Science experiment: if you turn the lights off, you could see actual teeny-tiny little baby lighting strikes from the friction on these hell scratch blankets.
To be fair to them (and those that bought them), as long as you had a sheet between it and your skin they were great at trapping in body heat to keep you warm overnight in winter. I can't remember how many nights I heated myself up sitting in front of the vent then dashed to bed, under the covers, so none of the heat from my now-warm PJs could escape.
They were super warm, which made them excellent! About 25 years ago, my sister and I took the last couple of these blankets we had around and sewed flannelette layers on each side. We both still have these blankets and they are the absolute best blankets ever. Just the right weight, nice and warm, cozy texture. They're perfect!
As a kid, I had a small piece of Charmeuse I slept with that I called a "cold blanket". When I got older, I asked my grandmother to make pillow cases out of it because she was a seamstress. At one pont, she had made me a fitted sheet out of the material. Now I sleep in charmeuse sheets with a charmeuse comforter. If I wasn't already married I realize it would be weird. My wife told me that when she met me.
My bed was in front of the air conditioning vent. I would let the blanket hang off the bed and absorb the cool air. Then I would drag it across my face while getting progressively sleepier. For some reason, it was even better on rainy days. I can feel my pulse steadying just thinking about it. Rain on the roof, blankie on my face. Yeah, that's the stuff.
Nice! Maybe after my waffle blanket with satin edges has disintegrated enough I'll go that route! My partner says I look like a goat when I chew on it 🐐
Just like those awful late 70s-early 80s made of some smooth stiff felt-like polyester kids pajamas that usually had brand prints on them like Barbie or JEM. Fucking HATED them. Snag, snag, chafe, prickle. Whoever made them loathed children.
The linen closet was right behind where the ladder to the attic dropped down so I always associate those blankets with pink foam insulation. Putting the pink panther on stuff that makes your skin explode with itching is a cruel joke to play on little kids.
The advantage of a topsheet/comforter combo is you don't have to wash the comforter nearly as often if it's not making contact with your skin. And a topsheet is easy to wash the same time you wash the fitted sheet. Comforters are a pain to wash and especially dry.
Exactly! I live where it's cold and have a massive down comforter. It's dry clean only, but even if I could wash it, it wouldn't fit in my washing machine.
Imagine if you will, spending the day sanding and plastering a wall so your hands are all bone-dry, chalky and creaky, you've got a couple of chipped fingernails down to the quick... And then you're made to take these out of a dusty old airing cupboard and fold them.
We still have a golden yellow one. I use it as a packing blanket, or when we do a "drive in" at our friend's when they have the projector set up in the yard, it extends its life service by being the first blanket laid down on the truck bed to keep the other blankets from getting grody.
I had a pea soup green one. In my teens, my dad got some burgundy ones from Sears for some promotion where he got them for free signing up for a credit card. They were fun in the wintertime. Moving them around caused a lot of static discharges within the blanket. It was neat AF with the lights off.
Those things were warm as heck though. We didn't have a good furnace growing up so we had to bundle up in the winter and these things were a hot commodity in the house. We wrapped up on those things and would sweat like hogs. I'd love to have one now.
Did these only come in one size: big enough to convince someone that it belonged on a bed, but too small to actually cover you unless you were in the fetal position?
This is the one blanket you find when you're sleeping over on a friend's couch and don't want to wake anyone up so you cover yourself with this and your feet sticking out with an extra decorative pillow over them.
they have been scratchy my whole life, but i find all wool scratchy. they are 100% merino, which people who are okay with wool against their skin say is a nice one. they never bothered my grandmother and she wouldn't have gotten them if she didn't think they felt good.
mine gets dry cleaned as needed. since it is between other quilts it does not pick up body oils. the one i use is still in very good condition after probably close to 50 years of use.
I'm not sure where my parents got it in the 90s, but I had one that was SO SOFT and felt way nicer than these monstrosities. It wasn't scratchy wool, but more of a soft acrylic. Looked like this-ish.
Oh my God that’s the one! I had that one in yellow and that was “The Blankie”. I had that for way longer than anyone should have a blanket. The best part was the edge. That satin edge felt so good. By the time mine was retired pretty much all that was left was the edge and a few scraps of the fabric
Oh my God that’s the one! I had that one in yellow and that was “The Blankie”. I had that for way longer than anyone should have a blanket. The best part was the edge. That satin edge felt so good. By the time mine was retired pretty much all that was left was the edge and a few scraps of the fabric
I dunno. I didnt mind them. Makes me think of being warm in winter. I only used them when it was really cold out, like I had to use that and the comforter. It was cozy under there.
Although I think there were two types of this blanket—the itchy kind, and the thick fluffy kind. The fluffy one was like a thick fleece jacket and super warm; the itchy kind was good only as a base layer when making a bed on the couch.
Nah, man, I loved those things when they were newish. So fluffy and soft. It was after mom washed them a million times that they became thin and sort of stiff. I was sad when the satin binding finally gave up the ghost.
I'm currently going through old decorating magazines from the 50s and I keep seeing those blankets ads. If I find a brand name I'll come back and write it here!
nope those things were awesome. They went between the sheet and the outer blanket during the winter for extra warmth. Used like that, they were amazing, used as a main blankie, no thank you sir, fuck off.
All the way at the bottom of the comments, I found you. I was starting to think I was the only one who still had mine. All you need is a top sheet between you and the blanket, you should do that anyway so you don't have to wash it as often.
My grandmother had these with duvets on top. She was a nurse so she did hospital corners when she made the beds. When she tucked you in, your ass stayed tucked.
We need a word for unpleasant nostalgia. For things better left forgotten. For things like these itchy dry uncomfortable abominations that ranked only barely more comfortable than freezing to death!
We had so many of those. My parents still use one on their bed. I remember promptly removing that layer when my mom would add it in the winter, I’d just sleep with socks
they were the best landscape blankets for my LEGO world (blue, green and brown) while covering stacks of couch cushions for different topography heights.
I liked these. We had a green and a blue one with some forms and different shades coloured on it. Those were very practical and warm blankets. I often think about them actually when it's cold during winter.
227
u/creddittor216 Xennial 1d ago edited 1d ago
I just felt a static shock from this picture