Before I worked in a boutique, I rarely put my clothes away. I’d wash them, they’d remain in the laundry basket all crumpled up until I wore them, and I generally knew it was time to do laundry again when all of the clothes had made it from the laundry basket to the floor.
Then I learned the proper ways to fold and hang my clothing. I worked at the boutique for several years, and throughout that time I still only folded and hung at work, and my bedroom was still such a disaster. But when I stopped working there to take up my current day job, I finally put my skills to use in my own daily life.
Now my room is mostly clutter free — there are always a couple of things here + there that don’t belong, but for the most part the clothes make it into the drawers in a timely manner.
So now that it’s not hypocritical for me to offer this advice, I can attempt to demystify the process of folding a shirt properly in hopes that I help you attain a clutterless bedroom, too.
Step 1: Lay your shirt face down on a flat surface, collar closest to you.
Step 2: Fold over the right sleeve making a straight line from the shoulder (about an inch away from the collar in most cases) to the bottom of the shirt.
Step 3: Fold the sleeve evenly in the center of the shirt. Try to make it as flat as possible, and keep it above the natural waistline of the shirt.
Step 4: Fold the left sleeve over the same way as you did the right.
Step 5: Lay the left sleeve on top of the right sleeve in the same manner.
Step 6: Fold the bottom of the shirt up a bit. Long shirts will need to be folded more, and if you're folding a short or cropped shirt you can probably skip this step.
Step 7: Keeping the sleeves in place, fold the top of the shirt up to meet the bottom of the fold you just made.
Step 8: Pull the edges square if you need to, and voila!
This will work for any top at all, even dresses. So go wild, guys! There’s no time like now to reorganize! Happy spring cleaning!
xx. Julia
