KEEPING on top of the washing and laundry pile is no easy feat. Especially when you have kids and their school uniforms need doing.
We’ve spoken to laundry expert Deyan Dimitrov who revealed the best ways to fold your kids' school uniform so they look ironed – without you having to even put the board up.
The founder of on-demand dry cleaning platform Laundryheap, has been working in the laundry industry for seven years and says there’s ways to reduce ironing.
He said: “By sticking to methods that use fewer folds, you’ll be able to reduce the areas your clothing is creased and minimise unnecessary wrinkles, overall reducing your need to iron.
“One really easy way you can reduce creases in your clothes is to pop some ice cubes into your tumble dryer during a drying cycle, as this will leave your wrinkle and crease-free.
“Alternatively, you can hang any shirts or skirts up in a warm and humid area, such as an airing cupboard or boiler room, which will also reduce the number of wrinkles.
“Since school uniforms are made of fairly manageable fabric, the creasing tends to be minimal.
“Additionally, school uniforms are usually smaller and less prone to wrinkling, which makes them easier to fold and store.
“The only items of clothing that are prone to creasing are school shirts; in actual fact, it’s more efficient to hang them up rather than folding them away, as this can work away at any wrinkles that have been picked up during storage.”
Laundry expert Deyan revealed the top six ways to fold kids’ school uniforms so they look ironed (without ironing!).
ROLLING
Deyan explained that rolling your clothes is a great way to prevent wrinkles and minimise storage space in your home. Plus, it can keep your kids’ school uniforms neat.
Lay a T-shirt or shirt face up on a flat surface and gently fold the lower side upwards by roughly 3 inches.
Then begin to fold the top into thirds, taking the left side and turning it inwards into the centre and folding the sleeve back in on itself.
Repeat this with the right-hand side of the shirt, which should reduce its original width by a third.
Starting at the collar, begin to roll the top up fairly tightly, and you can unfold the bottom area to tuck over the main body and hold it in place. Voila!
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THE HIGH STREET FOLD
To copy those pristine folds that you see in clothing stores for your jumpers, T-shirts and shirts, lay your top face down on a flat surface, encouraged Deyan.
The laundry expert said: “Pinch the top right side (next to the collar) with your left hand and fold the right-hand sleeve inwards, towards it, with your right hand.
“Repeat this on the other side of the top, laying the folded sides next to each, or even overlapping, on the back of the top.
“Lastly, fold the bottom side of the shirt or jumper up towards its armpits, and then fold up the new bottom edge again, up to the collar.
“You’ll have a nicely squared top that can be flattened for storage.”
THE MATTRESS FOLD
Creating a simple fold in your clothing (just folding them in two) and placing them under a bedroom mattress, can help to flatten out your clothes through pressure – and therefore reduce ironing.
Make sure to spread your uniforms over your bed frame without any materials overlapping, to ensure that they’re pressed effectively, said Deyan.
But if your bed frame has wooden slats make sure to avoid this method, as your clothing may come away with imprinted lines of the slats underneath them.
THE RECTANGLE FOLD
Deyan said: “Gently shake the material to remove wrinkles, and then place on a flat surface and smooth out any grooves or edges.
For uniforms with skirts and dresses in warmer months, hold either clothing by the top, and fold lengthwise, aligning the seams to fold symmetrically.
“Fold your clothing lengthwise again, bringing the outer-edged side (the side containing your dress’ sleeves) into the fold containing the central part of your clothing.
“Then fold the bottom and top edges of your clothing inwards, to create a rectangular shape with four smooth sides. These can be flattened and stored on top of your jumpers and shirts.”
FOLDING SOCKS
It’s common to just stuff one sock inside the other, but this can, in fact, stretch out the material and actually make your socks more susceptible to wear and tear.
For long socks, lay one on top of the other, fold the bottom third towards the centre and the top third over the rest, as if you’re folding a letter, suggested laundry expert Deyan.
For shorter socks, lay one of them horizontally across a flat surface, then create a ‘T’ shape with the other sock, making sure there’s an overlap.
He said: “Fold both edges of the horizontal sock onto the overlapping section of both socks, before folding the vertically-placed sock on top of that, which should create a slight overhang.
“Tuck the overhanging area of the sock snugly into the slot created in between the horizontal fold, and you should have a tightly compacted shape that can be flattened.”
ONE FOLD ONLY
Although the ‘one fold only’ method is simple, it’s often overlooked when attempting to preserve your clothes at home – but it can actually reduce the time you spend ironing.
Deyan said: “Avoid refolding your laundry as you transport it from the dryer to your drawers; folding your laundry once before use will minimise multiple folding creases, helping to keep as much of your clothing as crinkle-free as possible.
“It can also help to fold or hang up your clothes immediately after they’ve dried, which will prevent them from wrinkling as they sit in the dryer or on the side, before storage.”
If you want to learn another genius hack, this woman shows how to easily fix clothes that have shrunk in the dryer with hair conditioner.
Plus a woman shows how to triple your wardrobe space in seconds – and you don’t need to buy anything.
Meanwhile a bizarre hack shows how you can dye your clothes PINK using an avocado and people are absolutely baffled.
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