Comforter Sizes and Dimensions Guide

You’re finally done! You sifted through mattress types, measured your room dimensions to calculate your correct mattress size, and found the best mattress for you. Now, getting a new comforter should be easy, right? Well, not so fast.

You’d think because mattresses come in standard sizes, the same would hold true for comforters, as well—a king is 76 by 80 inches, so every comforter ought to be made to fit those dimensions, and so on. The reality makes a lot less sense because every bedding manufacturer has different standards, meaning not every king comforter will fit your king size mattress the way you want it to.

Let’s talk about a few important considerations you need to be aware of when buying a comforter.

Comforter Sizes and Dimensions

Since there are no set dimensions for comforters like there are for mattresses, they come in a range of widths and lengths that correspond to each mattress size. Here are the most common ones:

How a Comforter Should Cover Your Bed

Your comforter should hang in equal lengths on three sides of the bed. For example, if you’ve got 12 inches of comforter hanging over the right and left sides, the same 12 inches should also hang off the foot.

Your comforter also has to cover the different components of your bed. If you just have a mattress and a frame or platform without additional box springs/foundation, the comforter should cover both the mattress and frame while still not touching the floor.

However, if you have a base like a foundation or box spring, the comforter should cover both your mattress and its base as well as the frame. The idea is to get a comforter wide and long enough that no part of your bed other than the legs is visible below the comforter edge.

Picking the Right Comforter Size

Since not all comforters in each size are the same lengths and widths, you’ll want to check your comforter’s exact measurements before you buy. If you want more coverage, comforters on the wider and longer end of the spectrum will be better, but if you don’t like the idea of comforter corners touching the floor, you might want to go smaller. In addition, you need to ensure you’re picking a comforter that will be large enough to account for your mattress thickness/depth.

Mattress thickness will have an impact on whether your comforter covers what it needs to cover. Most mattresses are between 9 and 12 inches thick. With this thickness level, you should have enough material to cover your mattress, bed base, etc. However, if you have a pillow top, additional comfort layer, mattress pad, or anything else that bumps your mattress depth above 12 inches, you may need a comforter on the larger end of the size spectrum or even an oversize comforter to cover the sides of the bed.

FAQs

Does comforter construction affect how it fits?

Baffle box and sewn-through construction both impact the thickness of your comforter and, as a result, how it fits your bed.

Baffle box construction contains thin strips of fabric vertically sewn between the covers to create boxes for comforter stuffing. Such construction allows the comforter to attain full loft (height/poof), which makes it thick and fluffy like a pillow. Baffle box comforters might be stiffer when they’re just sitting on your bed, sticking out a little before bending downwards rather than folding sharply over the edge.

Sewn-through construction simply creates filling chambers by sewing one comforter cover to the other, limiting the loft and thickness and giving the comforter more flexibility to fold right over your mattress’ edges.

Will filling type have an impact on how my comforter fits?

Yes. Some fillings have a lot more fill power (the amount of space one ounce of filling takes up), which leads to more loft. This means a down comforter will fit your bed differently than a polyester or cotton one. Comforters with high-loft fillings will be fluffier and will retain some of their own shape—meaning they may not conform as tightly to the shape of your mattress. While comforters with low-loft fillings will probably be more flexible and hang off your bed closer to the way a quilt would.

What does the label “oversized” on a comforter mean?

Oversized comforters normally have a lot more width than their standard-sized counterparts. They are made to accommodate thicker mattress types, like hybrids or innerspring beds with a pillow top. You might need an oversized comforter if you have a mattress thicker than 12 inches and don’t want to sacrifice coverage.

Why are some comforters labeled full/queen?

Some manufacturers think the full beds and queen size mattresses are the same (they aren’t), so they say their comforters are compatible with both bed sizes (they’re not). If your comforter is labeled full/queen, it is more likely to be too big for a full and too small for a queen, so pay extra attention to the dimensions whenever you run across a comforter with this label. If you want a comforter that ideally fits your mattress, it may be best to avoid comforters marked suitable for both sizes.

Can a king comforter work for my Cal king bed?

In a word: no. California kings are four inches narrower and four inches longer than a standard king mattress. If you try to use a king size comforter on a Cal king mattress (or vice versa), the comforter will either wind up being too short and wide or too long and narrow. This will make even coverage impossible and give your bed a wonky, off-kilter look.

Bottom Line

Buying a comforter can be a lot more complicated than you might think. To get a good fit, you have to consider mattress thickness, comforter filling, who’s sleeping under the comforter, and how you want your bed to look.

The best thing to do when trying to find the best comforter for you is to measure the thickness of your mattress (and base if applicable). Thickness is the most important factor in determining your comforter needs, adding or decreasing the required width by up to several inches.