How to Fold a Fitted Sheet

One source of frustration in the laundry room is trying to fold a fitted sheet into a neat square. There is a way to do it, after all, when the sheet was purchased it was folded as neatly as a flat sheet. So what’s the trick? There really isn’t a trick to folding a fitted sheet, but there are a few tips to follow so you will end up with a efficiently folded tidy bundle that is easy to stack on the linen closet shelf.

Leave Laundry Room

Unless your laundry room has some serious square footage, you will need to take the fitted sheet elsewhere, like to your bedroom. The bed will give you a large, flat surface on which to work and will enable you to have more control over the unruly and stretchy sheet corners. Spread the fitted sheet out on the bed with the elastic corners curved upward towards you. Fold the sheet in half horizontally towards you. Take the corners of the top layer of the sheet and flip them inside out; tuck them inside the corresponding corners of the bottom layer of the sheet.

Corner Flip Trick

Fold the fitted sheet in half again, so that the doubled corners match up. Repeat the corner flip trick again so that the corners on the top layer are nestled into the bottom layer corners. Smooth out sides and the elastic should form an ‘L’ shape. The corner flip trick is what gives a fitted sheet a more normal shape to work with. Tuck and flip the corners with each fold and the end result will be a smooth.

L Fold

Fold the side of the sheet that forms the longest side of the ‘L’ into the center. Now fold the opposite side over it. By now you should have a neatly folded fitted sheet that just needs a few finals folds to make it fit in its storage space. Make the final fold in half or in thirds, depending upon your desired size.

If the sheet (or any other bedding) will be stored for longer than a couple of week, cut an unused fabric softener sheet in half and tuck a half into the folds of each sheet or blanket. This will keep the bedding smelling just-washed fresh.