Commonly Used Terms:

Bed Skirt - a flat piece of fabric to which a skirt is attached on three sides; typically it covers the top of the box spring and drops to the floor; usually used with a comforter or coverlet; also called a dust ruffle.

Bedspread - decorative cover for a bed; a decorative covering placed on top of bedding

Blanket - bedding that keeps a person warm in bed

Cal King - California King Size

Chintz - a brightly printed and glazed cotton fabric; a glazed cotton fabric usually printed with a brightly colored pattern

Comforter - bedding made of two layers of cloth filled with stuffing and stitched together; a warm quilt used as a bed covering

Coverlet - a decorative bedspread (usually quilted); a usually decorative cover for a bed, placed over the other covers when the bed is not being used

Denim - a durable woven cotton cloth; a coarse durable twill-weave cotton fabric

Down - soft fine feathers; the soft breast feathers of a duck or goose, especially the female eider duck which traps warm air next to its skin; with its naturally insulating properties, high quality down will provide lightweight warmth year round. Use: filling for pillows and quilts.

Down Alternative - synthetic or natural filling material used in comforters and duvets, with insulating and warming properties similar to down

Duvet - a soft quilt usually filled with the down of the eider; a bed quilt made up of broad channels stuffed with down or synthetic material, usually used inside a removable washable cover in place of or together with sheets and blankets

Egyptian cotton - fine somewhat brownish long-staple cotton grown in Egypt; believed to be derived from Sea Island cotton or by hybridization with Peruvian cotton; a long-fiber variety of cotton, native to Egypt, used for making highly absorbent or luxury textiles

Eyelet - a small hole (usually round and finished around the edges) in cloth; a small hole with ornamental stitched edges in embroidered fabric

Flannel - a soft cotton cloth with a nap on one side. Use: clothing, sleepwear, sheets; a soft closely woven woolen or wool-blend cloth

Futon - a firm Japanese-style cotton-covered mattress used as a seat or bed, either on the floor or on a wooden frame

Linen - a fabric woven with fibers from the flax plant; a thread or durable fabric made from the spun fibers of flax

Percale - a fine closely woven cotton fabric; a smooth-textured closely woven cotton or polyester fabric. Use: sheets, clothing

Quilt - any cover or garment made by putting wool, cotton, etc., between two cloths and stitching them together; a bed cover made of two layers of fabric stitched together with padding held in place by decorative intersecting seams

Sateen - A kind of dress goods made of cotton or woolen, with a glossy surface resembling satin; a cotton or polyester fabric with a shiny side intended to look like satin

Pillow Sham - bed linen consisting of a decorative cover for a pillow

Throw - bed clothes consisting of a lightweight cloth covering (an afghan or bedspread) that is casually thrown over something

Valance - a short decorative piece of drapery or wood hung across a window to cover the rod from which curtains hang; a plain, pleated, or gathered fabric cover that hangs from a shelf or from the base of a bed to the floor

Velvet - a silky densely piled fabric with a plain back; a cotton, silk, or nylon fabric with a dense, soft, usually lustrous pile and a plain underside