How To: Fold Shirts to Save the Most Space

Keep your shirts organized and wrinkle-free with this easy folding method.
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Photo: Debbie Wolfe

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Folding shirts in a uniform, compact manner will help keep them wrinkle-free while saving storage space. Even better, it allows you to see at a quick glance what you have ready to go so you don’t need to rifle through your dresser drawers to find the shirt you want. Don’t worry—you don’t need any specialized gadgets to fold your shirts so they fit tidily in your drawers.

Watch the video tutorial and follow the detailed step-by-step instructions below to learn how to fold a shirt to save the most space and keep things neatly organized!

STEP 1: Lay the shirt down.

how to fold a shirt
Photo: Debbie Wolfe

Place the T-shirt front-side down onto a surface.

STEP 2: Fold toward the center.

how to fold a shirt
Photo: Debbie Wolfe

Imagine a line running down the center of the shirt. Fold one long side of the shirt toward the center. Fold the sleeve on that side back toward the outer edge.

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STEP 3: Repeat.

how to fold a shirt
Photo: Debbie Wolfe

Repeat the previous step on the opposite side. The sleeves will extend slightly over the edges.

STEP 4: Tuck in the sleeves.

how to fold a shirt
Photo: Debbie Wolfe

Take the top edges of the sleeves and fold them down, creating a triangle.

STEP 5: Fold up the bottom.

how to fold a shirt
Photo: Debbie Wolfe

Grab the bottom edge of the T-shirt and fold it up to just below the collar. The shirt now forms a nice rectangle.

STEP 6: Fold in thirds.

how to fold a shirt
Photo: Debbie Wolfe

Fold the bottom edge of the shirt to the middle of the rectangle, and then fold the top edge down. Smooth out the fabric, creating a tidy T-shirt package, and place the folded shirt in your drawer.

how to fold a shirt
Photo: Debbie Wolfe

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Folding long-sleeved shirts.

how to fold a shirt
Photo: Debbie Wolfe

Fold long-sleeved shirts in a similar manner, but lay the folded sleeve parallel to the edge of the shirt.

how to fold a shirt
Photo: Debbie Wolfe

When you bring in the opposite side, make sure the two sleeves slightly overlap each other in the center. Then, as explained above, fold the bottom edge of the T-shirt up to just below the collar, and then fold the shirt into thirds.

This easy, extremely compact folding method will allow you to see what shirts you have in your drawer at a glance, maximize your storage space, and help keep most wrinkles at bay.

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