How to Fold A Fitted Sheet
Here’s our "How to Fold A Fitted Sheet" video, which has been very popular with many readers! It’s amazing how something like folding a fitted sheet can drive so many people crazy! Hopefully, this will help you get it under control!
We get this question so often, "What if my sheet has elastic on all the sides?" The idea is still the same. Tuck the 4 corners into each other smooth the sides as best as you can and continue. I do like to do my sheets which are like this laying on a table or bed and it does take a minute or so longer but it is still done the same way.
Watch our "How to Fold A Fitted Sheet" video below!
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I love your videos! You have such lovely hair Jill. Also, it’s such a great idea to fold sheets so neatly. Thank you for teaching me something new.
That is a pretty house. Is it yours? Love the fireplace.
Awesome, I really appreciate you posting this. You make it look so very simple!
I have watched your video, had my daughter who is housekeeping manager for an expensive inn in Maine try to show me the corner sheet fold and I’m still stumped. However, I will not give up. I used to housekeep for a family from Europe who had the duvet thing going on. I once got a little bit trapped trying to get a duvet over a king sized down comforter. It was scary. What doesn’t kill you, keeps you curious. There is a lull in the snowstorm, so I shall feed the chickens, goats, etc. Out I go……
Funny! Someone on my FB asked this a while back. This must be why my mom didn’t have spare sheets – we washed them and put them right back on the beds LOL! Can’t wait to try it, much easier and folded nicer than how we’ve been doing it.
thank u jill for posting this .. i have been doing laundry for as long as i can remember (i was a little girl when i helped the older siblings) and finally i am able to fold a fitted sheet ..
the fireplace is pretty .. and u look awesome in long hair ..
again thanks for posting this
that is how I was taught to fold them.
I still prefer flat sheets and hospital corners but can’t use them as our mattress sits in a water bed frame.
Will have to start doing it this way again. Never folded sheets or towels when the boys were old enough to do it for me.
Motherhood can make you lazy. well after mother hood can.
jill .. yesterday i was at the laundromat and while i was folding my fitted sheets (thanks to u helping to teach me, which i greatly appreciate), this young woman came up to me and asked me to teach her how to fold her fitted sheets (which i did) and i confided to her that i had just learned how and i gave her the website addy and i mentioned that ur never too old or young to learn something new ..
thanks for posting this video .. i know whenever i have gone to the laundromat b4 and had people watch me fold those sheets, i used to get some of the oddest looks and no one asked me b4 if i could teach them .. except for this time ..
thanks again for helping me with this
Wow! Thanks for spreading the word about us!
A tip for Judy in Maine re “trapped trying to get a duvet over a king sized down comforter. ” Turn the duvet cover inside out, put your hands inside and hold what will eventually be the top corners. Pick up the duvet and holding two corners (left and right) shake the duvet cover down. If it gets stuck, hold both corners in one hand and use the other to pull cover down.
lol.. funny that this is being shown and many not knowing how to fold fitted sheets. Been doing it this way from the time I was 12 yrs old. lol
“Was tought in a nursing home while visiting”
When I worked at the nursing homes we used flat sheets and made hospital corners. My grandmother also taught me years before that to use hospital corners.
So I had to learn how to use fitted sheets when they became all the rage.
I learned quite young how to fold them but it took my sister and I to do it. Mom thought it was a good way to teach us how to work together. Didn’t but it was a good plan.
I guess it is all up to what we use and our willingness to learn new things. I like this way and when my arms work properly I do it. When they don’t I roll them up and toss them out of sight.
Yes I love doing hospital corners too and remember the days before there was such a thing as a fitted sheet. I still use mostly flat sheets and have just one flannel set of fitted. I stopped using fitted and went back to flat because fitted use to be so hard to get to stay on the bed but they are making them with deeper pockets now so I may go back.
The reason I use fitted is because we are using our old water bed frame with only the mattress so it is easier for the fitted.
want a new bed but the only frame we can get up the stairs is a single. for a double you have to cut the box springs so you can bend them around the corner of two sets of stairs. Not a fun project so fitted sheets it will be until we move to a more large furniture friendly house.
That reminds me of a saying my husband use to always say. “That new grand piano looks great on the porch but how do we get it in the house now?” We were in the piano business for years and forever moving our own and others pianos in and out of places and some of the places people thought they could fit them in would blow your mind. Up 20 steep steps with an angle at the top – ya right.
Often it was only he and I moving the silly things. Thank goodness for piano dollies. At one point we had 7 pianos in our home and four of them was in one room alone. We had a large Nickelodeon (player piano with all of the instruments in it), a large (not a small one) grand piano, an big 3 tiered key board organ and on the 4th wall a big upright player piano. They all were player pianos (including the grand) and the kids would start all four of them up at the same time dancing and singing with them. Hummmm maybe that is why I love my peace and quiet now. HA!HA!
When I was 16 we moved 20 hours away from our 13 room house double garage and large basement to a 6 room house with half a basement and one garage.
Dad did not want to let anything go but since he was at the new city and didn;t know we got rid of a lot of junk.
But he got a friends furniture store truck to move us and it was half full of stuff. Needless to say the house was crowded.
I like no clutter, would like to try the Japanese style of furniture and living space. Suit me to a T except the sitting on the floor. I could never get back up again.
Oh well the house is full but in all the nooks and crannies there is always room for love and anyone who needs a spot.
It is amazing to me the number of people who can’t fold a fitted sheet. I have been told numerous times “I don’t know how to fold them. How do you get it so neat looking?”
I mastered the technique years ago with having 5 beds to change every week. Thanks for the video.
Brenda, it would be so much easier to do if they came with instructions. Open the package and read how to do it.
We have step by step instructions on how to do most things in life.
millions of recipe books, instruction books with most appliances, even books right or wrong on how to raise children.
But for some unknown reason we are supposed to know how to fold those fitted sheets. I learned one way from my mother another from a friends mother and yet another from my MIL.
Maybe if the manufacturers would put step by step instructions by Jill we would all do it uniformly. Then again we change ingredients in recipes so maybe that is a hopeless wish.
They all get put away in some form or other. If your family is happy with it go for it. If it is easier to do it Jills way that is all to the good.
Wow, I am in awe! I had never even heard that there was a proper way to fold fitted sheets. I usually end up laying them flat on the bed and folding them end-to-end with the sides tucked in, which is sometimes more successful than others, but never very neat and tidy. I am off to try out your technique now; it’s certainly new to me!
Don’t forget Sarah it may take a couple of tries to get it down. Good luck.
i like it when i go to the laundromat and have all the ladies (and some men) watch me fold the fitted sheets and the look on some of the faces is just priceless! .. hehehee ..
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and then when i notice this i always mention the website and the video ..
and lots of people always say thank u and well i didnt know there were instructions to do this .. and then i tell them all about the website and all the neat things we share and learn from one another ..
yes jill, tawra and mike .. thanks for posting the video ..
Thanks for such good advertising Rose.
ur welcome jill .. my pleasure
This works wonderfully, except for the sheets that have elastic all the way around. Any suggestions on those? What a wonderful site and I just love all of the information. I was never taught how to take care of my home as a child other than dishes and some laundry! My boys are learning now so they are ahead of the game!
Susan it may take a minute more to do the sheets with the elastic all around but it works on the same principle. Just tuck the four corners into each other. It will be easier too if after tucking the four corners together to lay it down on a table and then finish. I have a couple of elastic all around sheets and just do them the same.
If you have never done this before it would be good to practice with say a twin sheet with no elastic to get the feel of it. That might help you a little.
It’s good to see the instructions passed on. I’m not sure if I was taught it or figured it for myself, but here is something I learned from an old set of encyclopedias from the 1960′s under home economics. Fold every thing for the bed, both sheets,but don’t fold one pillow case. Place the sheets and other pillow case(s) inside the unfolded pillow case. Now your sheets will be matched and everything is all in one handy package.
Very good tip, I liked it a lot. Thanks from a Brazilian, or better, a “carioca” fan of yours,
Ana Maria.
Thanks Ana for letting us know you are from Brazil. I know we reach all over the world but it fascinates me the different countries who read us.
Wow, this method is somewhat similar to what I learned while watching Martha Stewart (don’t ASK me why I was watching her… I must have dropped the remote while I was flipping channels!), but she called it “the clapping method,” where you keep the corners on your hands and “clap” them together before flipping the corner over to the one hand. Anyway, I’ve been folding them this way ever since (how long has it been since she had a TV show? I’m thinking I saw this about 18 years ago?), and I just taught my stepdaughter how to do it last week!
BTW, I love MaryKay’s idea of not having extra sheets–just wash ‘em and put ‘em back on the bed. Ties right into today’s email about having less stuff! But for those of us poor souls that have colors to choose from as the seasons change, hopefully my daughter will now never need to resort to Grandma’s backup technique (which made me laugh out loud! So funny) of rolling it up in a ball and stuffing it out of sight!
I am really impressed. I love knowing how to do things in an orderly fashion.
Finally!! At long last I will be able to fold the fitted sheets, neatly
Much appreciated
Dear Jill,
If I watched your demonstration correctly It appeared that the sheet you used only had two elastic sides. The sheets I have are all elastic sides and the technique I have used for years does not work. Hope you can help
Liz I have some with elastic all around and I use the same method. Just put the 4 corners together and smooth the sides as best as you can. It may take me a minute or 2 longer to do them but the idea is the same. All 4 corners tucked into each other. It does take some practice and getting use to but after that it is really easy.
Jill,
You are so well spoken and have such a lovely voice, you should be doing TV commercials!
I have fitted sheets with elastic all the way around. I can’t get them to fold like you do this. Any suggestions?
I’m sorry. I see the answer right above. Thanks!
My son and I have started a blog and one of the stories on it linked us to another site. The first thing I saw was the video for folding fitted sheets. Was surprised but not shocked because it is such a good video.
It was a site for things to do with children so our site grandparents and parents I guess matched it.
It is fun to do so it is keeping me busy along with my knitting and politics so I haven’t been here for a bit.
still having snow so no outdoor stuff for a while yet. Maybe come june we will get to pack up the parka’s and touques.
Hi Jill,
You are not going to believe this…
I received this little video by e-mail from a Dutch friend, even with Spanish text.
And I thought… I have seen this before and I know that lady! What a small world isn’t it?
I just wanted to share this with you!
And I must say I always use this method folding the sheets… I am not as fast as you are but it works!
Love, Trees
Love
Oh that is just too funny!!! I can’t believe it!
You are right what a small world Trees. I was talking to Tawra on the phone when your post came in we were both laughing and couldn’t believe it either. We keep saying who would ever have thought a silly little video on folding sheets would be so popular. Too funny.
I keep meaning to tell you I am so glad you have kept in touch with us after all of these years and really enjoyed your visit those many ages ago. Love, Jill
Just wanted to add to the reaction that I am going to put a small story on my blog about this coincedence and very handy tip!
Bye, Trees
It indeed is too funny! It seems to be a very popular video!
Thanks, I really like to know how you all are doing. Nick is not very good in staying in touch with friends, even family, but I like it. For instance…Facebook is great!
Good luck to all of you with the housemove and everything!
Love, Trees
do you have a printed version that I might read. my puter is to slow for you tube
I was sent this video a couple of weeks ago. It shows a different, yet more neat, way of folding fitted sheets than I used. Today my husband and I tried to master the technique, stopping and starting the video after each direction. We gave up. I decided the problem came in when I realized your sheets were fitted only in the corners…our bottom sheets have elastic all around…thus not easy to complete the next to last step. I am thinking as I write this, however, that putting each opposite corner into its mate along the long side, folding in the fitted corners toward the center and then folding as best we can would be helpful. OR…go out and find some new bottom sheets. We lived in Germany for two months last year and I’m trying to find the duvet thing as one person posted. I really like that look and feel (no sharing of covers) a whole lot better. Need to find a better bed frame though….hmmm.
Revolutionary!
WOW!!! amazing.. this has been my problem these days.. i dont know how to fold it.. So there were times that i had to cut the garters of the sheet to get rid of them!!!
now i know how to do it.. and im going to share it to my mom so she’ll think that i am really ready to get married!!! (^^;) THANK YOU Living on a Dime!! You’re wonderful!!!
Too funny Julie. I never dreamed my “how to fold a fitted sheet” would be so popular but I never in a million years thought it might lead someone to getting married. HA!HA!
[...] Fuente: http://www.livingonadime.com/fold-a-fitted-sheet/ [...]
Ok I saw all the comments are by women. Well I am a guy, that knew part of the steps on how to fold that fitted sheet, but the last part was pretty interesting. Thank you for that.
Simple thing but very helpful.I folded my fitted sheets today for the first time and it was much easy to do.
Thank you very much!
Guy from Brazil.
My sister-in-law showed me how to fold a fitted sheet just exactly the way you did here, back when I first married in 1962. I’ve been doing it this way since, and it’s easy & makes for such neat linin closets! I then lay the matching pillow cases on top of the fitted sheet, and place ALL inside of the folded TOP sheet, after pressing the p. cases and the ‘head edge’ of the top sheet (yes, I still press in spite of the fact my friends laugh at me, but I like a neat, inviting bed when one turns the covers back) even though I try to buy nice-quality sheets sets that come out of the drying almost wrinkle free.
Glad you showed people how to fold this way; everytime I show someone, they say they’ve never heard of doing it that way, but LOVE “their new knowledge”! Ü (My husband still laughs at me for being this “particular” – he calls it, w/folding a fitted sheet.. but it’s so neat, and it JUST WORKS!)
Don’t feel alone Josie. I iron all my pillow cases and even my flour sack dish towels. I was even laughed at when I would iron polyester shirts but I can tell a difference when I don’t. I have never had a lot of money or even many expensive things but when I iron my pillow cases I feel like I am staying in a high class hotel or something with out spending the money.
Thanks so much for this video!
I can’t believe how easy that is…I have been doing it all wrong & trying way to hard. Now I know the way!!
Now I can teach my kids so they can pass it on!
I, also, wish these directions came in a diagram, because I have trouble remembering from the time I view the video till I need to fold sheets.
I have 2 boys, 22 and 19, they know how to sort laundry, wash, dry & fold. My husband gave them the greatest gifts when they turned 13 years old, he told them “Congratulations, you’re now a teenager and get to do all your own laundry”. Best present we ever gave them, and us.
I fold a fitted sheet slightly different. I put the pockets together on one end, then put the pockets together on the other end, then put them all together. Then straighten the folds out and finish as you did on a table or bed. Basically the same way. I figured this out on my own when I was a bride of 17 in 1965. I am always surprised when someone tells me they cannot fold fitted sheets. I just found your website and already love it. I am especially interested in quick, easy, cheap, meals.
My grandma taught me how to fold like this when I was just 11yrs old! I’m so thankful she did! I have yet to meet anyone that can actually fold a sheet like I do. I taught my late mother in law how to fold the fitted and she taught me how to organize my linen closet, so needless to say I have a very neat and tightly linen closet (can’t say that about my house though lol). Awesome that you share your tips! I am still amazed at how many don’t know how to fold a fitted sheet nor make a bed the right way!
Jill I have been folding sheets this way for a while. The only difference between us is I fold my flat sheet first, then I fold my fitted and pillow cases long way place them on top of the flat sheet and then fold them all together. With 2 boys, 2 foster daughters, and 4 step kids along with 21 grand kids coming to visit. It makes for fast findings.
Hey There. I discovered your blog using msn. This is a really well written article. I’ll make sure to bookmark it and come back to learn extra of your helpful info. Thank you for the post. I will certainly comeback.
Amazing! Came across this blog in a frantic attempt to search for money-saving tips (we’re a bit tight now but don’t want to miss out on our dream to buy a house once we’re done with our previous debt and have put together the down payment).
I’ve been reading all the great tips for a day now and I love them. I think we have somehow lost touch with being frugal and sensible when it comes to money because of all the technological development, the endless ads, the dream of an easy, well-off life that we are all supposed to want…I love to buy second-hand and cook our food from scratch, but this website has given me so many tips already to make my life BOTH easier AND more economical.
And this tip is great. My mom never had fitted sheets so she had no idea how to fold them. This has been a revelation to me. Thank you so much, keep up the good work. You guys are like the savvy grandma I never had.
Wow, I am 70 years young and have never seen this easy and
space saving way to fold a fitted sheet. Going right now to make more room in my sheet drawer. Thanks,
When I was in college I worked as a housekeeper for an 80 year old lady who had always had a maid even as a child. Her husband had passed away the previous year and her income wasn’t what it had been so to cut costs she wanted to cut back my hours. However she loved the way her sheets were always so crisply put away and how well made her bed always was so she was afraid to have me stop doing those things because her friends would notice and would know she was having financial trouble. When I found this out I taught her how to fold her sheets properly and how to make a proper bed using hospital corners and fitted sheets(same method you use). It took her a few tries to get it to look as good as mine but she finally did it. I was so proud of her. We then moved on to ironing. I thank my grandma, mom and home economics classes for teaching me to take pride in the small things in life, like a well made bed.
When you finish folding your sheets, fold the top sheet and place on top of the fitted sheet with one of the pillowcases. Put the sheets and pillow case into the 2nd pillow case. You will always have a complete set when you go to the linen closet.
Wow Jill, you answered that age old question I had…who can fold a fitted sheet? You certainly can. And with the help of your video, I might master that task too. My storage closet will thank you – no more jumbled sheets taking up double the space. Thank you again. That was fast and easy!
Eureka!! Know I can show my wife I can fold sheets better than her. She always makes fun of my folding, but I think I will win on this one.
Too funny Justin. Let us know who wins.
PS Practice behind the scenes thought first to give yourself a fighting chance.
Finally, after 35 years of housekeeping experience, I finally know how to properly fold a fitted sheet! My linen closet thanks you.
Barbara, thanks for the tip for always having a complete set.
After all is folded, put it inside of one of the pillow cases. You will just have to pull it out and not hunt for all the pieces.
I would love to know this woman! Not for her sheet folding abilities but because of the peacefulness I felt when watching her video. What a wonderful lady with such a warm spirit. God Bless You Jill.
Good easy video, Jill! Having just signed up for the newsletter, I’m looking forward to reading much more on this site.
Now, you want to talk to my buddy Terry McLeish about using his song, Fitted Sheets, about a frustrated recently-divorced guy, in your video…
terrymcleish dot com/music/
I’m a little short to do it this way. I modify by folding sheets in half, and tucking the corners in two at a time. Then I fold it in fourths and tuck the corners in together. Then I finish it off. And since I only use 100% cotton sheets, and I don’t iron them, I press the sheet flat (as it is ever going to get) with my hands as I go along. That’s as good as gets for me.
I just became a friend and I already lerend to fold a fitted sheet5.
Thank you so much
This is one of the most valuable videos ever made!
Thank you Ryan. I still chuckle to this day because who knew a video on how to fold a sheet would be so popular. I am so glad you like it. I know it is silly but sometimes it is sometimes trying to figure out how to do those little things that can drive us up a wall so am glad it has helped.
This technique worked well for fitted sheets with the elastic band along the top and bottom edges but most of my sheets have the elastic band around the entire sheet. I cannot find the edges after I’ve tucked the corners. Do you have a technique that’s different for those kinds of fitted sheets?
Yes those things can be a pain for sure but for any type of sheet the principle is the same and that is to get the 4 corners together and go from there. What I find helps is once I have my 4 corners together I lay it on a bed or table then and straighten the edges and fold. Always try to fold your clothes or linens on a bed or table. You can do an easier and much better job. Many try to do it on the couch watching TV or standing at the dryer as they pull them out.
Sometimes we don’t want to bother to carry things to a table and fold them there (in some cases we can’t find the top of the table : ) ) but in the same way it is easier and to clean a carpet using a vacuum cleaner then a whisk broom, having the right equipment and place to fold makes the job easier too.
Have you found a quick and easy way to put a pillow into a pillow case even if it doaent fit
There is an old story William called Cinderella where the ugly stepsisters no matter how hard they tried they could fit their big feet into to Cinderella’s little shoe. So as you can see this is an age old problem. : ) All joking aside. I do know what you mean sometimes those cases are just a little to small and it is a pain to try and put them on.
I’m not sure if this will make sense without a picture and to be honest you do have wrestle with it a little. Shake open the pillow case, then hold the 2 corners of the pillow that you will be sliding in together with one hand, pick up the pillow case and slide in the pillow. If it doesn’t make it all the way down then reach in and pull one corner into place and the the other.
Mademoiselle:
Merci Beaucoup for this video.
As I do all the laundry in our home, I never knew how to fold a fitted sheet…now thanks to you I do. Merci.