Fancy Vs. Martha

Dear Fancy,

I have a problem. With bedding. Particularly fitted sheets. 

I pride myself in having a tidy house and drawers with everything tucked away neatly. However, when it comes time to fold fitted sheets, I despair. They start out almost tidy, corners wrapped around themselves... Then, before I know it, my fresh sheet is a triangular wad of cloth. 

I was going to ask Martha Stewart, but was hoping you, my dear Miss Fancy, would be a bit more sympathetic to my plight. Martha intimidates me.

Yours, 

Sufferer of Triangular Wad Syndrome

Dear SoTWS,

I applaud your decision to contact me instead of Martha.  While Martha has her areas of expertese, I have to say, she has NOTHING on my fitted sheet folding method.  I know because after watching a video tutorial, staring Martha, I was still unable to cleanly and effectively store my fitted sheets. This failure on the part of the so-called Domestic Diva lead to what I am about to share with you.

It just so happens that I have a fitted sheet in this pile of laundry.  Incidentally, and as an advice bonus, I will recommend that you never be too on top of your laundry.  Most people today are on to the falseness of "I have to wash my hair" as an excuse to get out of an unpleasant activity, but "I have laundry to do" is still widely accepted.  I find it works particularly well if you have a husband who wears a uniform to work, or if you have a child who will go without pajamas if you do not finish. 

So this is probably what your sheet looks like when you lay it out, correct?  I won't judge you that it is all creased and un-salvageably wrinkly because it has been sitting in your pile of clean laundry for a week.  I am not here to judge.  I am here to enlighten.

Start by smoothing out the edges of your sheet.  It is simplest to begin with the short side of the bedding.  Find the point at which you can pull the edges of the sheet into a straight line.  The elasticy rim (technical term, try to keep up please) will not be smooth, that is okay.  The point is to make the EDGE of the sheet smooth and rectangular. 

Fold the short end in toward the center of the sheet.  Both top and bottom.  This serves two purposes, 1) to hid the pesky and unsightly elasticy rim 2) to further straighten the edge of the sheet.  This makes for much easier handling through the next few simple steps.

Fold the sheet in half.

Fold in half again.

The rest is just plain, old folding. Take a look...

I like to fold both outside edges in toward the center.  I then select one edge and continue to fold it toward the opposite edge until you have created a perfect, clean, rectangular and well-behaved fitted sheet.

Taaa DAAAAA!

Take that Martha!

One final note.  If you have trouble keeping the sheets neat and tidy in their drawer or closet, I recommend purchasing a small, stackable Rubbermaid box (somewhere around 8x13x3 will work the best).  You will find that it fits a fitted sheet almost perfectly and the structure of the box keeps your Fancy-folded sheet from being jostled and eventual turned into a lumpy mess of fabric.

I know you will find this instructional discussion of sheet folding infinitely helpful.  As always, I am pleased to be of assistance.

Sincerely,

Fancy