Folding stuff used to be a precision exercise

[bigtree]

...folding sheets, blankets, tarps, used to be a two-person, precision operation with my parents. Sheet folding required sort of a two-step dance, to and fro, toughing slightly and then releasing to the partner and a step back for the next maneuver.

I still try sometimes, but end up just molding the lump into a reasonably square shape and shoving it away in the closet. Nothing in my house is folded correctly anymore.

[Walleye]

1. Definitely a two-person job. It's hard to even make the bed when you live alone like I do

[bigtree]

8. I leave the lumps underneath

...then tuck and smooth the top.

[Walleye]

9. So do I. Sometimes the lump underneath is a cat, though

[wnylib]

30. I never make a bed alone.

The cat is always there to chase down wrinkles, or, if it looks too smooth, to create a few.

And she loves having the bed made over her. Greatest hide and seek, peek-a-boo game that she has discovered.

She is very helpful, though, in removing the old sheets, except when she tugs on the wrong direction.

[Walleye]

31. This was my Patches during a thunderstorm the other day

[wnylib]

41. Looks like my bed when Ember eagerly sits in

the middle while I make the bed over her.

Then, of course, I have to pause and play with her, running my hand over the sheets (or bedspread if I've got that far when I pause) for her to chase and swat the hand movements from underneath. A lifting of the sheets for a brief peek-a-boo is also obligatory before she decides to come out again.

During thunderstorms, she used to go behind the couch or under the bed. Gentle coaxing with softly spoken words "It's all right" plus a favorite treat eventually lured her out. Then I would hold her close and repeat, "it's all right" while stroking her. I also sprayed a towel with Felliway to hold her in while reassuring her. Gradually, she got over her fear and no longer goes into hiding during storms. She stays away from the windows and prefers the kitchen during storms because it has no windows and the sound of rain is more muffled there. I tell her what a good, brave girl she is.

[question everything]

50. And when you open them next time, you find a lost sock..

[2naSalit]

2. Not me...

I had a stepmom who knew how to fold sheets, any kind, all by herself and she made sure we all knew how too. But linens are about the only things neatly folded in my home. On occasion I manage to fold all my clothes but not always and I really don't care as long as they are out of sight while waiting to be worn!

[bigtree]

7. I've seen it done

...but somehow, my mother couldn't seem to manage it when I was nearby - like within shouting range.

[2naSalit]

17. I can understand!

It did serve me well when I worked housekeeping jobs in tiny-tourist-town. Everybody did every job, we just rotated around.

I worked for one small mom&pop motel, the owners cleaned the rooms too. One day when we were in working the laundry, they did the sheet folding dance for every sheet, I got up, grabbed a sheet and folded it all by my self. They stopped and the husband asked me what I just did so I showed him, the wife had gone into another room for a moment. When the wife returned the husband stands back, arms crossed, fully amused and instructs her to "watch this!" Then motions for me to do it again. I showed them how I did it with both kinds of sheets while the husband giggled and said he had never seen anyone do that before.

We all became good friends, I worked with them for many seasons. They also had condos and I was part of the cleaning team for those, which was where the money was to be made for all of us. My ability to fold the sheets alone was a big time saver for all of us too so I was glad to be able to do it and get paid for it for a while.

[Totally Tunsie]

29. Just goes to prove that no task is small if it has value.

[2naSalit]

32. Amazing how I ended up...

Using that skill forty-some years later.

[Ocelot II]

3. When I was a kid first conscripted for bed-making, we didn't have fitted sheets.

So I had to learn to do hospital corners with flat sheets, which was a laborious PITA. But my mom was a nurse and she knew how to do them perfectly, and therefore so must I. And I remember the two-person folding process. We had to fold everything, even underwear. The arrival of fitted sheets when I was a bit older remedied the bed-making problem but the reality is that they are not foldable, though we tried. These days I just wad them up and smush them as flat as they'll go and stuff them in a drawer. I don't worry about the top sheets any more because I have discovered duvets and duvet covers (getting the duvet cover on is a whole 'nother adventure, involving something that's the bedding equivalent of a Möbius strip which I don't understand but it works).

[bigtree]

5. I was a very naughty boy

...I participated in the ritual, but I blocked out all of the tiresome instructions and made what I imagined were hospital corners.

My sister got most of the grief, though. It's not easy to discipline a growing boy in the etiquette of sheet folding, but unforgivable, apparently, for the girl in our home to misplace a pleat.

[cos dem]

10. " the bedding equivalent of a Mbius strip "

Thanks for that laugh! Made my morning.

[2naSalit]

34. Ha!

Had very similar experience before contoured sheets hit the scene. My stepmom made us iron the damned things! We had one of those mangle things, essentially an roller iron, and we had to iron everything except towels, including creases in the sheets. Ugh!

I was glad when sheets had corners and iron-free fabrics were available. And I was old enough to leave home.

[MerryHolidays]

4. Have you tried a "folding board"?

I don't know if it works for sheets, but it apparently works for many clothes like shirts etc. Easily available on places like Amazon etc.

[bigtree]

6. I'm going to find out who's selling them

...and send them nasty letters demanding they cease and desist.

[Binkie The Clown]

11. Sheets get stuffed into the matching pillow case and tossed into the closet.

Why bother folding? Are you neighbors coming over to inspect your closets?

[bigtree]

12. just adding to my anxiety

...are my neighbors coming over to inspect my closets?

What have you heard?

[patricia92243]

14. Best answer yet.

[2naSalit]

36. THat's an interesting approach...

I might have to try that, I fold the pillow cases in pairs but the thought of no folding at all is really appealing.

[Binkie The Clown]

38. I'm just lazy that way. The only reason I make the bed each morning....

... is to keep cat hair off the pillow. Otherwise, why bother?

[2naSalit]

42. I like to have...

My bed made for a few reasons like I sometimes need to use the surface of the bed as a work space, like for folding laundry, I have a small abode. Also, I like getting into a made bed at night, it feels uncomfortable if it wasn't made before I get in.

[Skittles]

39. I never could figure that out either

who cares if the sheets are wrinkled?

[3catwoman3]

43. After you've slept on fresh ones for one night, they...

...are wrinkled again until you change them the next time, so why bother?

[Skittles]

46. I remember the "hospital corners" in the military

never again!

[patricia92243]

13. I roll sheets, towels, underware, etc. Makes it take up way less room in a

drawer and easier to get to.

[bigtree]

16. I have compulsive need to simulate folding

...it's either a rebellion or an elaborate farce.

[Skittles]

40. you want I should kick your compulsive ass, bigtree?

I WILL CHANGE YOUR WAYS; yes INDEED

[Quakerfriend]

15. Yes! We did it with military precision! Bed linens are so odd these days- contour sheets

lack corners & even if you do try to fold them nicely, the material is so wrinkly, it’s hardly worth it.
I long for a little polyester with my cotton!
I often end up ironing the pillowcases.

[MontanaMama]

18. I actually enjoy folding.

I like the precision of it and the immediate satisfaction. When I’m feeling anxious, I’ve been known to open a dresser drawer to look at neat rows of clothes to feel better. My spouse thinks I’m nuts. He might be right.

[Quakerfriend]

19. Me too!

[LakeArenal]

20. My mom used to iron everything including bras.

If I didn’t fold sheets right I’d be schooled.

Now I hate making my bed.

[Bayard]

21. I was relegated to the task of ironing

My Dad's boxer shorts and handkerchiefs.

I do still make the bed every day (which Mr. Bayard considers a complete waste of time). I have still never figured out how to fold a fitted sheet though.

[bigtree]

22. I remember the ironing. Still have the godawful board

...I can remember every sound of the various moves she'd make on the board while I was supposed to be taking a nap on the cot (a barbaric strip of sandpaper stretched between two sticks), with her 'stories' turned down low on the b&w.

[3catwoman3]

24. My mother used to "sprinkle" items needing to be ironed and put them...

...in the refrigerator or freezer if she didn't have time to iron right away.

I don't mind ironing. I like the aroma of the warm fabrics. Not much that I wear requires ironing these days.

I would much rather iron than dust - 2 hours later, you can't tell that you did.

[LakeArenal]

26. Ironing is almost an archaic art form.

However, moderation on everything. Bras?
Bath towels.. Mom had a mangle and an iron.

She also had a 7-Up bottle with a little sprinkle cork thing for damp.

Then…..the STEAM IRON… She was in heaven.

[3catwoman3]

28. Today's all synthetic bras would melt///

…if you tried to iron them -

I think the Vermont Country Store catalog still sells white cotton bras with those circle-stitched cups that made breasts look like the nosecones on torpedoes. 🚀

[wnylib]

33. Nosecones on torpedoes - LOL

Best description that I've ever heard.

In my early teens, my best friend and I browsed through a Playboy magazine in a drugstore looking for "dirty jokes" to retell to our friends. Also, we were curious to know what men found attractive in women. When I saw the perfectly "perky," pointed breasts (which must have been photoshopped or its equivalent in those days), I burst out laughing to think that men might actually expect real breasts to look like that.

[3catwoman3]

44. I told our sons, when they were old enough to start working out...

...at the local fitness club, that if they saw a girl/woman lying down on a weight bench to do bench presses and her breast were pointing toward the ceiling, that they were probably implants. The real ones flatten out and slide to the side when you are doing bench presses.

I didn't want them to have unrealistic expectations.

[wnylib]

45. Good motherly advice.

[2naSalit]

37. We had all of those things...

The mangle, iron and (we had a beer bottle) sprinkling thingy. Had to iron all kinds of stuff, but not the towels. Nearly everything else ran through the mangle or was ironed.

[Laffy Kat]

35. So did mine.

She sprinkled Dad's shirts and placed them in these blue plastic bags and then froze them for later. She taught me how to iron and I actually have always kind of enjoyed it, although I only do it when absolutely necessary lately.

[Ocelot II]

25. Me, too. I had to iron handkerchiefs, underwear, pillow cases,

sheets, tablecloths, just about anything made of cloth. There'd be this laundry basket full of stuff for me to iron, some of it sprinkled, damp and rolled up (pre- steam iron days). Ugh. I rarely iron anything any more.

[3catwoman3]

23. Ah, hospital corners! I was an expert before I was 11. Another "my mom was a nurse"...

...childhood. I remember being really upset one morning when she insisted we change the beds before I left for school. It was supposed to be my morning to help raise the flag outside the school building, along with a red-headed boy who was my first crush. I told her why I was supposed to get there early, but no way. Changing the beds was a priority for her, so I missed my moment. One did not argue with my mother.

I can still make hospital corners, but I don't bother with top sheets and haven't for decades. I like my feet to be free. I have lots of pretty sheets, so I've adopted a European practice of leaving the duvet/quilt folded back at the foot of the bed. The sheets get to air out, and I get to enjoy the pretty prints.

[cbabe]

27. Side note: Between the Folds: The Art of Origami

Top doc ever. Not only jumping frogs. Artists. Paper makers. Protein folds research ie alzheimers. Space station folding solar panels. Airbags.

…

Origami may seem an unlikely medium for understanding and explaining the world. But around the world fine artists and theoretical scientists are abandoning more conventional career paths to forge lives as modern-day paper folders.

Through the art of origami, these offbeat and provocative minds are reshaping ideas of creativity and revealing the relationship between art and science.

…

The film also features advanced mathematicians and a remarkable scientist who received a MacArthur Genius Award for his computational origami research.

…

While debates ebb and flow on issues of folding technique, symbolism and purpose, this unique film shows how closely art and science are intertwined. The medium of paper folding—a simple blank, uncut square—emerges as a resounding metaphor for the creative potential for transformation in all of us.


https://documentaryheaven.com/between-folds-art-of-origami/

[wnylib]

47. I am 5'1" tall. No way am I going to

have neatly folded sheets when doing them alone.

I grab the 4 corners of a top sheet, lining up top and bottom corners together, lift them up and shake them out into a droopy rectangle and then hold the corners in one hand while running the other hand out to the folded end to bring it over to the corners. That brings the sheet down to a more manageable size. Then I fold it up. Never looks neatly aligned but does sort of resemble a folded sheet.

Fitted sheets are another story. I start out the same way, but of course the sides sag outward as I try to fold it. I just shove them inside and fold the sheet over them. Sometimes I just roll the fitted sheet up and then flatten it out into a facsimile of a square folded sheet.

The only reason I even bother trying to fold them is so they can fit on a closet shelf stacked on each other.

[A HERETIC I AM]

48. HOW TO FOLD A FITTED SHEET. PAY ATTENTION!!

1) Lay sheet flat on the floor.

2) Call cat in to do the job

3) Put sheet away.

[tanyev]

49. I don't have a cat, but that's pretty much my technique.