Photo: Rawpixel.com (Shutterstock)
In addition to favoring mattress of a certain firmness, and sheets made from some materials but not others, most people also have a preference when it comes to how a bed is made. To put it in Seinfeldian terms: A “tuck” or a “no tuck.”
If you like to sleep swaddled in tightly tucked sheets—or have served in the military, or worked as a nurse or hotel housekeeper—you may already be familiar with “hospital corners.” This bed-making method results in sheets so securely in place that (depending on how you sleep) you’re able to slip in and out of them as if they were an envelope.
Whether you’ve forgotten the technique, or never learned it in the first place, here’s how to make a bed with hospital corners.
What are hospital corners?
Also known as “military corners” and “mitered corners,” this bed-making technique involves securing a flat sheet on a mattress using a series of folds and tucks. Even after fitted sheets became widely available in the 1950s, hospital corners are still widely used in healthcare facilities to change the sheets on a bed without having to move an immobile patient.
How to make a bed with hospital corners
Here are step-by-step instructions for making a bed with hospital corners:
