Essential Bedding Terminology
Posted by Elizabeth on Monday, 06/19/06 at 3:15 pm to Bedding Terminology
Have you ever been shopping for bedding and seen a term that was totally foreign to you? To take the guess work out of your next shopping experience, you may want to browse through our list of essential bedding terminology.
- Bed Spread: A bed cover with sides that go to the floor. This does not require a bed skirt.
- Comforter: A filled bed cover that is quilted and usually reversible. They require a bed skirt to complete the look, as the sides only go about halfway to the floor.
- Thread Count: The number of thread ends per square inch in a woven fabric
- Bed Skirt (also Bed Ruffle or Dust Ruffle): A decorative piece used to cover the boxspring and legs of the bed. It fits between the mattress and boxspring and hangs to the floor.
- Drop: The length of a bed skirt.
- Pleated: Sewn in folds like a fan
- Flanged: Including a decorative band of fabric that is straight or tailored; often used to describe pillows or pillow shams
- Pillow Shams: Decorative coverings for pillows, often designed with trims, ruffles, flanges, or cording. Shams are normally placed behind the pillows used to sleep on, which would be covered with regular pillowcases.
- European Sham (or Euro Sham): A decorative pillow covering which fits a large 26” x 26” pillow. These are often placed behind the standard size pillow shams as a backdrop for all of the other pillows.
- Tailored: Simple in line or design
- Boudoir Pillows (or Breakfast Pillows): Small rectangular decorative throw pillows.
- Duvet Cover: A decorative and protective covering for a duvet (usually down). Most duvet covers have a button or tie closure at one end.
- Neckroll: Small cylindrical decorative throw pillows
- Swatches: Sample cuttings of fabric
If you are curious about a bedding term and did not see it listed here, just let me know.
November 8th, 2006 at 8:08 am
Hello Elizabeth,
Just happened to come across your site when searching for bedding terms. I’m from the U.K. and here in the north of England, we have slightly different terms for some bedding items. Here are a few examples I know of:
Eiderdown: Not just the down from the Eider duck used as a filling, but a description of what I suspect you refer to as a comforter. Here they are decorative and typically quilted, but only cover the top surface of the bed without hanging down. Usually placed over a bedspread which your descrption fits here too.
Bolster: A large, long pillow which extends the width of the bed and acts as an underpillow to the regular pillows. Available in different widths to suit different bed sizes, though other dimensions as for a typical pillow.
Bolster Cover: Not suprisingly, a cover for the bolster.
The above items are in declining use as most people are moving to the ubiquitous duvet. These usually extend about 1 foot from the edge of the bed as an Eiderdown would not be warm enough, yet a comforter sized item would not allow the user to stick his/her feet out in warmer weather!
I’ve not heard of a bed skirt before as we tend not to cover the base of the bed these days. If we do have a longer cover, then it’s the bottom sheet which can have a pleated surround, but this, of course, drops from above the mattress.
I don’t think we have shams either. Some pillow cases have frills, typically pleated ones, but most are plain and all are used for sleeping on directly rather than placing under other plain covered pillows.
Bed widths here are 3ft (single bed), 4ft 6in (double bed), 5ft (queen sized bed), and 5ft 6in (king sized bed). There are larger 6ft beds but these are very uncommon.
Hope that helps if you’re ever in the U.K. and need bedding.
November 10th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
Hi Carl,
Thank you for all of this information. I’m sure this will be useful, especially for people who are looking to decorate in a more European style.
Thanks!
Elizabeth