Folding Shirts
August 23, 2016
Folding Shirts to Maximize Space in Drawers
Folding shirts, while a chore, can be a joyous, active meditation, believe it or not. If you struggle to relax, and find it difficult to sit quietly and meditate, folding clothes is a soothing activity that can help center you quickly while preparing your wardrobe for future wear.
A friend once asked me pointers for meditating and I suggested chopping vegetables as a good active meditation. If you don’t get centered quickly, you’re likely to cut yourself. Shirt folding is less dangerous, however, but just as satisfying.
Folding is best done on a table but doing it on your bed is okay too. The sooner you start after drying, the fewer wrinkles you’ll have to contend with. It’s surprising how many wrinkles you can remove, though, by simply spreading out your shirts and smoothing them with hands as you fold.
The photo below shows steps for folding a t-shirt, but it will work on shirts with collars as well. Just be sure to smooth and arrange the collars evenly. The method below is very similar to the Konmari method – probably a hybrid of Marie Kondo and my grandmother’s way of shirt folding. The difference is in how the sleeves are folded.
Folding shirts this way makes them super-compact so they can be stored on edge, which takes up less space in your drawers. While hanging shirts in the closet is easier, some of us are lacking in closet space and maximizing your drawer space is always a good idea. If you remove the wrinkles as you go, folding into thirds or even quarters produces no more wrinkles and you’ll be amazed at how many t-shirts you can pack in a drawer. The main drawer photo above includes over fifty shirts – plus room for at least ten more. If the shirts had been folded like retail displays, they would’ve taken up more than twice the room. Most people would arrange the shirts facing the drawer front. In this instance, they seemed more accessible arranged along the length of the drawer. It’s really a matter of personal preference.
If you are moving into a dorm or are short on drawer space, you’re sure to love this method of folding shirts, as it leaves more room in your closet for suits, coats and dress clothes. Enjoy!
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Also check out our post on dresser drawer decluttering and check out this video for the cheater method of shirt folding, with Alejandra. For help with jean storage, read this (it’s a fun quick read).
What do you do if you fold your shirts this way but you have multiple shirts of the same color? It seems that the graphics/designs are covered up and you wouldn’t be able to tell which shirt is which without taking it out and checking it first.
Thanks for the tips!
Hi Ryan. You’re welcome and thank you for writing. Along with organizing by color, you could have another tier of organization such as, putting shirts with logos together in a row, or storing towards front of the dresser drawer, with rows oriented to the depth of the drawer, rather than the length. You could also fold them three times (folding top and bottom in), leaving the center with the logo facing out. If you really need to see the logos, however, you might want to hang those shirts on a closet rod for easier access. Have a good day.