Making sure you know how to fold a shirt quickly without causing it to wrinkle is important if you want to save yourself time and effort. In the case of dress shirts, you start buttoning them up so that the fabric is aligned before laying them face down and folding the sleeves back over the shoulder. You then fold at the elbow, fold the shirt body into thirds from the sides, and then up from the bottom all the way to the collar. Wrinkles are now a thing of the past thanks to five simple steps that take a matter of seconds to execute.
Why do you need to know how to fold a shirt?
You could be traveling, you could be tackling the laundry, or you could be moving house. If you don’t know how to fold a shirt properly, you’re just going to undo all of that hard work you just did with your iron. The mistake many people make is thinking that it takes an age to fold a shirt with military precision, so they skip it. Our approach is to show you how to fold a shirt even when you’re in a rush so that you can quickly and easily keep it wrinkle-free and ready to wear.
5 quick steps: how to fold a shirt quickly and wrinkle-free
When you know how to fold shirts in seconds without wrinkling them, you will be able to make packing and getting ready as stress-free and easy as it should be:
- Step 1: Fix the buttons: You need to button the cuffs and the placket down the front of the shirt before trying to fold it. Skip or forget this step, and you will be misaligning the fabric layers and introducing unwanted creases that are going to look like unsightly wrinkles.
- Step 2: Put the shirt down flat: Putting the shirt face down on your bed will give you plenty of space to work on. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to fold it in mid-air while holding it because you think it will be quicker. Lay it down, gently smooth it with your hand, and then move on to the next step.
- Step 3: Fold both sleeves: Fold both of the sleeves back over their corresponding shoulder, while making sure you hit the same angle as your shirt’s hem. You then fold at the elbow back over the sleeve, taking care to make sure the cuffs are aligned with the edge.
- Step 4: Bring in both sides: Folding the sides straight and vertically over the folded sleeves is important, and you need to make sure the edges meet evenly in the middle. Creating a straight line like this will keep everything aligned and will set you up for the final step.
- Step 5: Fold bottom up: The lower third of the shirt now needs to be folded horizontally over the top of the middle third. You then need to repeat the same move until the end is level and even with the collar. Take a moment to make sure that each fold is straight and even to put the finishing touches on your wrinkle-free packing.
A quick bit of practice is all you need to master this technique. Before you know it, you’ll be doing it in a few seconds, and all without a single wrinkle in sight.
If you’re packing for a trip that involves traveling here in the US, the TSA has a useful travel checklist that we recommend taking a look at. A couple of minutes spent reading may well save you a whole host of stress when you get to the airport or when you arrive at your destination.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you tight roll a dress shirt when packing?
While this technique can work well for regular T-shirts and gym wear, we would not recommend using it for formalwear like dress shirts. Elements like cuffs and collars will not like being tightly wrapped, and the fabric will easily wrinkle, in part because of how it is cut and shaped to make the shirt.
- Should you button up a shirt?
Yes, buttoning up is the first step in folding a dress shirt the right way, and it’s about more than making sure the shirt looks neat and tidy when you lay it down. The buttons will hold the fabric in place and make sure the various panels and parts are correctly aligned with one another. If they’re not, you’ll be inadvertently causing all manner of unwanted creases that will spoil the smooth finish you achieved when ironing.
- Should you fold a collared shirt after ironing?
We recommend allowing the shirt to cool in the air using a non-slip plastic hanger. When the fabric is cool to the touch and the fibers have settled, you will find that it is much less prone to wrinkling and easier to fold.
- What if you don’t want to fold a dress shirt?
Unless you want the lived-in look, you’ll find that you introduce wrinkles you don’t want and then have to iron the shirt all over again from the beginning. Learning a quick and reliable folding method will ensure that you can easily keep your shirts in perfect condition with minimum effort.
