# I can fold a tshirt! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 1, 2007, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-fold-a-tshirt/394127 "2007-03-01T05:01:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-fold-a-tshirt/394127/1 "2007-03-01T05:01:00Z")
Anyone who has ever seen the “How to Fold a Tshirt” video on the net knows what I mean. Well, I watched that over and over, and spent 20 minutes practicing. Now I can do it. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-fold-a-tshirt/394127/2 "2007-03-01T05:30:37Z")
[QUOTE=CynicalGabe] Anyone who has ever seen the “How to Fold a Tshirt” video on the net knows what I mean. Well, I watched that over and over, and spent 20 minutes practicing. Now I can do it. [/QUOTE] Very cool technique. Here’s a link for folks who want to learn it: [How to Fold a Shirt](http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/fold.php) Unfortunately, I keep forgetting how to do it. An early sign of dementia, I expect. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-fold-a-tshirt/394127/3 "2007-03-01T16:06:13Z")
I’ll have to try that when I get home and (ugh!) do some laundry. It’s similar to how I fold now, except I use 3 steps instead of 2. I grab the top, and “flip” the bottom under it. Then, I grab one side and “flip” the other side under it. Once more and I’m done. ---
**Author:** ![jay-c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@jay-c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jay-c)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-fold-a-tshirt/394127/4 "2007-03-01T17:03:15Z")
This is how my husband folds shirts. I was pretty flabbergasted when I first saw it. Turns out, his mother never taught him how to do laundry - not washing, drying, ironing or folding. (The gaps in basic life skills his parents never bothered to teach him astound me every day, but that’s another story). When I asked him how he learned this technique, he told me that after college he got tired of all of his clothes being wrinkled and balled up, so he Googled “how to fold a shirt”. That video was his first hit, so that’s what he learned. I don’t know that it ever occurred to him that the rest of the world doesn’t fold things that way. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-fold-a-tshirt/394127/5 "2007-03-01T17:16:39Z")
That way is fun to do, but it leaves one of the sleeves loose on the bottom so that when you pick up the folded shirt, one sleeve hangs down. The old-fashioned way “encapsulates” both sleeves within the folds so that everything is tucked up inside. ---
**Author:** ![Baraqiyal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@Baraqiyal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baraqiyal)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-fold-a-tshirt/394127/6 "2007-03-01T17:26:25Z")
[Here’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ7Lawiw84g) an English language shirt folding video with bonus plans for an automatic shirt folding device. The guy in the video seems to be really into folding shirts; I hope he has time for other things. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-fold-a-tshirt/394127/7 "2007-03-01T17:48:44Z")
[QUOTE=teela brown] That way is fun to do, but it leaves one of the sleeves loose on the bottom so that when you pick up the folded shirt, one sleeve hangs down. The old-fashioned way “encapsulates” both sleeves within the folds so that everything is tucked up inside. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I can’t agree with the method in that first video. Although it does look nice and squared up from above. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-fold-a-tshirt/394127/8 "2007-03-01T18:42:31Z")
[QUOTE=teela brown] That way is fun to do, but it leaves one of the sleeves loose on the bottom so that when you pick up the folded shirt, one sleeve hangs down. The old-fashioned way “encapsulates” both sleeves within the folds so that everything is tucked up inside. [/QUOTE] How do you pick up folded shirts? I usually stack 'em, then put one hand under them all, and one hand on top. The other shirts “encapsulate” the top ones, and the bottom one is held by my hand. ---
**Author:** ![Jeeves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@Jeeves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeeves)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-fold-a-tshirt/394127/9 "2007-03-01T18:49:49Z")
Thats the method I use for folding shirts. Of course, I use it because it is the fastest method I know, i set them right into the basket, and when I get home all the shirts get hung up. If I had to store my shirts in a drawer with a perfect fold for the week, I would build the shirt folding machine from the other videa. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-fold-a-tshirt/394127/10 "2007-03-01T19:16:49Z")
What is this “folding” you speak of, and why would you do it to shirts? :dubious: Dr. Rieux (whose shirts are all wadded up and tossed into drawesr or duffel bags) ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-fold-a-tshirt/394127/11 "2007-03-01T21:30:19Z")
[QUOTE=teela brown] That way is fun to do, but it leaves one of the sleeves loose on the bottom so that when you pick up the folded shirt, one sleeve hangs down. The old-fashioned way “encapsulates” both sleeves within the folds so that everything is tucked up inside. [/QUOTE] I fold them in half lengthwise after the steps shown in the video. Problem solved.