folding laundry

December 7, 2003 5:46 PM

After viewing this incredible video (.wmv) from China I am folding laundry like a pro (via Linkfilter)
posted by stbalbach (30 comments total)

The wmv shows an easy way to fold shirts in seconds like you might find when you buy them new. This is a hands-on post you have to try to appreciate. Reverse engineer the folds afterwards to see the beauty. It should cut down on wrinkles when traveling and the shirts are folded tighter.
posted by stbalbach at 6:00 PM on December 7, 2003

It's actually from Taiwan, IIRC. I've tried it, and it is nifty, but I don't get very tight folds using the technique.
posted by gyc at 6:25 PM on December 7, 2003

Penny for a mirror?
posted by Freaky at 6:48 PM on December 7, 2003

I never thought folding clothes could be so much fun...
posted by thebabelfish at 6:57 PM on December 7, 2003

Who needs lessons when you have Flip Fold (As Seen On TV) he PepsiBlued...
posted by wendell at 7:05 PM on December 7, 2003

I took the shirt off my back and followed the video 5-7 times... I cannot successfully fold my shirt. What is wrong with me?
posted by quam at 7:14 PM on December 7, 2003

I've put a protected mirror just for mefiers here. You're going to have to click and save it from this page -- you can't copy and paste the url into a media player, for example.

By the way, this is a fun method. When I try it, it seems a little sloppy to me, but practice makes perfect, eh? I found shaking the shirt after crossing over makes it snap into place.
posted by zsazsa at 7:17 PM on December 7, 2003

I just showed this to my fiancé, she's giggling and refolding all our laundry now.
posted by KnitWit at 7:31 PM on December 7, 2003

i downloaded it and it was a pixelated unwatchable mess. wtf? zsazsa, your link didn't work for me either. (safari 1.1) meanwhile, my room is filling up with wrinkled, balled-up clothes!
posted by dobbs at 7:32 PM on December 7, 2003

I am blown away. I have just refolded all my tshirts. I was unstoppable.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 7:41 PM on December 7, 2003

So your new folding technique is unstoppable?
posted by Johnny Assay at 8:12 PM on December 7, 2003 [1 favorite]

dobbs, sorry, browsers are really finicky about whether they get triggered to download. Try a plain ol' click on the link and it SHOULD just download it. I'll check it on the Macs at work tomorrow. Sorry for my weird method, I'm a little scared about bandwidth usage on my site.

KnitWit, same here, even with the giggling. In fact she just discovered that she doesn't even need a surface to fold short sleeved t-shirts on. Try doing it with just holding the shirt, pressed against your front, almost like you're wearing the shirt.
posted by zsazsa at 8:18 PM on December 7, 2003

Another thing my fiancée noticed is that the stack can get a little lopsided. Alternating left side, right side can even things out.
posted by zsazsa at 8:23 PM on December 7, 2003

mnftiu!
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 8:56 PM on December 7, 2003

AMAZING! I knew the Internet was still good for something.
posted by afx114 at 9:02 PM on December 7, 2003

My wife didn't find this revelation as mind-blowing as I did, despite my introducing the topic with "I've just found what the Internet is for."

I found I could make a folded t-shirt smaller by grasping closer to collar of the shirt, performing the first fold, then folding the other sleeve onto the back before folding the back over.

This plus zsazsa's (fiancée's) alternate folding trick means I have lots more space in the t-shirt drawer! Thanks MetaFilter!

(The downside: folding the laundry is now officially my job, since I've shown such enthusiasm for it.)
posted by jmcmurry at 9:04 PM on December 7, 2003

Sheesh. And I previewed, too...

s/closer to/closer to the/
posted by jmcmurry at 9:08 PM on December 7, 2003

Dobbs, I'm guessing you have Media Player 7.1 for Mac and need to upgrade to 9. I had the same problem and that worked for me. Laundry day is fun again!
posted by teg at 9:37 PM on December 7, 2003

now if only some inventive asian television program could figure out what to do with my damn socks.
posted by Espoo2 at 9:40 PM on December 7, 2003

Very cool. It looks daunting...but I'm going to practice the technique. Some day, I will be the Master of My Laundry.

Anyone else find it oddly humorous to hear the word "tee-shirt" in the video, BTW?
posted by davidmsc at 9:57 PM on December 7, 2003

davidmsc: how about when it said perfect in the bottom left hand corner
posted by cmicali at 10:32 PM on December 7, 2003

Ah, the retail fold, drilled into me on summer jobs in Provincetown 20 years ago. It does look daunting, but as soon as you learn the rules it's peasy.

Just remember that the shirt starts flat out in front of you, face-up but upside-down, and that you can alternate sides easily as long as one hand pinches the shoulder in front of it to start each fold.

Then all you're really doing is folding the shirt over your other hand to pinch the hem, pinching the fold, and straightening your arms. Fold the other side over as you put it down, and you're done!
posted by nicwolff at 10:44 PM on December 7, 2003 [1 favorite]

Ancient chinese secret, huh?... oh well this has changed my life. Slightly.
posted by bobo123 at 12:33 AM on December 8, 2003

Now if only I could find a (video | website) that could teach me how to iron shirts (HHOS).
posted by abischof at 8:23 AM on December 8, 2003

The last time I showed my wife a new t-shirt folding technique, she scoffed and said she had been folding t-shirts that way for years. Revenge will come tonight.
posted by alms at 8:56 AM on December 8, 2003

For those on Mac who don't want to d'l Windows Media Player, might I suggest Video Lan Client or MPlayer. Both are worthy alternatives.

ZsaZsa, works fine on Safari 1.1
posted by grimley at 9:00 AM on December 8, 2003

You know, forget the folding method - I loved the video! That was funny as hell. I might never fold my shirts using that method, but I'll always appreciate having seen the video! So campy - maybe I need to move to Taiwan. If every video is filmed with such lust for fun, life there would have to be a blast.
posted by PigAlien at 9:40 AM on December 8, 2003

PS, thanks zsazsa!
posted by PigAlien at 9:40 AM on December 8, 2003

My shirt ended up looking like a crane. OK!
posted by Feisty at 10:55 AM on December 8, 2003

I watched it on Linux with xine. If you have Mac OSX, you could install xine via fink. Note the instructions here:

http://www.mail-archive.com/[e-mail]/msg08614.html
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 10:56 AM on December 8, 2003