A Cushion is a soft bag usually of some fancy material, stuffed with wool, feathers, polyester staple fiber,etc - also known as throw pillow or toss pillow, which is a cushion that is purely decorative and not designed for support or comfort.It may be used to soften the hardness or angle of a chair or sofa.

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A Pillow is a large cushion support for the head, usually used while sleeping in a bed, or for the body as used on a sofa or chair. A pillow is designed to provide support and comfort to the body. There are three main types of Pillows / Cushions with some uses of one type also found in the other.

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Decorative cushions, Bed pillows & Orthopedic pillows. We'll be talking about only the first two types in this article.

Decorative Cushions: Decorative cushions have two uses. They normally have fancy cushion covers which helps in enhancing the look of the room. Even when used as part of a Bedspread set, to Make a Perfect Bed, decorative cushions are not used for sleeping & usually removed at bedtime, thus, while found on the bed, as their main purpose is decoration, they are called Decorative Cushions.

Decorative cushions are also found in other living areas of the house or Hotel such as Living Rooms, Studies, Lounges, Lobby seating, etc. on Sofas, chairs, lounge chairs, window seats, etc. Here they are placed in such a manner that they look 'tossed' or 'thrown' casually! (Hence Throw Cushion)

These throw cushions or decorative cushions are always matched or are in contrast to the Color scheme / theme of the area in such a way that they always bring out the best qualities of the Theme / Furniture piece / Room / Color scheme. Hence also called 'Accent' pillows /cushions.

Floor Pillows are another kind of decorative cushions used for sitting or kneeling upon. These pillows often finish 24" x 24" or 30" x 30".

Bed Pillows:

The classic bed pillow shape is usually a rectangle, sometimes with 1" to 2" wide flaps around all edges or with 4 pointed corners. Body pillows are usually 140cm long& are normally useful in providing support for those who sleep on their sides and for pregnant women. Similar pillows are available in Japan with anime style images on them & called Dakimakura.

Euro Sham: A decorative cushion cover which fits a 26" x 26" cushion These are placed behind the standard size pillow shams as a backdrop for all of the other pillows.

Neck roll: Small cylindrical decorative throw pillows; also called Bolster.

Boudoir Pillows: Small rectangular decorative throw pillows also known as Breakfast Pillows.

Standard sizes for Pillows / Cushions / Neck rolls - Bolsters:

Sleeping Pillows: These are our normal pillows used to sleep on.
· Normal: 17" x 27"
· Queen: 20" x 30"
· King: 20" x 36"

Euro Shams: These are Big, Square decorative Cushions.
· 24" x 24"
· 28" x 28"

Square throw Cushions: Standard sized cushions used as bed accessories.
· 16" x 16"
· 18" x 18"

Boudoir Cushions: These are small, rectangular throw cushions, usually kept in pairs.
· 9" x 16" / 9" x 18" / 12" x 20" / 9" x 24" / 9" x 36"
· 9" x 54" or 9" x 60" when used as single cushions
(Also known as Body Pillow or even as Bolster in some parts of the world).

Neck rolls: Small cylindrical decorative throw pillows. Can be made up of High Density Foam to maintain shape.
· 4" to 6" dia. x 18" to 36" length

Bolsters: Big Brother of Neck rolls; usually filled with Polyester fiberfill. (Mainly called so in India)
· 9" to 12" dia x 24" to 36" length

About Cushions & Pillows

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