Rolling Clothes

[litlvxn]

Always pack some Downy wrinkle releaser too.....it can be a cruiser's best friend when something is just a little too wrinkled to walk out into public "AS IS".....I swear by it and it comes in travel sizes....A girl has to have SOME dignity at sea for crying out loud...the excessive wine drinking sure doesn't help.

[FunDayAtSea]

I've been rolling for a while now...got me down to one small suitcase for a 7 night cruise. I also use tissue paper - it works as well as the dry cleaning bags to help prevent wrinkles.

 

I just wish I could get my mom to roll - and not to over pack - our last 5 night cruise, she had two, yes two, suitcases. The night before the cruise in the hotel, I had her repack, pull out the "if in doubt, leave it out" clothes and got her down to one suitcase, making her leave the second one in the car. She realized once we were packing to get off the ship just how many of the clothes she didn't wear. I hope she now understands how I can now pack for a 5 night cruise in a carry on.

 

We leave in 12 days for the Legend....I can only hope she has one suitcase....

 

Jodi

[Terre]

I learned a packing method a long time ago on the Net that seems to work well at keeping wrinkles down to a minimum.

 

You don't fold your clothes and put them in the suit case. Instead, you place only half of each item in the suit case and let the other half lay outside the case. You place the top half of each clothing item in a clockwise (or counter clockwise) direction so that the each garment is sticking out one of the four sides of the suit case. Once you have placed all your garments in the case, you then start folding in the half of each garmet that is outside, into the suitcase... again, in clockwise direction.

 

It looks like you are creating a pinwheel, so to speak, with your clothes. Once it's all in, you basically have one big solid mass of clothes in the shape of a rectangle.

 

The theory is, because all the clothes are folded tightly onto one another, the clothes can't move around during transportation. It's the movement of individually folded clothing that is suppose to cause wrinkles the most.

I read about this technique from a book called "The Packing Book" and it works better than rolling in my opinion. With rolling I still got wrinkles, but this "nesting" technique keeps clothes from wrinkling and you don't have creases from folding.

[erqueenie]

Hi, We always roll our clothes. Takes less space and not as wrinkled. Sooooo happy rolling!

[DreadPirateRobert]

I'm a roller too but you "guys" who plan an outfit for the day and roll it up all together....that's a frightening level of organization. I admire it but have no illusions of being able to do it. :)

[Hotfire]

Thanks for all the great replies, Folks!

 

Hotfire

[Hotfire]

My SIL put it to me like this...

 

The premise of any of these packing techniques is to keep your "folds" round and not square. Think of gift wrapping paper. When it comes off the roll it is nice and smooth... wrinkle free. However, as soon as you fold or crease it, it will stay that way.

 

Hotfire

[Mr. Noob]

I learned a packing method a long time ago on the Net that seems to work well at keeping wrinkles down to a minimum.

 

You don't fold your clothes and put them in the suit case. Instead, you place only half of each item in the suit case and let the other half lay outside the case. You place the top half of each clothing item in a clockwise (or counter clockwise) direction so that the each garment is sticking out one of the four sides of the suit case. Once you have placed all your garments in the case, you then start folding in the half of each garmet that is outside, into the suitcase... again, in clockwise direction.

 

It looks like you are creating a pinwheel, so to speak, with your clothes. Once it's all in, you basically have one big solid mass of clothes in the shape of a rectangle.

 

The theory is, because all the clothes are folded tightly onto one another, the clothes can't move around during transportation. It's the movement of individually folded clothing that is suppose to cause wrinkles the most.

Déjà vu, someone else gave me that same advice and reasoning somewhere else.

 

Don't fold your clothes and put them in the suitcase. You open your suitcase and take each piece of clothing and, one at a time, place HALF of the item in the suitcase, and let the other half lay OUTSIDE the suitcase. You place the "out" half of each piece in a clockwise (or counter-clockwise, whichever) sequence, so that once you have put four items in the suitcase, kind of like a pinwheel. I'm not describing this all that well. Say the first piece of clothing has 1/2 laying out to the north, the second piece of clothing has 1/2 paying out to the east, the third piece of clothing has 1/2 laying out to the south, and the fourth piece of clothing has 1/2 laying out to the west. Like that. You continue to do that with each successive piece of clothing. Once yo have all your garments in, then begin folding the half of each garment that is laying outside the suitcase over onto the halves inside the suitcase (continue to do this clockwise (or counter-clockwise, if you started that way) until all the garment are folded. You wind up with a big, interconnected, rectangle of clothes.

 

The theory behind this method of packing is that because the clothes are all interconnected, individual garments don't shift around, which is what supposedly causes wrinkles.

I guess this is common knowledge but I thought it was a coincidence.

 

[Mr. Noob]

I read about this technique from a book called "The Packing Book" and it works better than rolling in my opinion. With rolling I still got wrinkles, but this "nesting" technique keeps clothes from wrinkling and you don't have creases from folding.

Terre, can you tell me how you got your cruise countdown thingy to work? I posted a question on the help forum here but haven't got a reply.

 

Is that a sig pic or are you pasting the image on your replies?

[Gecko7]

We rolled going and stuffed returning. This is how we better protected the bottles of wine and other finer gifts we picked up along the way. I did not pack a suit so i can't advise you other than rolling does not wrinkle as bad as a poor pack job.

 

Also you can stuff socks and smaller items in shoes for additional space.

 

Gecko7:)

[Monkeythyme]

My SIL took flight attendant training, and she can roll clothes perfectly. I am a total rolling klutz; my rolled jobs arrive looking worse that my folded ones.

 

Therefore, I have my own version of rolling. I roll around for a while in each garment I want to pack, and if it wrinkles I leave it at home. If it doesn't wrinkle, I pack it.

[Thirsty Cruiser]

Anyone from the Hippie era might think you are talking about something else... :D

 

Yeah, the real problem is not rolling them, it is getting them to stay lit. :D

 

You can call me butter, 'cause I'm on the roll!:)

 

*groan* sounds like one of my jokes :p :D

[Sweetcharlotte30]

I have a weekend trip planned before our cruise so I'm useing that as a "dress rehearsal" for rolling. I love the log idea for my kids!

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

My BIL worked for the airlines so SIL did a lot of flying. She told me about rolling initially and I did it during my last cruise. There is actually a website that shows how to do it that I found here on CC but I don't know what it is to repost it here. Maybe google it.

 

I do like others said where they roll like items together. I stack all my tank tops (one on top of another) and start rolling, all my shorts same way. It does save space and you get less wrinkles too but the clothes don't shift in the bag when the handlers toss them. That is why regular folded clothes get wrinkled.

[Mrs. H.]

I tried the rolling once, but chickened out. :eek:

I found it confusing to do the 'pants hang outside luggage and place all clothing on top and fold pant legs back in and over' trick.

What works for me is tissue paper! :)

I put WHITE tissue paper between each ironed/folded item which I place in flat down in the luggage with tissue paper between each item. Works very well for me. Hope this helps others.

Happy Cruising! :D

[katbid10]

We always roll all our clothes. I make "logs" by rolling a pair of shorts, a t-shirt, and undies together, so when a person has to shower, he/she just grabs a "log" and is all set. Nothing gets wrinkled.

 

The only problem is that we are able to fit so much in our suitcases that we constantly get charged by the airline for overweight bags. I bought smaller suitcases so we are going to have to learn how to pack less. :eek:

 

We have a big garment bag that we use for our formal wear, so I cannot answer that part of the question.

 

I love the "LOG" idea. That would be great for the kids! Thanks!

[mara93]

We recently started doing this & you can fit SO MUCH more into your suitcase!

[obx_fintoo]

*groan* sounds like one of my jokes :p :D

 

:p Thanks!

[cruizer4662]

http://goeurope.about.com/od/packingtips/ss/packing_tips_2.htm

[gracie65]

I roll then (casual clothes) then put them in a space saver or vacuum bag. They don't wrinkle & I can fit a lot more stuff...................that I don't need of course.

[ALVINF]

Has anyone ever rolled up their clothes when they packed their suitcase? ................What do you all think?

Hotfire

 

That's what they taught us to do in the Navy. Granted this isn't the Navy but it was to save space and the idea's the same. You know the military is a stickler for your uniforms looking good.

[Mrs. H.]

Not many ways to stuff a duffle bag. :) Still have my husbands duffle bag in the attic from when he got out of the Navy. :D

[pacerzfan]

I am guilty of being a roller too....LOL

[sassy0930]

My dad, too, was in the navy, and he taught me to roll. I tried to convince my fiance of it on our last cruise, but he packed his bag and I packed mine (mind you we split the clothes up, but he was in charge of one, I the other)

 

I got all of my clothes with some room and he couldn't fit all the clothes in his. I had to put some of the clothes from his bag into mine!!! We also don't wear a lot of wrinkly items- this time we'll bring a garment bag for my wedding dress/his suit, but everything else will be rolled.

 

(we roll for the way back too, but then it's a little more sloppy, still more space for souvenirs)

[lawyerrose]

I was on my first cruise--a terrible tub of a boat called the Costa Flavia in 1981 with 9 sorority sisters for a graduation celebration.

 

Hey! She wasn't a "terrible tub of a boat" - well, not too much, anyway. I have good memories of a cruise in the late 70's on the Costa Flavia!!:D