Parts of a Bed Set – Labeled Layers of Bedding

All 12 pieces on the diagram

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On the bed 8

Bed skirt A decorative cloth that hides the box spring and the bed's legs. It fits between mattress and box spring. Also called a dust ruffle.
Mattress pad It lies on the mattress, under the bottom sheet. It adds comfort or keeps the mattress clean.
Fitted sheet The bottom sheet, with corners shaped to fit tightly over the mattress.
Flat sheet The top sheet. It lies over the fitted sheet. It is tucked in at the foot and sides, open at the head.
Blanket A woven cloth cover used for warmth.
Comforter A bed cover filled with padding and used like a blanket. Its sides reach only about halfway to the floor.
Sham A decorative cover for a pillow. It often has a flat border called a flange. Shams stand behind the pillows you sleep on.
Bolster A long, narrow pillow, usually shaped like a cylinder. It is used for decoration or to support the lower back.

Covers and what goes in them 4

Pillow The sleeping pillow: the rectangular pillow you lay your head on.
Pillowcase The plain cover a sleeping pillow goes into, open at one end.
Duvet A soft flat bag used like a blanket. Filled with down, feathers or a synthetic filling.
Duvet cover A decorative and protective cover for a duvet. Most have buttons or ties at one end.

How this list was compiled: Names checked on 2026-09-30; a name is kept only when two independent sources use it. (1) Wikipedia, Bedding, text only, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedding (bed skirt or dust ruffle, mattress pad, fitted sheet, flat or top sheet, blanket, comforter, duvet, duvet cover, pillow shams, pillowcases, sleeping pillow, bolster). (2) Kim Johnson Gross and Jeff Stone, Bed Linens: Head to Toe (1994), read through the Internet Archive's full-text search, https://archive.org/details/bedlinensheadtot00gros (fitted sheet, flat sheet, top sheet, pillowcase, sham, bed skirt, dust ruffle, duvet cover, comforter, blanket, mattress pad, bolster). (3) What's What, a Visual Glossary of the Physical World (1981), read the same way, https://archive.org/details/whatswhatvisualg0000brag_z6n4 (fitted sheet, top sheet, blanket, comforter, dust ruffle, bed pad). The two books are in copyright and were read as search snippets, not whole pages. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; no maker's product is copied and nothing is traced. Licence: own work

How it works

These are the parts of bedding on a made bed, in the order they go on. Each layer is drawn a little shorter than the one under it so that you can see them all.

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From the mattress up

The bed skirt hangs below the mattress. On the mattress lies the mattress pad, then the fitted sheet, the flat sheet, the blanket and, on top, the comforter. At the head, a sham stands against the headboard and a bolster lies in front of the pillow.

What goes inside what

A pillow goes inside a pillowcase. A duvet goes inside a duvet cover, which closes with buttons or ties at one end.

Flat sheet and top sheet are the same piece; so are bed skirt and dust ruffle.
A duvet is used with a cover. A comforter is used as it is.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of a bed set called?

A set of bedding has at least a fitted sheet to cover the mattress, a flat top sheet, a blanket, quilt or duvet, and pillows with pillowcases. Sets often add shams, a comforter and a bed skirt.

What order do the layers of bedding go in?

From the mattress up: a mattress pad, the fitted sheet, the flat sheet, a blanket, then a comforter or a duvet in its cover. Pillows go at the head, with shams behind them.

What is the difference between a sham and a pillowcase?

A pillowcase is the plain cover on the pillow you sleep on. A sham is a decorative cover, often with a flange or other trim, and shams are normally placed behind the sleeping pillows.

What is the difference between a duvet and a comforter?

A comforter is a padded bed cover used as a blanket. A duvet is a soft flat bag of down, feathers or synthetic filling that goes inside a separate duvet cover, and it is usually thicker than a comforter.