Pillow Shams

Pillow shams and pillow cases are both to cover the pillow inserts. However, a pillow case is a simple, one layer cover shell with are usualy the same material with the fitted sheet and flat sheet that you would change every week.

A pillow sham is typically a fancy padded shell with flange and it has the same design as the coverlet. So, if you have a matelasse coverlet, you normallly would want to furnish your bed with matchign matelasse pillow shams.

A queen size bed is often dressed with at least 2 pillows with pillow cases (practical usage) and 2 to 4 pillows with pillow shams and a few more smaller decorative pillows or rolls.