How to Fold a Fitted Sheet, the Easy Way
One of my favourite genres is "self-help you don't need, from non-experts". Think The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up. Books and ideas that spread around the world and, if you take just a moment to think about it, you realise "this is a bit silly, I don't need this."
So this is my contribution to the genre.
Enter: the fitted sheet. I've never bothered to fold one before, and the internet has told me that it is too hard, so don't bother ... So I never bothered. I just assumed that it was too hard.
And then I thought for a moment and realised it couldn't be that hard -- it's just a sheet, after all.
So I searched the internet and found some tutorials and ...
... And they didn't work.
I just couldn't figure it out. It was all "put one corner inside the other corner" and "then grab this corner and hold it in your other hand" and none of this made sense to me. Perhaps it really is too hard to fold a fitted sheet.
But the desire was still there, and everytime I opened my laundry cupboard, I could see the extra space these unfolded sheets took up, and everything was just getting messy and annoying and, you know what, it was time to try again.
So, before we start, let's begin with the ...
Cheats Easy Way to Fold a Fitted Sheet
And the answer is: don't. Instead of worrying about folding the sheet, use a pillow case to hold the entire linen set. So you can fold the first pillow case, and fold the top sheet, and then stuff then into the second pillow case and then stuff in the fitted sheet like a sleeping bag.
This, obviously, is not folding the sheet at all but it does keep it contained. It's a middle ground. And, for about six months, it worked well for me.
But it still takes up a lot of space, and it still looks ugly. So I thought long and hard and realised that a fitted sheet is not that much different to a tent, and I'm pretty good at folding up a tent.
So, here it is:
The Ultimate Easy Way to Fold a Fitted Sheet
Before we begin, I think I should explain that I am going to do this with just text. There are no illustrations and no videos. I think this will make the instructions more clear, as I can't rely on any external information for this to make sense. And, this is a blog. It's supposed to be text. Text is fun.
So, the first thing you need is a fitted sheet, and you'll need your bed.
Throw your sheet on the bed.
-- oh, here's a bonus tip for making the bed. I could never figure out which side was the long side of the fitted sheet, and I would waste time trying to measure the side, and then if I got it wrong I would have to start again.
But that was silly. Don't do that. Just pick a corner of the fitted sheet at random and put it on the easiest-to-reach corner of the bed. Then pull the sheet to the next easiest-to-reach corner of the bed. If the sheet fits, then you know you've got the right side. If it doesn't, simply pull the sheet up and then put the side you were trying to fit on the first easiest-to-reach corner of your bed and start again. It's a lot faster than trying to measure the long side and getting it wrong 75% of the time.
-- back to the fitted sheet ...
Throw your sheet on the bed.
The first thing you need to do is get all the elastic edge onto the one side, facing you. Just bunch it up in the centre of the sheet, like a giant mouth. I like to think of this as the mouth of an octopus, and the frilly, out-of-control bits are the tentacles. The idea is to get the mouth and the tentacles contained and then fold them.
So at this point your sheet is on the bed, the 'mouth' is looking up at you, and the sheet is all wrinkled and messy. Great.
Now you need to make some edges.
The thing with a fitted sheet is that they don't really have any edges. So we'll have to make them. How to you make an edge? You fold some of the sheet inwards, and the line of the fold makes the edge.
So grab two points around one side and fold it inwards, just a little bit. You don't want to fold all the way to the centre, perhaps just half a foot or so. As you fold, pull your hands apart to stretch the sheet and remove all the creases just on this fold. The rest will still be messy.
So, let's recap:
- You've thrown the sheet on the bed.
- You've arranged the elastic so the mouth of the octopus is looking at you.
- You've grabbed one side at random and made an edge -- you've folded the first tentacle half a foot towards the centre.
Easy so far? Good.
Do the same fold with the opposite side: grab two points along the side, fold them over about a foot, and as you do this spread your hands to remove any creases.
You will now have two straight sides, and some sense of sanity should be emerging.
Do the same thing with the remaining sides to make a rectangle. I normally start with the left and right, and then do the top and bottom.
You should find that, underneath the mouth, the sheet is now devoid of creases.
So you've contained the mouth and the tentacles of this fitted-sheet octopus, and now it's time to bury it inside your sheet.
To make the neatest folds, all the tentacles need to be contained as much as possible. To do this, you need to fold each side into the centre of the sheet. So both the left and the right side will meet in the middle. This will make two more straight edges, and your original edges are now touching each other in the centre of the sheet.
So now the only tentacles will be sticking out from the top and the bottom.
Repeat the process: fold the top and bottom into the centre of the sheet. Use your hands to flatten out the sheet and remove and air that's been trapped.
From here, you should just be able to fold the rest of the sheet as you like. I like to fold into thirds, as it makes it look like it is straight from a hotel. And then you can flatten it again and put the sheet away with the rest of your linen set.
And there you have it. Super easy, and it also works with mattress protectors and over-sized quilt covers, too. Pretty much anything that is annoying: contain the octopus, then hide it.
When was the last time you changes your bed sheets?