

Schoolhouse

Made of 100% cotton, this classic quilt from Schoolhouse is “nicely breathable (great news for those who sleep at a warm body temperature but still desire a quilted topper) and machine washable,” says AD PRO senior editor Mel Studach. The levity of the material makes it temperature-neutral, perfect for layering in deep winter, or snuggling up on the couch with the windows open in fall, or using in the summer as a comforter replacement. It’s also reversible, with a neutral heather-gray on one side and one of four staple neutrals on the other.

Best Heirloom Quilt

Les Indiennes Kristina Quilt

$400

Nickey Kehoe

Nickey Kehoe sourced this beautiful block print bed quilt from a boutique in the Hudson Valley, Les Indiennes. Their textiles are made from pure cotton and natural dyes, and this mul mul (or muslin) quilt is 100% bedding-weight cotton and block printed by hand. Commerce writer Julia Harrison found this hand-stitched and lightweight quilt to be the perfect overlay for all seasons—as a light throw over a top sheet in the summer, and as an additional top layer in the winter. “It’s doing French country house and upstate cabin at once,” says Harrison, “on top of which the materials are noticeably top-notch—soft, organic cotton full of artistry.”

“Can bedding feel like summer? This quilt set does,” says contributor Yelena Moroz Alpert. In linen and chambray, these stripes are soft, coastal, and have the slightly worn look that makes linen look so classic. The front textured fabric of the quilt is 100% linen and the back is made from 100% cotton and 200 thread count percale. “The mix of percale cotton on one side and linen on the other side gives it a fresh and casual look,” Alpert says. This is made from the same premium certified European flax as their linen sheet sets, also beloved by our staff, ensuring their quality, breathability, and durability are the same.

Legends Hotel Premium Smooth Wrinkle-Free Sateen Quilted Coverlet

$249 $149 (40% off)

The Company Store

According to one of our longtime testers and contributors Terri Williams, “this coverlet feels as good as it looks.” She bought the midnight blue color—what can she say, she was in a “blue phase”—and loved how luxurious the dark color’s soft sheen looked on her bed. She notes that the quilt feels supersoft to touch without feeling oppressive, and adds warmth without too much additional weight so she doesn’t have to worry about overheating.

This is Wahn’s—dare we say—favorite blanket: “Like your favorite pair of jeans, it’s only gotten more comfortable in that well-loved kind of way. It’s the optimal softness and weight for all seasons—warm enough when paired with a throw blanket during the winter, but also light enough to keep me pleasantly cool in the summer—that I’ve never had to dedicate any space or time to the arduous bedding-change process whenever the weather turns.” There are 14 charming colors to match your bedroom design or allow for a nice color element as a living room throw blanket. Wahn mentioned she saw light thread-pulling after a year of use, but personally “loves the lived-in quality” of it.

Erica Tanov Cypress Washed Linen Duvet Cover

$688

Erica Tanov

“My jaw actually dropped when I came across this coverlet,” says commerce writer Julia Harrison. “It was like a brand-new antique—it was exactly the sort of style I crave and can never quite manage to find in New York’s picked over vintage scene.” Palestinian motifs are embroidered onto 100% washed linen that's “soft to the touch—even pre-wash—and creates a beautiful drape,” says Harrison. This bed coverlet, at its best, comes with matching pillowcases and a full sheet set for the most “luxurious sleep of my life,” says Harrison. “I don’t even want to get into my bed, I just want to look at it.”

Best Velvet Quilt

For a textured foray into fall and winter, nothing supplies cozy vibes and warm nights like a velvet quilt. Alpert attests that the glint on this velvet gives it a “couture element,” making it feel layered, luxurious, and inviting. “I love how it pairs with the plum Brooklinen matelasse duvet cover, and that it gives my Boll & Branch cream and olive piping embellished bed sheet set more depth,” she says. The matching shams transform Alpert’s room into a “cottage alcove.” This is a mid to lightweight piece, and as far as Alpert’s experienced, a stranger to shedding.

Quince Organic Airy Gauze Box Quilt Set

$160

Quince

Enormous quilt enthusiasts will love that this cotton coverlet includes the same plush and gauzy texture on its pillowcases. “The cotton outer layer is incredibly soft to the touch and the warm Terracotta hue makes my bed look super inviting,” says commerce editor Audrey Lee. 100% organic long-staple cotton makes this a bedding setup with longevity, and in eight colors, you can find a neutral to last you a long while. “The burnt orange hue hasn't faded over time,” confirms Lee, “and I haven't noticed any pilling, which is something that can happen with this type of cotton material.”

Best Stitching

Part of this quilt’s charm is its dual personality—the top side is a linen-cotton blend characterized by a hand-pick stitching pattern, and the reverse side is pure cotton and “feels a bit more delicate, almost silky,” says Alpert. “It imbues a weekend retreat in a far away hamlet, worries be damned. I especially love looking at this bedding under the sun beam, as the crinkly grid texture takes on a life of its own, creating inviting nooks and crannies.”

GreenRow Sloan Patchwork Quilt

$549

GreenRow

“This is what you’re thinking of when you’re thinking of a quilt—thick, warm, heavy, swaddling,” says Harrison. Handcrafted in India from 100% cotton patchwork and filled with 100% cotton batting, this is a quilt as quilts were meant to be—and have been, for the better part of history. The patchwork lends this choice the vintage quality that also makes quilts such an appealing home decor element; cozy, homey, just the thing you need when TV is all you can manage to engage with after a long day of work.

Best Print Quilt

“I would gladly have Ellen Van Dusen design my entire world—so it should come as no surprise that Dusen Dusen’s green check coverlet takes a top spot among my favorite bedding I’ve tried (and trust me, I’ve tried a lot!),” says commerce editor Audrey Lee. The coverlet has a lightweight design and an airy quality perfect for spring-to-summer weather, but it’s also super cozy on chillier nights when paired with a nice fuzzy throw. The textile pattern, in a cream-and-sea-foam or cream-and-beige palette provides just the right subtle color add, while the checkerboard itself feels like a chic update on a classic motif (not to mention that the delightful matching shams really tie the whole look together). Harrison also owns this coverlet, in beige, and can attest it’s a forever piece: “It’s the base of my entire room—all decor leads back to this Dusen Dusen coverlet.”

Cultiver Mira Linen Bedcover

$400 $300 (25% off)

Cultiver

“It’s kind of suited to the Civil War era,” says Harrison of this linen coverlet, “like it was made for a 1860’s cabin in far upstate New York.” It has significant weight to it, not like the poly-fill and linen-wrapped quilts you’ll find most places, as it's made with quality heavyweight linen from Portugal. It makes for a warm additional layer over a duvet, and it’s been known in Harrison’s apartment to travel from the bed to the couch to the dining room table, even, as the evenings get colder. This single size will cover up to a California King.

Best Cotton Quilt

Another standout piece from Brooklinen, the Airweave quilt is made from four layers of 100% Turkish cotton, but Alpert says it feels like “dandelion fluff,” adding that “it is so incredibly soft and light, but at the same time, feels substantial. The exterior gauze feels delicate, but in a lived-in kind of way.” Between seven colorways, it works as a statement blanket or a neutral, cozy bedspread.

Best Lightweight Coverlet

Parachute Matelasse Coverlet

$249 $187 (25% off)

Parachute

This coverlet from AD-favorite bedding brand Parachute features a ribbed stitch pattern that mimics a traditional French weave—but the subdued hue gives it a minimalist spin. “Its oatmealy color is a nice, natural neutral, but its stitched details are the true hero attribute,” says contributor Madeleine Luckel. The cotton fabric is machine-washable, so anyone hooked on the duvet cover life can rest easy when it comes to cleaning. Since it’s a lightweight coverlet, we recommend using this as an additional bedding layer when the cool months come around.

Our top picks and runners-up are all reviewed by AD editors and contributors, and runners-up were pinpointed as options that may have missed the mark if they weren’t easy to clean or seemed to offer less value. Other picks that didn’t make the cut entirely felt less accessible for the average budget or weren’t that breathable or easy to clean. Over the years, we’ve also delisted picks that were out of stock, came from brands that were unreliable with stock, or didn’t hold up well over time after successive washes (and yes, we do keep that in mind as we keep this list updated!).

Sleep is such a subjective experience that it’s tough to crown any one bed cover, or even a small crop of them, as the best for every sleeper on the planet. But for a range of editors and contributors at AD, there were certain qualities that felt universal. We tested these for about a month or more to get a sense of how they feel to snooze under. From there, testers aimed to get them in the wash for at least one spin cycle to see how they hold up over time. Our list has also gone through several rounds of edits, and successive notes on durability have come in since.

We had sleepers of all sorts test these quilts and coverlets for the following metrics:

• Superior hand-feel: This sounds pretty straightforward and it is. How does it feel up against your body, or straight out of the box? Is it soft or coarse to the touch? Hand-feel can indicate craftsmanship, as well. If it pills, you can expect it to pill more—and quickly. It’s important to remember linen can be a bit rougher out of the box, but it will soften with each wash.
• Breathability: How well does the material breathe and does it make you overheat at night? Lighter materials, like gauze, make for particularly cozy layering—suitable in the summer in lieu of a duvet or a heavier blanket and super cozy in winter as an extra layer over top of your duvet.
• Material: We really leaned into cotton and linen options; as we’ve found through our testing, these materials tend to be the most breathable, durable, soft, and comfortable year-round. These also hold up well in the wash, without shrinking, pilling, tearing, or showing too much general wear. We also chose primarily machine-washable quilts, so they felt like true functional additions to your home instead of decorative pieces.
• Ease of cleaning: Especially for something that you sleep under all year long, can you pop it in the washing machine, or is it a spot treat only situation? As mentioned, we’re looking for things that warm your life, not complicate it.
• Longevity: Does it start fraying or stain easily? Does a single spin cycle make it lose its luster? Prewashed and stonewashed options come to you already through the wash a few times so you know that what you’re being delivered will stay more or less the same.
• Warmth: Is it the kind of thing you keep year-round, or do you swap it out for a warmer comforter when the chill sets in? Cotton quilts are particularly good for layering, since their soft, breathable nature allows for added warmth without trapping in heat.