I've not washed much it yet (1x) so I don't know how it holds up, but so far it is very soft. The blue is turquoise but the dot pattern makes to colors subtle and easy to blend with others (such as the grean/teal I have in the drapes). I turned it 90deg so that the stripes go the same direction as the shams - this makes it a bit wide but i prefer that over the stripes going different directions like in the sales photo. Its nice to have a flannel in a pattern more modern and subtle than most commonly available. It is bigger than a standard queen duvet insert, you may want to put a king insert in instead to give a fuller look.