How To Fold T-Shirts - The Tried-and-Tested Methods (2024)

Learning how to fold t-shirts is essential to ensure they’re in good shape when it’s time to wear them. The right skill will ensure you leave enough space to hang your other garments, especially your formal attires. It’s also a very beneficial skill when packing for your travels and saving space in your cupboards.

How To Fold T-Shirts Without Collars

Folding clothes is one of the most time-consuming and laborious tasks, so some people opt to hang their shirts. However, not everyone has enough space, and if you hang them tightly packed, they end up with noticeable creases and wrinkles.

Thus, you would need to iron your shirt each time you need to wear one. To save you from that trouble and ensure you maximize your closet and drawer space, below are some of the most efficient and easy ways how to fold t-shirts.

How To Fold T-Shirts, Basic Fold Technique

This method is the most popular because it’s simple, quick, and useful for storing and packing your shirts. That said, it might leave wrinkles on the folded areas when you store the shirt for an extended period. (Read how to store clothes)

1. Lay your ironed shirt on a flat, wide, smooth, clean surface with the front side facing down.
2. Smoothen any creases or wrinkles by running your hands over the shirt’s surface.
3. Fold it in the middle vertically or from left to right, making sure the sleeves are aligned.
4. Next, fold the sleeves towards the middle or folded part. Smoothen any creases or wrinkles. If you have a long sleeve, fold it back on itself once you get to the center of the shirt.
5. Line up your shirt’s edges to ensure they’re even.
6. Take the bottom part and bring it to the top area, folding your t-shirt in half horizontally. Again, make sure the edges are aligned.
7. Smoothen any creases or wrinkles.
8. You can fold your shirt in half again if you have a smaller storage space or traveling bag.
9. Flip your folded t-shirt, and you’re done.

How to Fold T-shirts Compact Method

This method results in a smaller folded t-shirt which is great for travelling and for putting your t-shirts in drawers where you can stand them upright.

1. Lay your ironed shirt on a flat, wide, smooth, clean surface with the front side facing down.
2. Smoothen any creases or wrinkles by running your hands over the shirt’s surface.
3. Fold over one-third of the shirt on both sides.
4. Next, fold the sleeves back. Smoothen any creases or wrinkles.
5. Fold in the edges so they meet in the middle.
6. Take the bottom part folding your t-shirt in half in thirds.
7. Fold again and you have a small folded t-shirt.

How To Fold T-Shirts the Marie Kondo Way

Marie Kondo, the pioneer of the KonMari Method, is known for her organizational and space-saving techniques. Her fabric folding techniques are useful for packing and storing items in small spaces or spaces with too many items.

1. Lay your ironed shirt on a flat, wide, smooth, clean surface with the front side facing up.
2. Smoothen any creases or wrinkles by running your hands over the shirt’s surface.
3. Fold one side of your shirt vertically across the center and smoothen the shirt.
4. Fold the sleeve on top of the folded area, and then smoothen any creases or wrinkles.
5. Next, fold the opposite side over the folded side, making sure you don’t reach the edge and have a rectangular folded shirt.
6. Smoothen any creases or wrinkles.
7. Fold the sleeve on top of the folded area, and then smoothen it out.
8. Take the top part of your shirt and fold it horizontally, leaving at least 2.54 centimeters or an inch of the edge uncovered by the part you just folded. Smoothen any creases or wrinkles.
9. Take the top part and fold again as step #8. Now you have three layers of folded parts and two gaps at the bottom. Smoothen any creases or wrinkles.
10. Repeat step #8 if you have an extra-long t-shirt.
11. Take the shirt bottom and fold upwards, using the middle of the second layer as a guide, and then smoothen it out.
12. Let your folded shirt stand on top of the flat surface, with the edges at the bottom.
13. If it stays up, proceed to the next t-shirt. If not, repeat the steps but make the rectangle slimmer and the fold height shorter or longer.

If the steps seem complicated, here’s a video of how to fold t-shirts the Marie Kondo way.

How To Fold T-Shirts Using the Army Roll Method

Also known as the military roll, this method of folding t-shirts is perfect for saving space in your travel bags. Still, you can use it for storing your shirts in your drawers. It’s more time-consuming than the rest of the techniques and might leave some wrinkles and creases on your shirts.

1. Lay your ironed shirt on a flat, wide, smooth, clean surface with the front side facing up.
2. Smoothen any creases or wrinkles by running your hands over the shirt’s surface.
3. Bring up your shirt’s bottom approximately 7.6 to 10.2 centimeters (three to four inches).
4. Tuck it up and create a crease in the small fold with the help of your fingers. It will look like your shirt’s bottom has a cuff.
5. Flatten it by running your hands over the fold.
6. Smoothen the remaining parts of the shirt to make sure there are no wrinkles or creases.
7. Fold your shirt lengthwise by bringing the left side toward the middle. Smoothen the surface.
8. Tuck the sleeve inside the folded part to align it with the edges. Smoothen the surface.
9. Fold the right side of your shirt over the folded left side, making sure the edges line up. Smoothen the surface.
10. Tuck the right sleeve under the newly folded part, and then smoothen. At this point, you must have a long, rectangular shirt.
11. Grip the top of your shirt and start rolling tightly until you reach the bottom.
12. Tuck your rolled t-shirt in the folded part, and then unroll the bottom cuff you created earlier.
13. Fold the cuff over your rolled t-shirt, making sure it’s tight and secure.

See Also

How To Fold T-Shirts: Simple Trick For Organizing Your Shirt Drawer

How To Fold T-Shirts in Two Seconds

Known as the pinch-and-fold method, this is the quickest way to fold your shirts once you master it. Besides the learning curve, it isn’t as space-saving as the other techniques and won’t mostly leave your shirt free from creases or wrinkles.

Imagine the following:

1. Lay your ironed shirt on a flat, wide, smooth, clean surface with the front side facing up.
2. Smoothen any creases or wrinkles by running your hands over the shirt’s surface. Make sure you add enough pressure for the shirt to be as flat as possible.
3. Look at the side that’s far from you, and start imagining two intersecting lines. One should run across the shirt’s middle and another running from top to bottom of the shirt’s edge.
4. Point A is where the two imaginary lines intersect, while point B is the top part located between the sleeve and the neckline, just before the vertical straight line ends. Lastly, point C is the shirt’s bottom or the area where the vertical line’s about to end.

Once you have the points marked in your mind, here is how you quickly fold t-shirts:

1. Pinch point A with your left thumb and pointer finger and point B with your right thumb and pointer finger.
2. While holding point A, carefully bring point B to meet point C, crossing your arms while doing so.
3. Once they meet, hold points B and C together and then uncross your arms to lay your folded shirt flat on the surface, facing down.
4. Adjust accordingly to ensure the shirt’s edges are aligned properly.
5. Smoothen any creases or wrinkles by running your hands over the shirt’s surface.
6. You can fold the shirt horizontally if you want it to be more compact.

How To Fold T-Shirts With Collars

It’s best to hang collared shirts, but if you’ve limited space or need to pack for your travels, you must fold them properly. The main goal is to make sure you maintain the collars’ shape and crispness.

The right steps on how to fold t-shirts with any types of collars are as follows:

1. Pull the collars up and do up any buttons.
2. Lay your ironed shirt on a flat, wide, smooth, clean surface with the buttoned side facing down.
3. Smoothen any creases or wrinkles by running your hands over the shirt’s surface.
4. Fold the sleeves one at a time and smoothen any wrinkles.
5. Bring one of the shirt’s sides to the middle and smoothen any wrinkles. Do the same on the other side.
6. Take the bottom to the center to fold your shirt horizontally, and then smoothen out any creases or wrinkles.
7. Take the folded bottom to the top of the shirt, folding it horizontally. Smoothen it out.
8. Turn the shirt over and fix the collars like how you’ll do so when you wear your collared shirt.

How To Fold T-Shirts Without a Flat Surface

All the abovementioned techniques require a flat surface to have properly folded shirts. If you’re caught in a situation with no available clean, flat surface, you can fold your shirt using the chest method.

The steps on how to fold t-shirts while you’re standing up are as follows:

1. Hold your shirt up by holding the middle edges and with the front side facing you.
2. Fold your shirt by bringing the top toward the bottom, ensuring they’re aligned and your shirt has a square shape.
3. Turn your folded shirt 180 degrees so the side edges become the top and bottom.
4. Let your folded shirt rest on your chest and smoothen the surface.
5. Fold your shirt in the middle and smoothen the shirt.

How To Fold T-Shirts - The Conclusion

With the many methods of folding t-shirts, always ensure that you iron them first and choose the technique you are most comfortable with and can master easily. There’s no perfect folding technique since each can still leave little creases and wrinkles that you can quickly fix by holding the shirt’s top and shaking it before wearing it. As you might’ve noticed, the top secret on how to fold t-shirts is to smooth the shirt before each step or after every fold.