Folding a fitted sheet can be exasperating. Indeed, if find you try your mightiest to get the corners to line up just so, but then end up stuffing the whole thing into a ball and shoving it towards the back of a shelf, you are not alone. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In the following videos, Armanda Souza, a veteran of the Matouk folding department, demonstrates a proper folding technique. (Yes, she makes it look almost too easy; but we promise it’s very straightforward once you’ve practiced a few times.) We’ve also provided a super-handy diagram that we recommend you tape to the inside of your linen closet door—or at least pin to Pinterest so it’s always handy.
How to Fold a Fitted Sheet in Five Easy Steps:
- Lift the corners at one end of the sheet, slipping a hand inside each fitted corner.
- Bring hands together, tucking one corner into the other. (It will turn inside out as you do so.)
- Repeat this process with the corners at the opposite end, then lay the sheet down flat.
- Fold in half again, tucking one set of corners into the other. Fold edge down to hide elastic.
- Fold up opposite side to form a rectangle. Fold one end into the middle. Then fold again. Voila!
How to Fold a Fitted Sheet with a Folding Board
Maryann Pimentel, the Supervisor for Pressing and Folding at Matouk (she’s been with the company for 25 years), says a surefire strategy for folding fitted luxury sheets is to use a folding board (just like the one that comes in the package when you buy new bedding). You can easily make a few yourself by cutting them from cardboard (the queen-size sheet, shown here, requires a 10”x13” board) and then re-use.
In the video above, Matouk employee Armanda uses a folding board to fold a fitted sheet using the following nine steps:
1. Grab the top two corners of the fitted sheet and bring them together, tucking one corner into the other. (The sheet turns inside out as you do this.)
2. Find the bottom two corners and repeats the process so that the sheet is now in half.
3. Shake out the sheet and puts it down on a table with the elastic side on the far side of your body.
4. Fold the elastic side towards you so that the sheet is folded into a quarter.
5. Clean out the creases and then puts the piece of cardboard in at the corner on the straight-edge side.
6. Leaving your finger where the inner corner of the cardboard is, lift the cardboard and flip it diagonally towards the middle of the sheet, leaving it there.
7. Straighten the elastic and brings the top part of the sheet towards you against the cardboard.
8. Hold onto the cardboard, grab the opposite side of the folded sheet, and fold it up and over the section you previously brought down.
9. Flip and fold the sheet twice more using the cardboard as a guide.
How to Fold a Fitted Sheet without a Folding Board
In the above video, Armanda uses the same technique as described above, but uses her eye to approximate the shape the cardboard folding board would leave.
Whether you use a folding board or not, Pimentel recommends continuing to smooth down the creases as you go in order to avoid wrinkles. She says if you must, you can go ahead and iron the top of the folded sheet, but assuming you fold right in the first place, ironing really isn’t necessary.
Another word of caution is to always, always use a flat surface for folding.
