How to make hospital corners: Youtube vid

babyshoes

This reminds me of a time I was at University living in Residence, when we were provided with flat sheets. My friend watched with amazement as I made up the bed with (somewhat) decent hospital corners and exclaimed her surprise that I would go to so much effort when I was the laziest person she knew! I explained that it was a form of laziness - a little effort at the beginning saved tucking the sheet back in every night!!!:rotfl:

Now I use fitted sheets, as the mattress is much harder to get to due to the shape of the bed.

tandraig

perhaps I was the youngest to learn hospital corners - I was in hospital from the age of 15months until I was nearly four, and apparently insisted my bed was made with hospital corners when i came home!! even showed mum how to do them I am told. and i cannot bear fitted sheets and do hospital corners to this day - over fifty years later!
I tried fitted sheets when i got married - but OH somehow pulls them off the mattress and ends up sleeping on a bare mattress and i have all this excess material in the middle of the bed! he doesnt do that when i make the bed with flat sheets!

msgnomey

the guy was too cute for me to watch how to make the perfect corner, but as I was a nurse for 10years I am sure I can still remember.....if I really wanted to....fitted sheets all the way, the trick is to get an exact fit and then they stay put!

Caterina

I was taught how to make hospital corners when I was 17 living in Copenhagen (for a while) and working as a chambermaid in a posh hotel. I never forgot it and still can make a decent bed without the need for fitted sheets (although I appreciate the ease of fitted sheets, which my kids choose to use in their beds).

I do not go to the extremes of that guy in the video (with the ruler and piece of paper) but do them more like the quick abbreviated version he shows.

He was quite a sweet looking young man, though, no?

mandi

How sad am I ? I love nothing better that a freshly washed cotton sheet with yes , you guessed hospital corners :D ( reminds myself to delete this post tommorrow )

Alison_Funnell

Ha! Never realised THAT was hospital corners!

Just the way I was taught to make a bed. :rotfl:Though if I am being fussy I have the fold vertical at the corners on somethings ( throws on sofas etc).

patchwork_cat

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

My sister and I were sent off to boarding school (not a terribly good one, alas) at the ages of 7 & 9 and we had to make our own beds with hospital corners and they were very closely inspected to make sure they were always just right. We still make our beds the same way out of habit. I must say it does irk me to see scruffy corners on a bed even now 40-odd years later AND the pillow-case openings must face away from the door as well

Me too Bitter - funny I have fitted sheets now!!! Always was a rebel!

Kaz2904

Love flat sheets and properly folded. When we get our new bed I'm getting flat sheets. They stay tidy for so much longer. Shall watch the vid when I get home in the morning.

Trivia time: The reason that the pillow openings have to face away from the door dates back to Florence Nightingale. When she was nursing during the war, they were in tents and the sand used to blow through the tent flaps. If the pillows faced away from the opening, they didn't fill up with sand and the pillowcases (and probably pillows) lasted longer.

cooking-mama

Fitted sheets for me..Im a staff nurse,been making beds with hospital corners since the 80's..dont believe in taking my work home with me:rotfl:

PS/Yeh we were taught to always have the open end of the pillowcase facing away from the door,but no one ever explained why(other than saying it looked tidier),oddly i do stick to this idea at home.

thriftlady_2

Interesting trivia about the pillowcases and sand. I bought some new pillowcases recently and they have the opening in the middle of the back. You have to bend the pillow to get them on. Right pita they are.