Make a Hospital Corner

Hospital corners involve tucking sheets neatly underneath the mattress using overlapping folds — kind of like wrapping a present. Anyone who works in a hospital, joins the Find an Armed Forces Recruiter, or even Have a Good Time at Sleep Away Camp usually has to learn how to make "hospital corners" when he or she makes a bed. Hospital corners are also nice to use at home, giving your bed a neat, tidy, and professionally made appearance.

Steps

Folding Hospital Corners

  1. Position a flat Buy Sheets over your mattress. A flat sheet is a sheet that is rectangular in shape, with no elastics or rounded corners; it is different from a fitted sheet, which has rounded, stretchy corners made for hugging your mattress.
    • If you have a fitted sheet, place this on the bed first before laying your flat sheet on top of it. Then, lay your flat sheet out on your bed with three sides of the sheet hanging off the mattress at the sides and foot of the bed. Align the top of the flat sheet with the top of the mattress (at the head of your bed) so that it is flush with the mattress, not hanging over it.
    • If you do not have a fitted sheet, place the flat sheet over the mattress so that all of its sides hang evenly over the mattress (at the sides, head and foot of the bed).
  2. Tuck the bottom of the flat sheet in at the foot of the bed. Lifting the bottom of the mattress lightly with one hand, use your other hand to tuck the sheet beneath the mattress, moving from one corner of the mattress to the other.
    • Once you have put the mattress back down, slide your hand (or, if you prefer, both hands) between the mattress and boxspring (or base) to ensure that sheet is smooth and not bunching anywhere.
    • You might also tug lightly on the outer ends of the sheet that are still hanging down on either side of the mattress to help keep the sheet taut and smooth.
    • If you do not have a fitted sheet and are using the flat sheet to lie on top of once you’re in bed, repeat this process at the head of the bed, lifting the mattress slightly and tucking the top end of the flat sheet beneath the mattress.
  3. Choose a corner at the foot of the bed to start with. Move to one of the two corners at the foot of your bed in preparation for your first hospital corner. For each corner, you’ll be working with the side of the sheet that you have not yet tucked up under the mattress — i.e. the long side, which is hanging over the side of your bed.
  4. Grab the bottom of the sheet 16 inches up from the foot of the bed and lift it up to form a tent shape. Your hand will be right in the centre, or peak, of the “tent”, and the two sides should fall back down to the mattress at roughly 45-degree angles. As you make the “tent” with one hand, use your other hand to hold down the sheet where the bottom of the “tent” meets the surface of the mattress, roughly at the corner.
    • As you hold up the sheet with one hand and hold it down at the corner with the other to form a tent shape, you’ll see that some excess fabric still hangs down at the corner of the bed. This is the excess fabric you’ll be working with in the next step.
  5. Tuck the excess fabric underneath the mattress. Grab the excess fabric that still hangs down around the bed corner you’re working on and tuck it under the mattress. If possible, do this while still holding up the “tent” with your other hand. As you tuck in the fabric, guide the sheet with your hand so that it moves around the corner of the mattress as smoothly as possible.
    • If you have trouble making the sheet smooth with one hand, you can place the “tent” on top of the mattress and use both hands to smooth the corner. You can also hold the “tent” (now placed on top of the mattress) firmly with one hand as you smooth the excess fabric with your other hand.
  6. Let the sheet fall back down over the side of the mattress. Let go of the long side of the sheet (in which you just made a tent), allowing it to fall back down over the freshly tucked corner and the side of the bed. For a crisper corner, hold the corner in place with one hand as you let the sheet fall. In some hospital settings, you stop here, as shown in the picture.
  7. Tuck the hanging edge tightly under the mattress. As you tuck the sheet under the mattress, use your hand to smooth out any wrinkles that appear in the sheet on top of the bed as you go.
  8. Repeat on the other corner (or corners, if you are using your flat sheet as your fitted sheet). Start at the foot of the bed. Once you’ve completed those two corners, you can move on to the top of the bed if applicable (if you aren’t using a fitted sheet).
  9. Smooth out any wrinkles on top of the sheet. Run your hand along the sheet on top of the bed to smooth out any wrinkles. If there’s quite a bit of excess fabric on the sides of the bed after you’ve done this, tuck it underneath the mattress.

Making a Military Style Bed

  1. Start with a covered mattress. The sheet covering your mattress could be either a fitted sheet or a flat sheet that has already been folded into hospital corners (as per the “Folding Hospital Corners” method).
  2. Place a flat sheet on top of your mattress, aligning the top of your sheet with the top edge of your mattress.
  3. Make sure the sheet hangs down equally on both sides of your bed. Note that the sheet will not hang down equally at the head and foot of your bed: it will be aligned with the head of your bed and it will hang down over the foot of your bed.
  4. Place a blanket on top of the flat sheet. The thicker your top blanket, the more difficult it may be to fold hospital corners with. If you really want to mimic military style, the standard blankets we see on top of military beds are not cushy quilts but thick, coarse wool blankets.
    • Some people like to place the blanket 6 to 12 inches down from the top of the flat sheet (i.e. from the top of the bed); others like to line the blanket up perfectly with the flat sheet. You can experiment with what best suits your tastes.
  5. Grabbing the flat sheet and the blanket together, fold hospital corners at the bottom 2 corners of the bed. Unlike with regular hospital corners, you will not be folding the flat sheet separately from your top blanket; you will fold them simultaneously, so that they are folded together.
  6. Leave the sides of the sheet and blanket hanging down. Don’t tuck these in just yet, as you’ll want to work on the top of the bed before finalizing the folds by tucking in the sides.
  7. Fold the sheet and blanket down at the top of the bed. Exactly what you do here will depend on how you’ve aligned your flat sheet and blanket, but the end result will be similar no matter what: the sheet will sit folded neatly over top of the blanket. It should look sort of like a cuff on a shirt sleeve or pants.
  8. Tuck in the sides. Now that you’ve made the appropriate folds at the top and bottom of the bed, you can tuck in the sides. Be sure to hold the sheet and blanket together as you tuck them underneath the mattress.
  9. Run your hand along the top of the bed to smooth out any wrinkles.

Adding a Pillow Cover to a Military Style Bed

  1. Place your pillow at the top of your bed. Tuck any excess fabric from the pillow case beneath the pillow as you place it on the exposed sheet at the head of your bed. The pillow should sit on the exposed sheet that you will sleep on. It should sit above the flat sheet and blanket that you’ve just folded down on top of your bed.
  2. Fold another blanket in half vertically. This blanket should be similar to, if not the same as, the top blanket of your bed. To fold something in half vertically means to fold it so that the long sides are touching.
  3. Place the blanket width-wise across the top of your bed. It should cover your pillow and hang down equally on both sides of the bed. The top of the blanket should hang several inches over the head of your bed. Ensure that the blanket still reaches down far enough below your pillow so that it covers both the pillow and the folded sheet/blanket just beneath your pillow.
  4. Fold the blanket into hospital corners at the top of the bed. Just as you’ve done in previous steps, fold the blanket into hospital corners at the two top corners of your bed.
  5. Tuck the blanket in at the sides of the bed. Pull the blanket taught on both sides to smooth out any wrinkles before tucking it beneath the mattress. When you tuck it in, avoid lifting the mattress as this might loosen the sheet and blanket already tucked beneath it. Simply slide the blanket in beneath the mattress using your hand.
  6. Smooth out any wrinkles. Run your hand over the bed one final time to smooth out any wrinkles. The purpose of this blanket is to seal your bed against dust, so you want to ensure that it’s tightly fitted to your bed, with no gaps or wrinkles.



Tips

  • The goal of using hospital corners is to have tidy, taught bedsheets, so be sure to apply a light to medium tension whenever you’re handling the sheets so as to minimize excess fabric and wrinkling.
  • When tucking sheets and/or blankets in beneath the mattress, you might find it useful to hold your hand with the palm facing down and use it to slide the sheet/blanket underneath the mattress with a slow, horizontal motion — sort of like a sideways karate chop.
  • Don’t be upset if your first few tries at hospital corners don’t go as well as hoped. It’s easier than it looks, and it can take a lot of practice to get a perfectly tucked, smooth bed sheet.
  • Some people suggest making a pleat in the centre of the bed as you work on your hospital corners at the foot of your bed. To do this, before starting the hospital corners at the foot of the bed, you would put a small fold in the flat sheet and then tuck it under the mattress to begin your hospital corners. This allows for a bit more room beneath the sheet (i.e. it won’t feel so tight).

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Sources and Citations

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