Pillow Sham and Pillow Cover

Is Pillow Sham Same As Pillow Cover?

If you have spent time looking through a luxury bedding collection, you must have come across the words "pillow case" and "pillow sham."

This might be perplexing for individuals who are unfamiliar with interior decorator jargon. You may be thinking, what exactly is a sham? Is it simply another word for a pillow case? In fact, you may come across websites and blogs that claim pillow cases and pillow shams are interchangeable. In reality, they are similar but not identical.

What Is the Distinction Between a Sham and a Pillow Case?

Simply said, a pillow case keeps your pillow clean while you sleep, but a pillow sham hides your pillows behind a more attractive façade.

But how do you tell them distinct?

Pillow covers are often open on one end with no form of closure. They are often simpler and so less ornamental. They are frequently created from the same fabric as the sheets they go with. Superior pillow coverings may include ornamental accents, often at the open cuff. This might include embroidery, hemstitching, or matching materials for the cuff.

Pillow shams, on the other hand, often open from the back, sometimes with a concealed fastening and occasionally with an overlapping length of cloth. They are usually bordered on three or four sides by a flat piece of cloth known as a flange. The flange can be embellished with embroidery or other embellishments, or it can be left plain. The pillow sham is often made to complement the more ornamental parts of bedding, like a coverlet or duvet cover, but it can also be distinctively created to provide a burst of colour, bring other colours from the room into the bedding ensemble, or stand out in any other way.

Is It Possible to Sleep on a Sham?

While you may theoretically sleep on a pillow sham, and some people do, it is not their intended use. Many shams, in fact, may be less pleasant to sleep on, either because they are made of rough ornamental fabrics or because the flanges are heavy and awkwardly bunch up while you sleep.

So, when it's time for bed, what do you do with them? Some people sleep with their shams behind their bed pillows, offering a layer of cushioning between the sleeper's head and the headboard of the bed. More typically, shams can be removed totally from the bed throughout the night to help keep them clean and avoid soiling them with oils from skin or hair.

Styling with Shams

While there are several methods to arrange your bed pillows, the most typical ones are:

Stacked: This is the most basic layout, and it can be found in many households across the world. To begin, place your sleeping pillows flat against the mattress. Cuffs are often directed outward toward the bed's borders. Then layer pillows with attractive shams on top. This results in a fast but appealing arrangement. Some people opt to rest ornamental accent pillows against the stack, but they aren't necessary for a more minimalist effect.

Layered: This is one of our favourite arrangements because it allows you to exhibit pillows of various sizes, fabrics, textures, and colours in an appealing and harmonious manner. Begin by resting your sleeping pillows against the headboard, cuffs toward the edge of the bed. Display several Euro size pillows covered in shams in a neat row against them. Finally, if wanted, add ornamental pillows such as boudoir, bolster, or neck roll sizes in front. This style may be modified to accommodate as many or as few decorative pillows as you desire, giving you practically limitless design options!

Asymmetrical: This type of style is less organised and more imaginative. The arrangement is similar to the layered option above, but bigger and/or smaller pillows are used on only one side of the bed. With the potential exception of the smaller ornamental throw pillows at the front, this works best if all of the pillows are similar in colour and texture.

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