Bed skirt

A bed skirt, sometimes spelled bedskirt, a bed ruffle, a dust ruffle in North America, a valance,^[1] or a valance sheet in the British Isles, is a piece of decorative fabric that is placed between the mattress and the box spring of a bed that extends to the floor around the sides. In addition to its aesthetics, a bed skirt is used to hide the ensemble fabric, wheels and other unsightly objects underneath the bed, or as protection against dust.^[2]

Popularized in the early 20th century, though dating back to the late 18th century in their earliest usage,^[3] valances were strictly utilitarian up until the 1930s and 1940s, when many women began to lavishly decorate their bedrooms. For about a century, bed skirts have been considered as intrinsic pieces of bedding and as crucial as the bedcover itself.^[4] Bed skirts generally measure between 14 inches (36 cm) and 16 inches (41 cm) in their drop.^[5]