DIY wool dryer balls: natural fabric softener
DIY DIY Home Cleaning Healthy Home
Every once in a while – when I actually take my laundry out of the dryer just as it is finished rather than lazily leaving it for, oh you know, a couple of days or so – I throw it on my bed, dig my way underneath the heaping pile, and lie there enjoying the warmth until it dies out.
It is, without a doubt, one of the greatest pleasures I have ever known.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that I love fresh and clean, soft and lovely-smelling laundry. Ooh, do I love it!! (Folding? Eh, not so much.)
These DIY wool dryer balls act as a natural fabric softener, without the chemicals of liquid fabric softener. They are a better choice than the plastic dryer balls that you can purchase as these can release harmful plasticisers while in the laundry. Any while there are pre-made wool dryer balls available for purchase, they cost a pretty penny (these are over $30!). To boot, they help you decrease your environmental footprint by decreasing dry time by an estimated 25 minutes for large loads and 30 minutes for small loads!
Best yet, they are super cheap and easy to make!
What you will need:
- A roll of 100% wool yarn (between $5-$10 on average)
- An old pair of tights (or at least one leg of an old pair of tights)
Yep, that’s it!
How to make ’em:
Start by wrapping the end of the yarn around two of your fingers 50 times. Then slide it off and wrap the yarn around the bunch to secure it. Keep wrapping the yarn, slowly forming a ball, and then building on the ball until it is about 3 inches in diameter. Tie off the end and tuck it under one of the loops to secure it and prevent it from unraveling.
Make 4-6 balls.
After your yarn balls are complete, slip them into the leg of an old pair of tights as pictured below: knot one end, put a ball in, pull the tights tightly, tie a knot, and continue with all of the balls.
After you have this string of yarn balls, you will need to throw it into 2 wash and dry cycles to felt them. This will make the balls compact and prevent them from unraveling.
After they have been through 2 complete wash and dry cycles, remove the balls from the tights.
And now you have wool dryer balls!
After they are felted, there is no need to include the balls in your wash cycle. Just keep them in the dryer, where they will help naturally soften your laundry and decrease your total dry time.
Hi, Carla. Yes, it works quite well for me! I give instructions in the post above 🙂
HI, a bit late on the subject, but…my husband loves using fabric softener when doing our laundry but I know they’re not cheap and I’d love to save a little while being environmentally friendly! So my question is, does it really work and do you put the balls in the washer and dries with your laundry? As I write this it sounds like a stupid question but if you don’t ask you’ll never know!
I think a little bit! But I sometimes still have a little static.
Do the dryer balls help with static?
Not exactly Mary’s question, but I decided to make these tonight but didn’t have 100% wool on hand, did have an old wool sweater which was harder to unwravel than I’d anticipated. I ended up cutting strips from the turtle neck/sleeves and wrapping about 1/2 the beginning section of the balls and following that with the yard that I’d fully unwraveled. Turned out great!!! One size small, medium weight turtle neck long sleeve sweater made 6 dryer balls!
Would it work if I put a few drops of essential oils on the balls before using them sometimes to make my laundry smell good?
really cool idea, i must try it..
I haven’t but if you give it a try, please report back to let us know if it worked!
Have you ever tried cutting a 100% wool sweater cut into strips and wound together? I got a 100% cashmere sweater at a discount shop and wondered if it would work. I would sew some thread back and forth through it to keep it together
Thank you!! I think it’s WELL worth it to try them!!!
A little I suppose but to me it’s no louder than my dryer is already.
Do these BANG around in the dryer, like the plastic ones?
Ohh I don’t know if it would have the same effect. You can try and report back!
Can I use an old tube sock instead of stocking? All of my stockings are still nice and I don’t want to throw away a pair.
Was-dry, wash-dry!
Do you put them through two wash cycles, then two dry cycles? Or wash-dry-wash-dry?
Hi, Barbara! You will probably need 2 to make 5 balls.
How many balls will one skein of wool yarn make….or how many skeins do I need to buy to get 5 balls?
That is totally NOT crazy! I shouldn’t matter. I think they just need to get saturated and then the heat from the dryer will bind them together.