# Getting pocket squares to stay in place



## cactiman (Aug 1, 2009)

Is there a trick to it? as I wore one for the 1st time last night, with a 3 point fold, and it kept slipping down into the pocket.


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## pkprd869 (Jul 7, 2009)

Sounds like your square is not big enough for your pocket. Each square and pocket are different but don't fret. I take a white cotton hankie and use it as a filler then put in the pocket square. No one knows the difference.


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## PJC in NoVa (Jan 23, 2005)

It's an art, not a science.

Pockets differ (esp. as to depth) and so do squares. 

It's all about trial and error.

For nearly each one of my suits, blazers, and odd jackets, I have a carefully custom-folded (by me) square (a simple white-cotton hankie is my favorite) that lives in an inside chest pocket when the garment is not being worn. If I'm going to wear the jacket, it's just a matter of moving the hankie into the outside breast pocket to which it has been painstakingly calibrated and in which it will stay in proper position.


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## Salvatore123 (Jan 11, 2009)

*Different method for different squares*

For linen and cotton squares, always prefold a set so that you will have what you want, ready to use, depending on occasion or mood: TV fold, triagle, angled, two triangles, three triangles, etc. Then, IRON them using starch. Keep them in a drawer (to prevent from collecting dust) and pull out whichever one you want. Do NOT set iron too high, as it could ruin the square by turning it yellow or brown (burning the starch).

For silk, you really can't prefold a square. Silk squares are almost always worn by laying them flat, pinching the middle of the square, grabbing it with your other hand about 3 or 4 inches below where you pinched, folding the dangling ends upward, and then stuffing into your coat pocket so that you get the rounded part of the middle of the square, and also the edges of the ends (which usually have a border-design that helps set it off from the middle part/design).

Of course, remember the universal rule: when it doubt, always go for white linen. It matches everything.


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## Alexander Kabbaz (Jan 9, 2003)

Try this and be sure to use the ruler/comb/business card to insert it:


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## Sean1982 (Sep 7, 2009)

Is it not just a case of lengthening the hankie, by taking some of the folded over material at the botton, and making the fold lower. Therfore the material will go to the bottom of the pocket (insert with a letter opener or butter knife). My pockets are different depths, and just require a simple adjustment of the fold, which has nothing to do with the material on show.


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## Jim In Sunny So Calif (May 13, 2006)

pkprd869 said:


> Sounds like your square is not big enough for your pocket. Each square and pocket are different but don't fret. I take a white cotton hankie and use it as a filler then put in the pocket square. No one knows the difference.


One could use a safety pin to keep the square in place, but as there are no safety pins in my house, probably because there are no women in my house, I use the same method that you do.

Another annoyance is when the pocket is too small. The only solution to this that I have found is to no longer have patch breast pockets on my blazers.


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## PJC in NoVa (Jan 23, 2005)

Salvatore123 said:


> For silk, you really can't prefold a square.


I must beg to differ. Yes, you can indeed prefold silk squares. I've got a shoebox full, albeit I wear them much less frequently than I wear my white-cotton ones.

When it comes to silk squares, I favor mostly the "sail" or "triangle-sticking-up" fold, but I also have some done in the more rectilinear manner illustrated in Bernhard Roetzel's book _Gentleman: A Timeless Fashion._


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## 127.72 MHz (Feb 16, 2007)

Salvatore123 said:


> For linen and cotton squares, always prefold a set so that you will have what you want, ready to use, depending on occasion or mood: TV fold, triagle, angled, two triangles, three triangles, etc. Then, IRON them using starch. Keep them in a drawer (to prevent from collecting dust) and pull out whichever one you want. Do NOT set iron too high, as it could ruin the square by turning it yellow or brown (burning the starch).
> 
> For silk, you really can't prefold a square. Silk squares are almost always worn by laying them flat, pinching the middle of the square, grabbing it with your other hand about 3 or 4 inches below where you pinched, folding the dangling ends upward, and then stuffing into your coat pocket so that you get the rounded part of the middle of the square, and also the edges of the ends (which usually have a border-design that helps set it off from the middle part/design).
> 
> Of course, remember the universal rule: when it doubt, always go for white linen. It matches everything.


I think this is great advice. To keep my pre-folded linen looking great I store them in a ziplock bag in a drawer. (that way they're *never* stained with the slightest lint, Irish penance, etc.)


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## cdavant (Aug 28, 2005)

I find the easiest solution is to carry 3 handkerchiefs. "One for show, one for blow, and one to stuff" in the jacket breast pocket to keep the one for show showing.


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## cactiman (Aug 1, 2009)

sean1982 said:


> Is it not just a case of lengthening the hankie, by taking some of the folded over material at the botton, and making the fold lower. Therfore the material will go to the bottom of the pocket


No, the pocet was too deep so even without folding the material at the bottom it fitted wholly within the pocket.



pkprd869 said:


> Sounds like your square is not big enough for your pocket. Each square and pocket are different but don't fret. I take a white cotton hankie and use it as a filler then put in the pocket square. No one knows the difference.


I think I'm going to go with this method in future, though I'll use a ruler to insert the pocket square from now on. I think having pre-folded squares for individual jackets may be going too far as I won't know ahead of time which tie/pocket square/cufflinks etc I want to wear with which suit/shirt.


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## PJC in NoVa (Jan 23, 2005)

cactiman said:


> No, the pocet was too deep so even without folding the material at the bottom it fitted wholly within the pocket.
> 
> I think I'm going to go with this method in future, though I'll use a ruler to insert the pocket square from now on. I think having pre-folded squares for individual jackets may be going too far as I won't know ahead of time which tie/pocket square/cufflinks etc I want to wear with which suit/shirt.


Getting all matchy-matchy with the tie and square (to say nothing of the links) is a sartorial _faux pas. _It looks too studied, like you are trying too hard.


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## Rick Blaine (Aug 26, 2012)

Salvatore123 said:


> For linen and cotton squares, always prefold a set so that you will have what you want, ready to use, depending on occasion or mood: TV fold, triagle, angled, two triangles, three triangles, etc. Then, IRON them using starch. Keep them in a drawer (to prevent from collecting dust) and pull out whichever one you want. Do NOT set iron too high, as it could ruin the square by turning it yellow or brown (burning the starch).
> 
> For silk, you really can't prefold a square. Silk squares are almost always worn by laying them flat, pinching the middle of the square, grabbing it with your other hand about 3 or 4 inches below where you pinched, folding the dangling ends upward, and then stuffing into your coat pocket so that you get the rounded part of the middle of the square, and also the edges of the ends (which usually have a border-design that helps set it off from the middle part/design).
> 
> Of course, remember the universal rule: when it doubt, always go for white linen. It matches everything.


Holy thread revival Batman!

I have been scouring thread archives for days to figure out a solution on this problem as well. Starch is definitely a solution for giving my linen PS/handkerchief good form but how does it help with slippage?

Anyone used the method of having a "filler" in the pocket incase of deep-er breast pockets?


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## Guest (Feb 17, 2021)

Its a bit of a cheap lazy trick but you could just foldup a piece a paper and stick it in the bottom to stop the square falling.


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## Rosarito (Feb 13, 2021)

Some may scoff but, two days ago, I ordered something called the Squareguard which is a plastic insert that supposedly solves this problem. I haven’t received it yet but I’ll let you know how it goes when I try it.

Edit: whoops, just realized this was a twice revived thread!


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## Matt S (Jun 15, 2006)

If my pocket square is giving me trouble, I just cut a piece of cardboard to size and fold the pocket square around it. Pockets can be different widths and depths. Handkerchiefs come in all sizes, and there’s no one ideal size. No solution will always work.


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## never behind (Jul 5, 2016)

pkprd869 said:


> Sounds like your square is not big enough for your pocket. Each square and pocket are different but don't fret. I take a white cotton hankie and use it as a filler then put in the pocket square. No one knows the difference.


This is what I do, save I've used a tissue as filler. Works very well.


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## Clintotron (Mar 24, 2015)

Rosarito said:


> Some may scoff but, two days ago, I ordered something called the Squareguard which is a plastic insert that supposedly solves this problem. I haven't received it yet but I'll let you know how it goes when I try it.
> 
> Edit: whoops, just realized this was a twice revived thread!


How has it worked for you?


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## Rosarito (Feb 13, 2021)

Clintotron said:


> How has it worked for you?


Not well. I ordered the small size but they sent me the large, which doesn't fit in my pocket. I reached out to them a couple of times for a return/exchange and they never responded so I tossed it. I've gotten by fine without it. It does seem like a cool little tool for the right occasion though.


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