DIY Laundry Folding Board

You may be asking yourself, how is a laundry folding board a travel item?  Well, you get back home and dump all of your clothes in the wash and end up with a ton of clothes to fold.  What a way to be welcomed home!

You might remember my post from a couple weeks back where I shared my closet and my folded clothes.  I promised a mini tutorial to DIY a folding tool, and here it is!




By the way, I made this after seeing an infomercial for a similar tool but didn't want to spend the $30 + S&H.  This ended up costing about $2, and is completely customized to my drawers!


What you will need:

  • Foam core board (any size that will fit the clothing you will be folding)
  • Measuring tool
  • Pen/pencil/Sharpie
  • Box cutter
  • Tape (clear packaging or duct)
  • Fabric or decorative paper (optional)


1.  Measure the drawer you will be using for your clothes.  Divide this measurement by the number of columns of clothes you will be store in your drawer.  Take this number and subtract 0.25" or so, to give space between the columns of clothing.  This will be Measurement A!


* My drawer width is 29" and I want 3 columns of clothes, so my equation is as follows:
    Measurement A = 29"/3 = 9.33 - 0.25 = about 9"



2. Measure the height of your drawer for Measurement B.  Make sure you leave a bit of space so your clothes don't get stuck!


* My drawer is roughly 7.5" tall.




3. The foam core board will have cuts as follows.  The space between the red vertical lines will be Measurement A.  Both spaces between the horizontal red lines will be Measurement B.  Mark the lines that you will cut, remeasure, and then make the cuts using your box cutter!




Here is a close-up of my board with the measurements: 9" wide x 7.5" high




4. On the front of your board, tape all four sections back together, with the board laying flat.  The blue lines is where you will be taping your board back together.




5. With the board in the same position, fold each section over and tape while folded.  You will have to do this in the same four sections as you taped previously.





6. Use your board!  The instructions to using your board are below.  :)

* You can also cover your board with fabric, decorative paper, or contact paper, but make sure all sections of the board can fold completely.  I just tuck mine away in the corner of my closet, so it doesn't need to look pretty.


Folding Your Clothes

1.  Lay your clothing flat against the board as shown, centered with the edge of the item against the top of the board.




2.  Fold the right and left sections inward.




3.  Fold the first middle section forward.




4. Fold the entire middle section forward.




5. Pause to admire your neatly folded clothing, before repeating way too many times.




6. Place your finished item in with the rest of your folded clothes with the same exact measurements!




I hope this tutorial works out for you, and please let me know if you make one of your own.  I'm sure this works pretty similarly to the ones sold in the stores, but I didn't have to spend nearly as much!

Also, if you have smaller drawers for children you will have to make a second board, but since it's so easy and cheap it'll be no problem!


Has anyone else ever copied something they saw in an infomercial?




13 comments:

  1. What a great idea!

    Would love for you to link it up at my new Empty Your Archive link party which is a chance to dust off great  posts from your archive - there's a special focus this week on laundry! - would really love to see you there, Alice @ Mums Make Lists x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Clever! Thank you
    for sharing with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop this week!
    Cheers,
    Kathy Shea Mormino
    The Chicken Chick
    http://www.The-Chicken-Chick.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is amazing. I have never seen this before! Thank you! I am stopping by from I should Be Mopping The Floor Blog Hop Visit me soon at

    http://www.homemaker-mom.com/2/post/2013/05/a-rainy-day-crafting-afternoon.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. Seeing your post linked up at the Creative HomeAcre Hop was great! I'd never even heard of this but it is a brilliant idea. Thanks for joining us and we hope you'll come and party again on Sunday at http://mumtopia.blogspot.com/2013/05/CreativeHomeAcreHop2ndJun.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. How great is that!? Thanks for linking up at the Pinterest Power Party!

    Danielle

    SewMuchCrafting.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. what a really clever idea

    I would love it if you could come and link it up in my link party Serenity Saturday which is open till Thursday

    Natasha xx

    ReplyDelete
  7. so creative! I'm glad I found you through the blog hop and can't wait to go read more.... right now. :)

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  8. I've seen stores use something like this to fold the clothes. How neat that you came up with a way to make your own. Thanks so much for linking up at the Real Family Fun link
    party! Hope to see you next week.

    KC

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  9. I think my engineer son would LOVE this!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Definitely share it with him! It's a quicker, more exact way to fold laundry. I love it too!

    ReplyDelete
  11. You're a genius! Now that you pointed it, I can remember I've seen this somewhere... I think it will help me a lot with my new LowBudget Sewing Room re-do!
    Thank you for sharing, Diane, pinned ;)
    MammaNene @ SergerPepper.com

    ReplyDelete
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