Ease? That depends. The key is holding the four corner seams not at the sheet edge but where they stop within the sheet. If your arms are long enough you may be able to bring corner to corner holding two corners in each hand and flipping the "sides" and "tops" to the inside and then four corners to one hand and holding the fold straight with the other. Then you can finish folding it up neatly. Otherwise a two person job or a big space to lay it down, square the corners and get it ready for folding.

I find it easy, though I admit the current fad for elastic all around the sheet does add to the fun.

Here's my method: (It takes longer to write than do, but if you do it a few times, it will be a snap from there on.)

Stand with the sheet over a basket or counter so it can just lie on a clean surface until it's completely folded.

Identify one of the short sides, this is the base from which to start. (If it's hard to tell, you can mark one side with a small Sharpie dot on the selvedge.)

Put one hand in each of the pockets at either end of the short side. Just stick your hand as if it were a mitten without a thumb.

Now fold the sheet from right to left (or vice versa) and hook one pocket smoothly over the other. You'll have to turn the outer pocket inside out to get it to lie smoothly. It doesn't matter whether you fold towards the back or the front, either way you'll have a pair of nested pockets on one side and a smooth fold along the other.

With your hand in the pair of nested pockets, lift the sheet until you can reach the other end. It's likely that the remaining pockets will be close together, but not nested. If the whole thing seems rumpled give it a shake to settle things down.

When you can see the remaining pockets together then tuck one inside the other so that it looks like the pair in your other hand. The sheet will now be a long rectangle with two pairs of nested pockets. One side will be a simple fold, but all three other sides will have material kind of doubled over from the edges. But keep focused on the corners, not the edges.

So, next, nest the two pairs of corners together (same movement as when you made the first nest above). Now all the pockets will be nested together in one of the four corners of the rectangle. Make sure that the diagonal seams of the corners are all lined up roughly together. (Shake and fiddle if necessary.)

Now fold the outer edges inward along the natural folds that flow from the nest of corner pockets. You will make this fold along the two adjacent edges that come together at the nested corner.

Fold the actual nested corners down in a diagonal fold, one way or the other so it all lies as flat and neat as possible.

Indeed, the whole thing should now be looking pretty tame, although if you have a one of the sheets with all-around elastic it may still look a bit bumpy. Don't worry about that for now.

Now, fold the whole rectangle in thirds along the long axis. I start the folding by turning in the outer edge simply to make the end product look neater, but you can do it either way.

Now you have a long, skinny, rectangle which is again folded in thirds. I start at the thick end for the first fold, but again, it doesn't matter, it just looks better to my eye.

And now you're done. The final rectangle will fit perfectly inside a folded flat that is folded in quarters, not thirds. It's the difference between the sizes that makes the third-folded fitted sheet match perfectly with the quarter-folded flat. It's magic.

I can do the entire folding in the air, but I do several dozens of sheets every month so I get a lot of practice.

In truth fitted sheets are always a combination of the perfectly smooth (the center part which lies flat on the bed) and the slightly messier areas around edges which wind up under the mattress anyway. What you're aiming for is a tidily folded bundle that conceals the gathered portions and lies sweetly, even if some parts are definitely not tamed (but are concealed both in the bundle and then on the bed).

When you get really good at this you can just head directly for the corners and nest them one right after the other and give the the thing a good shake and it will all fall together correctly. Most people get into trouble by trying to fold the edges in all around the sheet instead of using the corners as handy pivots.

Hope this makes sense.

Molly~

My trick is to:
Stick my hands into two corners that are next to each other (I prefer the shorter side) and let the sheet hang on them.

The other hanging two corners get folded up and hung onto the first two. The fold should be at the bottom with your hands now hooked into 4 corners, 2 on each hand.

To now fold into quarters: Invert one doubled corner onto the other hand with all the fitted sides together, shake lightly into place and lie flat either on a table or your chest (elastic side up or out). Keep the corners stacked together.

Then do simple long folds, one after another until it is one long length of folded sheet. (about the width of the overhang of the fitted part of the sheet)

Finish off by folding ends into the middle (each end about 1/4 of the way) and closing this together.

Hope this works :)

To all,
Wow, you all created great visuals for me to try!
I do have some sheets that have the all around elastic, but not all. I'll go about it with less frustration and follow your methods.

Thank you so much!

My suggestion is to have one set of sheets for each bed! Strip the bed, wash and dry the sheets, put 'em right back on the bed. The bed is undone for about two hours.

We had six kids, so storing extra bedding was always a problem. We needed the space for towels, etc. Now the kids are all grown and we still use one set of sheets. So do my kids!

I basically fold the fitted sheet as Molly described, though once I have the 4 corners nested I have to lay the sheet down to finish it up, and I don't finish it up as precisely as Molly.

Molly, I just wanted to compliment you on your clear, detailed description. Once I get the corners nested my goal has been just to get the sheet from being puffy, but often my fitted and flat sheets end up defferent sizes. I will follow your directions carefully and see if I can get them the same size too!

Joe

There is a neat video online showing exactly how to do this. I watched it and its easy. Just type in a search with something like "folding a fitted sheet". I can't remember the exact URL or I'd post it.

I learned how to fold a fitted sheet using Molly's method when I was between 10 and 12 years old. I don't remember exactly. That would be 34 to 36 years ago.

When I was a newlywed, I was in a laundromat struggling to get a fitted sheet folded, and an older gentleman came up and said, "Here, let me show you how to do that!" Reading all your descriptions reminded me of his kindness!

The biggest problem with only having one set of sheets for each bed is, if a set gets soiled (thrown up on for instance) then you have to sit around for a couple of hours waiting for your sheets to get clean and dry at a time you probably just want to crawl back in bed and go to sleep.