How to Fold Fitted Sheets Properly

I have often been asked to demonstrate this miraculous task. As a collegiate house-sitter in a resort town I had many opportunities to marvel at the linen closets of the rich and famous. One day, I told myself, I too would have neat stacks of towels and sheets with matched colors, crisp folds, and no visible edges. How hard could it be, I thought, for a girl who was once paid to fold 1,000 paper cranes (along with my brother)? Having grown up with a series of 12 exchange students, 9 of which were Japanese, surely gave me an edge in the folding department. But try as I might, my fitted sheets continued to manifest themselves as wads of puffy, wrinkly messes that had to be jammed into the cupboard with a broom handle.

Then I began my job as live-in caretaker of a schmoozy B&B. In addition to a romantic tower bedroom with an amazing view, resident ghosts, and a murderously narrow staircase, I was lucky enough to be for two years under the tutelage of Lupita and Dulce, who later turned out to be illegal and disappeared after we helped them get green cards. They taught me Spanish, how to cook a breakfast like you've only imagined in your wildest pregnancy dreams, and how to properly fold sheets. I'm afraid I've lost a lot of the Spanish due to lack of use, but the culinary and folding skills remain.

This demonstration was carried out with a twin sized sheet made of 100% cotton flannel. The trick here is to create edges where there otherwise are none.

1. Lay the top half of the sheet on a bed like so, letting the bottom half hang to the floor. Flatten wrinkles and make creases as sharp and even as possible.








2. Turn the corners on the bottom half of the sheet inside out, and fold that half partly upward, like this.








3. Insert your hands into the inside-out corners like mittens.








4. Tuck the inside-out corners into the right-side out corners, folding the bottom of the sheet upward, then smooth out the corners and edges.








5. Fold the top of the sheet down by 1/3, creating a straight edge. (Always fold in thirds for the most attractive results. If the sheet you're folding is very large, first fold it in half, then thirds.)








6. Do the same with the bottom.








7. Fold each side in toward the center.








Voila! A perfectly folded sheet indistinguishable from the flat ones. Now you too can have a linen closet to silence even the mouthiest mother-in-law.