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How to Fold Pajamas (and how to store them) Video + Photos

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Folding pajamas can be done in a bunch of ways; folded together, hung together, or folded individually.

But since pajamas often come in sets, I have focused on how to fold and store the clothes together in this guide.

If you mix and match your pajama tops and bottoms, don’t worry, you can still use the folds where I fold them together or you can go to the last section where you can fold them up individually.

There will be a video explanation, a written explanation, as well as an illustration for each of the folding techniques you will learn today, so feel free to use whatever form of instruction is best for you, but I always recommend watching the video if you have the chance.

How to Fold Pajamas Together to Save Space

To fold the pajamas sets together, we are going to use a modification to the ranger roll where we fold the pants/shorts inside the shirt.

This is by far the most space-saving of all the ways to fold pajamas.

A Clever Way to Fold Pajamas (And how to store them)
Timestamps: 0:27 how to fold pajamas sets together, 3:00 how to hang pajamas.
  1. Place your pajama bottoms flat with the front facing up.
  2. Fold the bottoms over in half from side to side.
  3. Fold pants down in half from top to bottom (skip this step for shorts).
  4. Place the bottoms to the side for now.
  5. Place the pajama top flat with the front side facing up.
  6. Flip the bottom of the shirt inside out and pull the fabric up 5-6 inches.
  7. Make sure that the inside-out part is even on the front and backside.
  8. Fold both arms in by folding them over to the other side.
  9. Take your pajama bottoms and place them in the middle of your shirt (above the inside out part).
  10. Fold both sides of the shirt in 1/4 of the total width of the shirt so that it covers the entire bottoms.
  11. From the shoulders, roll the shirt down all the way to the bottom of your shirt.
  12. Lift the roll up, and flip the inside out part back over the roll to secure it in place.
This fold can be a bit tricky, but stick with it and you will master it in no time!

Tip: Place your thumbs inside the openings in the roll to make adjustments to the roll.

I have an entire guide on how to roll your clothes here if you would like to learn more.

How to Hang Pajamas Sets Together on a Coat Hanger

Hanging your pajamas can be a fantastic option if you have enough closet space available. I’m going to show you how you can store your sets together in your closet.

Check out the video above if you want a demonstration, or follow the steps below to learn how to hang your PJ sets together.

How to hang pajama sets together on a coathanger step-by-step.
  1. Place your pants somewhere flat with the front side facing up.
  2. Fold the pants in half from side to side.
  3. Lift the top of the pants up by holding on to the waist area with one hand.
  4. Now pull the pants waist first through a coathanger about half way down the length of the pants.
  5. Let the pants rest on the lower part of the hanger and adjust them so that they are well balanced.
  6. Open the bottom of your pajama shirt and pull it down over the same coathanger.
  7. Let the shirt rest on the upper part of the coathanger.
  8. Lift the coathanger up and give it a gentle shake to put the pajamas in place.
  9. Hang the coat hanger in your closet.

I also wrote an article on whether you should hang or fold clothes that may interest you.

How to File Fold Pajamas Sets

For the file fold for PJs, we are going to fold the top and bottoms into individual folds as opposed to the two previous methods.

This fold has become very popular over the last decade. It achieved widespread popularity thanks to organizing master Marie Kondo and her KonMari method.

So here is my twist on it.

File Fold Shirts

File-folding your pajama shirts is significantly faster than rolling them. But they won’t hold together as well as rolling them will. However, if saving time is your main priority this is a fantastic option.

Clever Ways to Fold Long Sleeve Shirts (and Save Space)
Press play and the video will start at how to file-fold long sleeve shirts. For t-shirts, you can follow the exact same steps.
  1. Place the pajama shirt somewhere flat with the front side facing up.
  2. Fold in both arms.
  3. Then fold both sides in 1/3 of the total width of the shirt.
  4. Make sure the second fold should completely overlap the first.
  5. From the top, fold the sweater down 1/3 of the total length of the shirt twice.
  6. Place the shirt standing up with the side with a single fold facing upward.
A quick and easy way to fold your pajama top.

File Fold Pants and Shorts

The file fold for pajama pants and shorts is very similar to folding the shirt, but feel free to watch the video if you feel unsure of what to do at any point.

FILE FOLD Pants like Marie Kondo (and how to store them)
This video is for pants in general, but it will obviously work for pajama pants too.
  1. Place your bottoms flat with the front facing up.
  2. Fold the bottom over in half from side to side.
  3. Fold the pants down in half from top to bottom (Skip this step for shorts).
  4. From the end with the waist fold the bottoms down 1/3 of the length.
  5. Fold the bottoms over one more time so that the edges line up evenly.
  6. Place the pants with the tallest side with a single fold facing up.
File fold for pajama pants. Skip step 3 for your pajama shorts.

Now you can place your pajamas together in your dresser. As you can see both the top and bottom have about the same size and shape.

File-folded pajamas.

File-folded clothes are very neat, but they are a bit flimsy if you don’t support them properly.

So I recommend using an organizing system in your dresser drawers. I use these from IKEA (Amazon paid link), which I’ve been very happy with.

However, you can easily get away with using some small cardboard boxes in the beginning. Or just skip it altogether if you want to try it out for a while first.

I have an entire guide on file-folding clothes here if you want to learn to fold the rest of your clothes like this as well.

And for nightdresses, I recommend that you check out my guide on how to fold dresses here.

How to Fold Dresses to Save Space (Step-by-step guide)
My video on how to fold dresses.

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