A Great Night’s Sleep Starts with Knowing Your Bedding Basics

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Night after night, wash after wash…you won’t give our bedding a second thought. Which is exactly the way it should be! After a long day, we think the last thing you should have to think about is less-than-soft sheets, scratchy blankets or lumpy pillows. So rest easy knowing that every time you buy one of our plush blankets or soft sheet sets, it’s going to be just as we describe it. Sweet dreams!

Bedding Terms

Bedspreads cover the entire bed by folding over the bed pillows and hanging all the way to the floor on a standard bed. Standard beds have a drop of 21" from the top of the bed to the floor and 14" from the top of the boxspring to the floor. Bedspreads tend to be not quite as thick and fluffy as comforters. Many bedspreads have coordinating shams to decorate the head of the bed, although they are not a necessity since bedspreads do cover the bed pillows.

Comforters cover the mattress, but not the boxspring. Since the top and bottom fabrics of a Comforter are quilted together with a filling material in between, they are usually fluffier and thicker than a bedspread or coverlet. Most often, a comforter is used with a dust ruffle to decoratively cover the boxspring and hang to the floor. Since a comforter is not long enough to cover the bed pillows, many people use shams.

Coverlets are thin decorative comforters that can be used as the main spread on a bed or to add style and luxury to your ensemble.

Duvet covers are used to decorate and protect down filled comforters and blankets. They work like giant pillow cases and usually have a button or flap enclosure at one end. The Covers can be washed easily and so protect your cozy down comforter, which would be much harder to launder every week. Europeans use Duvet Covers instead of top flat sheets so they prefer a higher thread count so a softer duvet. Higher thread count duvet covers also help keep any down that might escape the comforter from a complete get away.

Duvets reduce the complexity of making a bed, as it is a single cover instead of the combination of two sheets, blankets, and quilts or other bed covers, which is traditional in many parts of the world. Beds equipped with duvets are usually covered first with a flat or fitted bed sheet and then afterwards with a covered duvet. The cover is called a "duvet cover" or a "quilt cover".

Egyptian combed cotton is considered the finest quality, longest staple cotton in the world. The quality of cotton depends on the lengths of the staples—the longer the staple, the better the cotton.

Shams are decorative pillow covers. Usually flanged, shams are used as extra pillows on beds to hide the bed pillows and coordinate with the outer bed covering, like a bedspread or comforter. Shams come in several different sizes: King, Standard, Euro, Boudoir and Neckrolls.

Sheets are large rectangular pieces of cotton or linen cloths; used in pairs for bed linens. There is a large variety in the designs, patterns and color range of bed sheets. Sheets may be available in a medley of designs and paterns such as geometircal, floral or plain. A fitted Sheet fitted sheet has cotton spandex ends and full elastic to guarantee a snug fit on standard and pillowtop mattresses whereas a flat sheet.

A "fitted" bed sheet is not a simple flat cloth, but is sewn to match the shape of the mattress. The corners are fitted with elastic so they can be stretched over the mattress, and then the edges can be tucked under the mattress. Sometimes confused with a comforter, it is usually found under a comforter, but over the mattress cover.

In many areas of the world a second flat bed sheet is lain on top of the sheet covering the mattress. This is known as a "top sheet." One sleeps between the two bed sheets. Comforters and other bed covers are then placed on top of the second bed sheet.

Thread count is the number of horizontal and vertical threads in one square inch of fabric. Thread count can be useful in the purchase process, but should certainly not be an overriding factor in the final decision. However, as in my other guide, thread count is only one part of the story. When choosing sheets, the quality of cotton, the feel of fabric, the nature of the finishing, and the fashion is most important.

Bed Sizes

Beds come in four sizes: twin, double (or full), queen, and king.

California King - 72" x 84"

King - 76" x 80"

Queen - 60" x 80"

Full ("double")          53" x 75"

Twin    38" x 75" 
 

Full beds Sometimes still called "double," full beds are 53 inches wide, which is just 15 inches wider than a twin size (single). A Full size bed is only enough space for a single sleeper and only if the person is under 5 feet 5 inches tall. Parents are increasingly choosing full size over twin for teenage bedrooms. Parents are even making this choice for younger children in to give themselves a more comfortable place to rest when reading together at tuck-in time.

Queen beds A queen bed is 60 inches wide by approximately 80 inches long – 6 inches wider and 5 inches longer than a full size mattress. These added inches can make all the difference in comfort, especially for couples, and have made the queen today's most popular mattress size. However, with 30 inches of personal space, each adult still has 9 inches less width than if they slept alone in a twin bed. Queen size is a good choice for guest rooms, smaller master bedrooms and for couples who prefer close quarters. It's also a great choice for single sleepers who are also "sprawlers."

King beds These are 76 inches wide by approximately 80 inches long – about 18 inches wider than a queen. This is the closest a couple can come to having as much personal space (38 inches) as each would have on a twin bed. In fact, two twin extra-long beds pushed together are about the same size, an option that can offer a flexible arrangement for a guest room. For consumers on the west coast, there is also the "California King," which is 72 inches wide by 84 inches long – 4 inches narrower and 4 inches longer than a regular king

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