How to Fold a Fitted Sheet
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I am not a cleanie by nature. But, I love to have a clean house. It frees me up to do the things that I do love. However, laundry is one of the household tasks I actually enjoy. Yeah, call me crazy. There is something therapeutic about seeing a mess of stinky Boy clothes transformed into nice neat stacks. Even if the nice neat stacks last about 32 seconds.
A couple things that my mom taught me many moons ago about laundry:
- Starched and ironed pillowcases feel divine.
- It’s better to match socks as they come through the dryer than to let them pile up in number until they fill a duffle bag that could weigh down the brawniest of seamen. Yeah, you make me laugh, Mom.
- Folding fitted sheets is not only easy, but makes your cupboards look so much nicer.
In case you never learned how to fold a fitted sheet, here’s my brief tutorial.
I used a crib sheet in this example, but if you need to see it larger than a baby bed, let me know and me and my trusty camera man will go back to work.
This works for me. How about you?
I love this! Most of the time I get so frustrated with those pesky fitted sheets that they get balled up in the cupboard. Thanks for the video!
Thanks for sharing! Now don’t think bad of me but I would like a video on how to get my towels folded nice and neatly as well.
I can do that! My aunt is a towel freak. She taught me that one.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! In all my years of wadding fitted sheets and hoping no one would ever see them . . . where were you??? Thanks again! 🙂
Great job! My mother-in-law taught me to fold the same way and then to wrap the folded flat sheet around the folded fitted sheet and pillowcases. It works perfect to keep everything together in the closet. We’ve been doing it for the last 11 years!
*Smile* I have been married for almost 20 years and never knew how to fold a fitted sheet. We’re never too old to learn something new!
Thank you very much!!
Frances
My husband is so great at folding sheets, I have left that daunting task to him for the last 13 years. I simply put them in a basket on his side of the bed, and before he goes to bed, he folds them with his nice long arms and tons of patience in a nice neat little pile. (I have him convinced that because I’m only 5 foot tall, my arms just aren’t long enough to do a good job!) And that’s how I fold fitted sheets! = ) You do a great job, though!
@Janine, Well, I’m 5 foot 3. So, I’m not sure that excuse is going to work! 😉
@Jessica Fisher, I told my hubby what I commented on your post about folding sheets…he said, “I know your arms are long enough…but I don’t mind folding the sheets for you.” Just one more reason to give 10 more years. Thanks for encouraging the endearing dinner conversation.
@Janine, My husband also is the “fitted sheet folder” in our house. He does an amazing job. Although he keeps showing me “just how easy it is”. I tell him it’s easier for me to have him do it! I love that man! 🙂
@Michelle K, I was always told..”if it ain’t broke….don’t fix it!” My hubby is fully confident in all that I do, so he doesn’t balk at folding some sheets. So I say….Amen. = ) Enjoy your perfectly folded sheets!
I learned to fold my sheets just like that as a little girl! I have been doing it that way ever since. I just read somewhere…can’t remember where…about storing your sheet sets in one of the pillowcases to keep everything together and neat. I really like that idea, so I am going to try that too!
I have to say, the thought has NEVER occurred to me that you could make your fitted sheets look good – kinda thought it was just one of those things! I learn something new every day – thank you! 🙂
Thanks so much… I always wondered what I was doing wrong and thanks to your video, I have figured it out.
YOU ROCK!!!
I learned how to do that a few years ago and my linen closet has never looked better!
Bravo! It is so impressive to see someone do that correctly and calmly!
I love the video!
That is exactly how I learned how to fold a fitted sheet- except I learned from Martha and not my mom. Martha folds a wicked nice towel too.
How do you fold your towels?
I tried doing this from a description I read, which I *think* was trying to describe this but didn’t quite succeed. 🙂 I’ll have to try again after watching the video. However, I usually grab the corners of the sheets ABOVE the elastic (where the corner stitching is) and let the elastic part hang down and sort of tuck it under, then fold it that way (you have something resembling plain, i.e. non-elastic, corners). That’s super easy too.
I’m a laundry freak too!! I guess I learned how to fold sheets when I was younger from my Mom.
Looks like several people will have better looking linen closets now 🙂
That’s also how I fold my fitted sheets! I saw it on Martha Stewart about 10 years ago when I first moved out of my parents house. It makes the linen closet look so much better. She even showed how to fold towels. Not sure if this explains it right but fold the towel long ways in thirds then fold it over on itself so you end up with a narrow width. I know that makes zero sense reading my explanation. Just wait for the new video tutorial.
That’s how my mom taught me 😀 It really is easy, isn’t it!
OK, I’m stupid. I have never seen this done and I’m SO glad I know how, now that I’m 47. I always just seem to wad them up, in an orderly kind of way. NOW I’m a real woman! 🙂
Thanks for the demo!
Kelly
Proud to be a part of this rite of passage. 😉
honestly, i have ALWAYS wanted to know how to correctly do these! i usually just crumple them up and hide them away! thanks!
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I have read the directions for doing it that way but could never quite make it work. I think I better understand now. I have a load of sheets to go in the wash today–I’ll get to practice now!
Thanks!
well, since we have oodles of cupboard space in our bathroom, the sheets get balled up and shoved in to the lower drawers. Towels are folded neatly in the cupboard part on top. Hopefully no one tries to open the bottom drawers 😉
Well, you *know* I think this was a fabulous vlog!
I’ve had it on my to-do list for the past 6 weeks to get a vlog up about sheets. But my camera man doesn’t ever seem to be home when I need to shoot it! I’m glad you were able to!
Beautiful work. 🙂
-Lauren
Thank you so much for showing this. I knew how to do the first half where you match the corners, but I could never figure out how to get it to fold nicely. The extra fold into a rectangle will help alot! I also take my sheets and stick them in one of the pillowcases. This way, my hubby can help change sheets and he doesn’t need me to pick out the right sheets. Thanks!!
Good video! 🙂
I saw that on Martha Stewart years ago, when I first got married, and it was SO helpful! My mom just folded them willy-nilly so we had majorly uneven sheets in the linen closet. Learning to fold my fitted sheets like that has been such a help – I don’t even think about it anymore! 🙂
thanks so much i kept meaning to look this up online but always forget once i get to my computer hehe. i love doing laundry too i tell everyone i would rather have a dream laundry room than a dream kitchen hah!
Fitted sheets are tough:-)
Thank you! I have always wondered the best way to do this.
Thanks – I just washed the bedding and was dreading the fight with that thing.
I have seen other tutorials and have been following them. I seem to do fine with smaller sheets but the double and queen sizes (I don’t have king) seem to start off okay but end up bulky, so I’m not sure where I’m going wrong with those ones. But like you I am not a cleanie but I like clean!
No way – very cool! Thanks a bunch!
YEAH – thanks for the video. Mine normally end up in a ball! How about an easy way to change a crib sheet? I always have to pull the mattress out!
What a great tutorial! I’ve never seen it done before and have never been able to do it myself. They just get tossed onto the shelf.
This was shown to me in MOPS 3 years ago and they went so fast that I forgot how to get past the first step. Thank you so much for putting it on video, so now I can watch whenever I forget 🙂 If you ever have time I would love to see a queen size demo. I can usually mange the crib sheets, but it is a whole different ball game when I have to wrestle all the excess fabric. I usually end up standing on a chair, even though I am pretty tall, and my arms are exhausted by the time I am done. The sheet usually ends up in a rumpled pile 🙂
I saw this done on the original Martha Stewart show many years ago and thought it was a GREAT idea. I’ve been folding fitted sheets like this ever sense – and even taught my mom how to do it after she saw how neat my sheet sets were. So glad to see someone else is passing this on as well! Blessings!
@Carrie,
Couldn’t let it go – “since” NOT “sense”! 🙂
Thanks. That is exactly how I fold my fitted sheets too! My 1st step-mother use to also have me fold the flat sheet so I could basically wrap it around the fitted one with the pillowcase(s) in the middle. Sort of like a sandwich cause then everything was together and when you pulled it out you were less likely to drop the pillowcase(s).
I’ve never known how to do that in all my 39 years! Everything else about laundry I love (except getting out hot chocolate stains that always appear on my 5-year-olds shirts).
I fold my sheets, almost exactly the same way. The only difference is I stack all four corners on my right hand instead of putting one side on my left hand, and then putting them together, as you so wonderfully demonstrated. My mom taught me to fold my sheets like that when I was a little girl! The funny thing, is my MIL never learned to fold her fitted sheets, so she keeps asking me to fold her sheets for her! She has asked me to teach her my method, but she can’t quite seem to master it. (She is 84) Maybe your video would help her! 🙂 thanks for the practical encouragement!
Thanks for this tutorial!
I was taught once and can easily translate my skills to a crib sheet because it is not bulky. But standard size sheets end up in balls in our house. Would you mind doing this again on a queen sized sheet? I think I would feel so accomplished if I could actually master this task. Thanks so much!!
Wow! Never knew there was a special way to do that- can’t wait to try it! Thanks! 🙂
I learned ‘towel 101’ years ago. I still can’t do fitted sheets after all the lessons I’ve seen and read.
As far as laundry day, I put all the clean socks in the basket and bring it out of the laundry room for sorting&matching. Matching for me means amount of wear and likely life left. If I put the ones with worn spots (Not quite holes) together, they’ll likely ‘pop’ at the same time. Better that than having a good sock with a bad one when you’re away for the day.
(I’m old enough to remember ‘darning eggs’ or using potatoes, but “Darn” if I even learned the trick.)
thank you SO much for that video- it’s perfect! fitted sheets are always such a hassle, and they are THE most unruly looking things in my linen closet, until now! I just did some laundry, and now I get to put your tutorial to practice 😀
I love this! When I first got married (at 17), an older woman in our apartment’s laundromat taught me how to fold fitted sheets. I had never seen them folded before and was amazed! I continue to think about that day every time I fold my sheets and it is such a fond memory of mine.
I have never been able to fold a fitted sheet! I just end up rolling them and then they look a mess and take up too much space. Thanks for the video. If you have time to do another video, I would love to see how it works with bigger sheets. We only have full and queen sized beds (no kids yet).
This is SOOOOOOO COOL.
Yes. Capital Letters.
Yes. Many of them.
Cool!!!!
I saw that on a Martha Stewert show years ago and have done my fitted sheets like that ever since. I love how everything stays nice and neat doing them that way.
Thanks so much for this! I’ve linked this to my own blog as it’s so useful, I’ve never seen how to do this!
Yay! Thanks for the tip! You don’t know how many people don’t know how to fold sheets, so you’re fantastic to have a video demo!
I was just trying to figure out how to fold these fitted crib sheets – I typed how to fold a fitted crib sheet into Google and found your video! I am standing here folding away, feeling a sense of accomplishment. Thank you, thank you!!!
Yeah! So glad that google and I could help you today!
That is cool! I had no idea how to do that. Thanks! Notice the exclamation marks. I’m really am excited to learn this. Now I’m going to practice.
You know, mine are generally just wadded in a big ball and shoved in the linen closet! LOL. I HATE folding sheets BECAUSE of the fitted sheet. But you know, you may be onto something now!