How to Roll Clothes for Packing Cubes

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When it comes to travel packing, it’s all about space. You want to have plenty of clothing options, so one of the most popular suitcase storage options is to use packing cubes.

Despite the ‘cube’ name, they can come in a variety of shapes, including square, rectangular, round, and oval.

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Rolling Shirts

Rolling Pants

Rolling Dresses

Rolling Underwear and Socks

An efficient way to pack these cubes is by rolling your clothing. Just unzip the packing cube and have it out right next to the item to get started.

Rolling Shirts

Medium-weight shirt fabrics, like knits, cotton, and polyester, roll up well, save space, and help prevent wrinkles.

Prepare the shirt by buttoning it up and smoothing out all wrinkles. Lay the shirt flat and facing you, with the collar side furthest away.
Roll up the hem of the shirt’s bottom up about three inches to make a cuff.
Fold both sleeves inward and flat. If the sleeves are long-sleeved, make them as flat as possible while folding.
Take the entire left-hand side of the shirt and fold it inwards. Do the same to the right-hand side. The shirt is now a long skinny rectangle.
Starting at the non-cuffed end, begin rolling up the shirt very tightly, smoothing all wrinkles and making the roll as small and compact as you can.
Once you’ve rolled it all the way towards the end, take the cuffed edge and pull it over the rolled shirt to encase it in an outer layer of fabric. This holds the roll tightly in place.
You can use a rubber band or hair tie to secure the roll, but that’s optional.
Continue rolling all shirts very tightly.
Pack lengthwise or widthwise (whichever way works best) into the packing cube. Zip up the cube and place in luggage.

Rolling Pants

Prepare your pants for rolling and packing by zipping and buttoning up all fasteners.
Lay the pants out on a flat surface perpendicular to you, with the waist facing up on your right and the legs extended towards your left. Smooth out the legs.
Create an outer cuff with the waistband. Take the waistband and roll it outwards towards the legs about four or five inches down.
Fold first the right pant leg inwards towards the zipper and flatten it all the way down to the end. Second, fold the left pant leg inwards towards the zipper and flatten it. Leave a small space for the zipper.
The legs should overlap each other on the bottom. Beginning at the bottom of the legs, roll very tightly towards the folded waistband.
Roll all the way up towards the waistband, keeping the legs straight and the roll compact.
Once you get to the waistband, fold the cuff over the rolled pants to secure it in place.
You can use rubber bands or hair ties to keep the roll together.
Place the roll in the packing cube.

Rolling Dresses

Rolling dresses is very similar to the above procedure for shirts.

Lay the dress out flat in front of you, with the hem at the bottom.
Create a cuff at the bottom, like you did for shirts. Roll it up towards the sleeves about three inches.
Fold each sleeve inward towards the center of the dress and press it flat with your hands.
Fold the entire left-hand half of the dress towards the middle and flatten with your hands. Fold the entire right-hand half of the dress towards the middle and flatten with your hands. You should have a long skinny rectangle of fabric.
Starting at the collar, begin rolling the dress in a tight, compact roll towards the hem.
Once you get to the cuffed hem, pull the extra fabric over the dress to create a secure bundle.
Use rubber bands or hair ties to further hold the rolled dress.
Place in a packing cube.

Rolling Underwear and Socks

Rolling underwear is very easy.

Lay the garment out flat with the front facing up.
For boxers, fold each leg in towards the center and then roll up to the waistband.
For ladies’ underwear and briefs, choose either the left or right to begin rolling sideways towards the other side.
Keep your rolls very tight.

To roll pairs of socks into small balls:

Place the socks flat in front of you with the heels flattened and on the bottom of the sock, not off to the side.
Lay one sock on top of the other to create a pile.
Start at the toes and roll both together up towards the cuffs.
Flatten the bunched ends with your palm, pushing them inwards towards the roll.
Take the hem of the outside sock, stretch it out with your fingers and encase the rolled socks inside of it.
Place into the packing cube.