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Source: "How to Fold Your Navy Uniform." All Hands 463 (September 1955): 32-35.

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How to Fold Your Navy Uniform 

No matter whether you're a seaman recruit struggling through boot camp or an old timer on your last hitch, you will be well repaid by a careful study of the diagrams on these pages. You'll benefit in two ways: Your clothing will always be in shipshape condition, and you'll find more room in your sea bag or locker. If some of the methods, recommended here seem unfamiliar to you, it may be because you didn't have the advantage of the help of many experts consulted by All Hands.


Drawing of how to fold a pair of trousers

BLUE TROUSERS:

Turn the trousers inside out, button and zip up fly. Lay out flat with fly and vertical leg seams down, the waistband toward you. Smooth out all wrinkles, noting the pockets especially.   Fold left half over the right half and even up all edges. Note: From this point on, the blue trousers differ from the dungaree and whites by having the vertical leg seam exposed and the crotch not tucked in.   Fold waistband over to center of trousers.   Fold hems over to center of trousers.   Fold lower half
over upper half.
Even up all corresponding
edges and folds.
Fold exposed
pocket back inside.

Drawing of how to fold a jumper

ALL JUMPERS:

Turn jumper inside out with collar opening facing up and collar away from folder. Smooth out all wrinkles.   Fold right half over left half and even up all folds.   Fold sleeves over at the shoulders from left to right. Fold collar over sleeves to have the right hand edge of collar even with same edge of jumper.   Fold sleeves back from right to left over the collar and turn the cuffs under the sleeves.   Fold bottom half over top half. Even up all edges and folds

Drawing of how to fold a pair of drawers

DRAWERS:

Lay drawers out flat with front side up and waistband toward folder. Smooth out all wrinkles and secure all snaps.   Fold right half over left half and even up all edges.   Fold left side over right side to have left corner approx. one inch from the right edge of "A." Tuck waistband ties out of sight.   Fold bottom half over top half and square up all edges.   Fold left half over right half. Note: at this point the drawers should be exactly the same width as the folded undershirt. Adjust fold 3 as necessary.

Drawing of how to fold a pillow cover

PILLOW COVER:

Lay pillow cover out flat with open end toward yourself. Smooth out all wrinkles.   Fold each side in toward the center leaving a space of approx. two inches between the edges at the center.     Fold the right half over the left half. Note: At this point the folds should be adjusted to make the pillow cover the same width as the folded large towel.   Fold the lower half up over the top half and even up all edges and folds.

Drawing of how to fold an hankerchief

HANDKERCHIEF:

Lay the handkerchief out flat and smooth out wrinkles.   Fold right had half over the left half. Even up edges.   Fold left half over right half and even up edges.   Fold from bottom to top in a series of triangles starting with lower right corner to left edge. Tuck remaining edge into fold to complete triangle.

Drawing of how to fold a dungaree shirt

Drawing of how to fold a dungaree shirt

DUNGAREE SHIRT:

Lay shirt out flat, collar away from yourself, front of the shirt up, all buttons buttoned, smooth out all wrinkles.   Fold sleeves of the front of shirt. Make fold even with outboard edge of shirt. Fold sleeves diagonally at the shoulders to lay sleeves flat with outboard edges of shirt.   Fold outboard edges and sleeves toward center of the shirt to make width of shirt same as width of folded dungaree trousers.   Fold top of shirt over toward center to leave approx. two inches between shoulder seam and top edge of shirt. Fold bottom of shirt approx. four inches.   Fold lower half of shirt evenly over upper half. Even up all edges. Note: All folds must be adjusted to make the shirt exactly the same length and width as the folded trousers.

Drawing of how to fold an undershirt

Drawing of how to fold an undershirt
UNDERSHIRT:
 Lay the undershirt out flat with front side up and the neck at your left. Smooth out all wrinkles.   Fold the right half over the left half to have all left hand edges even. Fold sleeves over toward center, have top and bottom edges even.   Fold left third over middle third.   Fold left and middle third over right third. Even up all edges and folds.   Fold bottom half over top half and square up all edges.

Drawing of how to fold a small towel

Drawing of how to fold a small towel

SMALL TOWEL:

Lay out towel lengthwise with the end seams facing up - smooth out all wrinkles.   Fold the left third over the middle third.   Fold the right third over the left third.   Fold the bottom half over top half and even up all folds - adjust all folds to make small towel exactly the same width as the folded large towel.

Drawing of how to fold a pair of socks

Drawing of how to fold a pair of socks
ALL SOCKS:
Pair socks properly and lay out flat with stencils down, tops away from yourself, toes to the left.   Fold the heels over from right to left, to have heels even with left edge of sock.   Fold toes over to cover heels.   [Turn the opening of bottom sock, fold over -- even edges and roll.]   Roll sock tightly toward the tops until roll is even with tip of toe.   Fold back the remaining unrolled part of the inside to encase the roll and hold it firmly in place.   Turn the opening back again over the roll to have stenciled initials on both socks plainly visible.

Drawing of how to fold a pair of dungaree trousers
DUNGAREE AND WHITE TROUSERS:
Turn trousers inside out. Lay out flat, waistband toward you, fly unbuttoned, vertical leg seam (whites) or seams (dungarees) facing up.   Fold left trouser leg over right, get all edges even.   Tuck crotch in between trouser legs to make them the same width from crotch to hem.   Fold top of trousers over to place waistband in center of trousers.   Fold bottom of trousers over to place hem in center of trousers.   Fold waistband end of trousers over hem end. Get all edges even.

Drawing of how to fold a jersey
JERSEY:
Turn the jersey inside out, lay flat with the label down and the collarette away from yourself.   Fold both sides on equal amount toward the center to make the jersey same width as the folded dungaree shirt and trousers.   Fold upper end of the sleeves diagonally to lay sleeves flat with outboard edges even with outboard edges of jersey. Fold the collarette over at seam to square off top of jersey.   Fold bottom half over top half of jersey, even up edges. All folds must be adjusted to make jersey exact width as folded dungaree shirt and trousers.

Drawing of how to fold a pair of swim trunks
SWIM TRUNKS:
Lay the swim trunks out flat with pocket facing up and to the left. Tuck the drawstring out of sight and smooth out wrinkles.   Fold the left third over the middle third.   Fold the right third over the left third and even up the edges.   Fold the crotch over toward center approx. four inches and turn trunks over from left to right for stowage between socks in the lower drawer.

Drawing of how to fold a large towel

Drawing of how to fold a large towel
LARGE TOWEL:
Lay out flat, lengthwise with end seams facing up. Smooth out all wrinkles.   Fold each side in. Have edges meet in center.   Fold the right half of the towel over the left half to have the folds and edges even.   Fold the upper third down over the middle third of the towel.   Fold the lower third up and over the upper third of the towel and even up all edges and folds.

Drawing of how to fold a neckerchief
HANDKERCHIEF:
Lay the handkerchief out flat and smooth out wrinkles.   Fold right half over the left half. Even up edges.   Fold left half over right half and even up edges.   Fold from bottom to top in a series of triangles starting with lower right corner to left edge. Tuck remaining edge into fold to complete triangle.   Tuck the remaining top edge into fold to complete the triangle.

Drawing of how to fold a raincoat
RAINCOAT:
Lay the coat out flat. Sleeves up and outboard edges aligned with vertical seams. Collar facing toward the folder. Smooth out all wrinkles and remove the belt.   Fold the collar over at its seam and fold right half of coat to the center.   Fold the left half of coat to the center.   Fold collar end of coat over the opposite end to have some distance from collar to top edge as from bottom edge of flap (stenciled edge) to bottom edge of coat.

Drawing of how to fold a raincoat
RAINCOAT: (continued)
Fold top half over bottom half.   Fold both sides into center.   Fold left half over right half.  

Lay belt out flat, undress side up, buckle to the right. Double the belt by folding the left half over the right half with tip of belt touching buckle.

Secure folded raincoat by placing at about three inches to left of center of the belt. Wrap ends of belt around the center of coat and pass the doubled end of belt through the buckle and loop as shown.

  Note: The raincoat is carried by passing the pistol belt through the center of the folded coat. Secure to the small of the back. Raincoat buckle up and facing to the rear.

Drawing of how to fold a flat hat
FLAT HAT:
Flatten the hat by spreading the sides of the band and applying pressure on the folds to have the hat retain its flattened shape. Turn hat over (crown up) and stow in locker with lettering on the ribbon facing the door.

Drawing of how to fold a watch cap
WATCH CAP AND GLOVES:
Lay the watch cap out flat, name label and stencil inside, seam inside and along left edge of cap crown facing toward folder.   Lay out gloves palm to palm, fingers to the right, thumbs down, centered and even with crown.   Roll the cap with the gloves tightly and evenly from the crown toward the opposite end, leaving approx. three inches.   Fold back exposed edge to hold inside sufficiently.

Drawing of how to fold a peacoat

Drawing of how to fold a peacoat
PEACOAT:
Spread out coat and straighten sleeves, then fold collar down as when worn.   Fold right side to center line.   Fold left side to center line.   Fold again at the center, note position of sleeve hole.   Fold bottom one third up. Fold top one third down.   Tie with long clothes stops.

Drawing of how to fold a mattress
MATTRESS COVER:
Lay the mattress cover out flat - open end away from yourself, flap down - smooth out all wrinkles.   Fold upper half down over lower half to have corners of flap even with curved edge of bottom at "A."   Fold right half over left half.   Fold the left third over the middle third.  

Fold right third over left third. Note: At this point, fold 5 should be adjusted to make the mattress cover the same width as the folded large towel.

Fold the top third down over the middle third.

  Fold the bottom third up over the top third. Even up all edges. Note: The mattress cover must now be the same width as the folded large towel.

Drawing of how to fold leggings
LEGGINGS (ORGANIZATIONAL AND RECRUITS ONLY):
Lace the legging, turn foot strap and buckle inside, lay out flat with lace up and buckle to the left, seam "A" facing up.   Fold the right third (legging top) to the left over the middle third.   Tuck the left third (foot) inside of the right third (top) and smooth up all folds.   Leggings are stowed in locker side by side. Each legging folded separately, seam "B" down, single smooth fold facing locker door. Side "C" to the left.

Drawing of how to fold a white hat
WHITE HAT: 
Lay the hat out flat with last name centered on the brim.   Fold the right third behind the middle third.   Fold the crown over.   Fold the left third back over the right third and even up all edges and folds.

Drawing of how to fold a blanket
BLANKET:

Lay the blanket out lengthwise with the reinforced edges at top and bottom, name in lower left hand corner facing down.

Fold the upper half down over the lower half.

 

Fold the blanket in quarters by folding the upper half down over the lower half again.

Fold the right third over the middle third.

  Fold left third over right third.   Fold upper corner back on all blankets for layout on bunks.

Drawing of how to fold a web belt
WEB BELT:
Turn inside out, pull end of belt through buckle to form small loop. Roll belt from metal end. Place inside loop. Tighten.

[END] 

Published: Thu Oct 05 07:04:42 EDT 2017