Comments on: folding laundry

folding laundry

stbalbach — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 17:46:09 -0800

After viewing this incredible video (.wmv) from China I am folding laundry like a pro (via Linkfilter)

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 18:00:31 -0800

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.

By: gyc

gyc — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 18:25:46 -0800

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.

By: Freaky

Freaky — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 18:48:05 -0800

Penny for a mirror?

By: thebabelfish

thebabelfish — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 18:57:59 -0800

I never thought folding clothes could be so much fun...

By: wendell

wendell — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 19:05:24 -0800

Who needs lessons when you have Flip Fold (As Seen On TV) he PepsiBlued...

By: quam

quam — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 19:14:05 -0800

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?

By: zsazsa

zsazsa — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 19:17:04 -0800

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.

By: KnitWit

KnitWit — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 19:31:10 -0800

I just showed this to my fiancé, she's giggling and refolding all our laundry now.

By: dobbs

dobbs — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 19:32:22 -0800

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!

By: i_am_joe's_spleen

i_am_joe's_spleen — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 19:41:20 -0800

I am blown away. I have just refolded all my tshirts. I was unstoppable.

By: Johnny Assay

Johnny Assay — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 20:12:33 -0800

So your new folding technique is unstoppable?

By: zsazsa

zsazsa — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 20:18:29 -0800

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.

By: zsazsa

zsazsa — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 20:23:32 -0800

Another thing my fiancée noticed is that the stack can get a little lopsided. Alternating left side, right side can even things out.

By: i_am_joe's_spleen

i_am_joe's_spleen — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 20:56:00 -0800

mnftiu!

By: afx114

afx114 — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 21:02:06 -0800

AMAZING! I knew the Internet was still good for something.

By: jmcmurry

jmcmurry — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 21:04:46 -0800

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.)

By: jmcmurry

jmcmurry — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 21:08:50 -0800

Sheesh. And I previewed, too... s/closer to/closer to the/

By: teg

teg — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 21:37:37 -0800

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!

By: Espoo2

Espoo2 — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 21:40:38 -0800

now if only some inventive asian television program could figure out what to do with my damn socks.

By: davidmsc

davidmsc — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 21:57:37 -0800

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?

By: cmicali

cmicali — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 22:32:41 -0800

davidmsc: how about when it said perfect in the bottom left hand corner

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 22:44:11 -0800

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!

By: bobo123

bobo123 — Mon, 08 Dec 2003 00:33:16 -0800

Ancient chinese secret, huh?... oh well this has changed my life. Slightly.

By: abischof

abischof — Mon, 08 Dec 2003 08:23:18 -0800

Now if only I could find a (video | website) that could teach me how to iron shirts (HHOS).

By: alms

alms — Mon, 08 Dec 2003 08:56:48 -0800

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.

By: grimley

grimley — Mon, 08 Dec 2003 09:00:50 -0800

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

By: PigAlien

PigAlien — Mon, 08 Dec 2003 09:40:02 -0800

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.

By: PigAlien

PigAlien — Mon, 08 Dec 2003 09:40:50 -0800

PS, thanks zsazsa!

By: Feisty

Feisty — Mon, 08 Dec 2003 10:55:58 -0800

My shirt ended up looking like a crane. OK!

By: i_am_joe's_spleen

i_am_joe's_spleen — Mon, 08 Dec 2003 10:56:28 -0800

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/fink-beginners@lists.sourceforge.net/msg08614.html