How To Make Wool Dryer Balls - Why Do It

In my effort to save money and be more environmentally friendly, I discovered that this is a thing!!! WOOL DRYER BALLS. I will tell you the things that I have learned. Information I used found mainly at this site. 

First, what are wool dryer balls?

They are an eco-friendly alternative to dryer sheets and liquid fabric softener.

Second, What are the benefits of using wool balls in your dryer?

• They decrease drying time, saving you money on utility bills. (Especially helpful in the winter months!)
• Commercial fabric softeners and dryer sheets are filled with harmful chemicals and perfumes that coat your clothing, eventually ending up on your skin. These chemicals can be especially harsh on sensitive skin. There are no chemicals in wool dryer balls!
• Commercial dryer sheets can be costly, and are thrown away after use. Wool dryer balls can be re-used for years, saving you hundreds of dollars.
• Commercial fabric softeners shouldn’t be used on cloth diapers. Wool dryer balls are perfect for keeping your cloth diapers soft and chemical-free.
• Wool dryer balls won’t affect the absorbency of your towels, kitchen cloths, or cloth diapers – commercial softeners will.
• 100% wool dryer balls increase fluffiness and reduce static as dryer loads tumble.
• Dryer balls help to soften clothes naturally.
• Dryer balls are made from a renewable resource.

Third, how do they work?

“It’s simple. They bounce around in the dryer separating clothes, allowing more hot air to circulate through all the garments. As they tumble, the wool balls fluff your laundry, reduce wrinkles, and basically pummel the laundry to make it softer. They do so much more than a dryer sheet by pulling moisture out of your clothes so you don't have to run the dryer as long. The more dryer balls you have in a load, the shorter the drying time will be.``

Fourth, how do you make your own?

TO make yarn felted wool dryer balls go to this site for instructions.

I will show you how I made mine out of scrape wool material. LUCKLY someone gave me loads of wool material cut into 1 inch strips that was to be used for a rug project but they never got to it.

Materials

Wool cut in to 1 inch strips as long as you can get them (then sew together to make it longer)

Needle and Thread

Scissors

Panty hose

String

Instructions

Step 1: Begin by wrapping the strip of wool into a ball. Continue till you have the desired size ball. About the size of tennis ball.

Step 2: With needle and thread begin the sew the strips of wool together as shown.

Step 3: Repeat till you have 4 to 6 balls. I made 6 balls.

In picture you will see that I have a store bought wool dryer ball.

Step 4: Cut the leg off an old pair of pantyhose. Put balls into the toe of the pantyhose, tying tightly in between each one with string, or cotton/acrylic yarn. (Just don’t use wool yarn or it will felt around the pantyhose.)

Step 5: Throw the entire yarn caterpillar into the wash with towels (or a load of jeans if you used brightly colored yarn).

Step 6: Wash in a hot wash cycle with a cold water rinse cycle. Dry your yarn caterpillar with your laundry using the hottest dryer setting.

Step 7: Ready to use just throw the balls in the dryer when using. I like to add a a couple drops of Essential oils to the ball every once in a while to add extra scent to my load of laundry

Doterra essential oils that I like to add include; Peppermint, Lavender, Lemon, and Wild Orange.

Citrus essential oils, such as lemon and sweet orange, actually help boost the cleaning power of homemade detergents.
Lavender essential oil has a clean, floral, fresh scent which soothes, calms and relaxes.

Lavender is the most popular floral scent for cleaning supplies, and it is probably also one of the most popular oils for aromatherapy uses as well.

One of the reasons for this, beside its nice scent, is that lavender blends well with many other essential oils, including citruses and other florals.

Peppermint essential oil is a favorite for many people that make their own cleaning products, because of its refreshing, bright minty smell.

It blends well with several other popular essential oils for cleaning, including lavender, eucalyptus, lemon and rosemary. An added use of peppermint oil is as a natural pest deterrent.

Here is a good informational site that talks about about Essential Ols for cleaning purposes.

To come is my post on My Homemade Laundry detergent. 

Click here to learn more about essential oils or here to visit my Doterra website. 

Easy Caveman and Cavewoman Costume Instructions!

Tarzan and Jane or George of the Jungle and Ursula Costume

This is an super easy tutorial. You can have both outfits made in 20-30 minutes. (BETTER FINAL PICTURES TO COME).

Materials needed - animal print fleece about 1 1/2 yards (my mom had left overs from different project), pins, scissors, sewing machine (but easy enough to sew by hand), and measuring tape.

Our little guy is going to be a Dinosaur for halloween! We love doing family themes! So this year my husband and I are dressing as a Caveman and Cavewoman (Flintstone theme). We are excited for this year for our church sponsored Truck 'trick' or Treat activity.

HOW TO MAKE THE CAVE WOMAN DRESS

Step 1: Fold fabric in half, right sides together.

Measuring out the hip measurement (or the largest measurement),
 to make sure that I folded enough fabric 

 Step 2: Get measuring tape and measure the following

Step 3: Place sewing pins at key points of all the measurements you took( as shown in below picture).

Placing pins 10 inches down from the top of the bust and at the
bust measurement (17 inches which is half of 34 inches). 

Placing pins 9 inches down from the waist last pin and at my waist measurement (15 1/2 inches which is half of 31inches) and at my hip measurement (19 inches which is half of 36). 

Step 5: Cut along imaginary line from bust pin to the waist pin. Then to hip pin and then straight down to bottom of fabric. Cutting a smooth curve.

Step 6 : Sew the right sides together, as far down as you want to. I stopped at the thigh so I would have a slit for easy moving.

Step 7: Cut a thin strip from the scrapes. In the middle of the strip sew it to the wrong side and front side of the dress.

Step 8: Try on and make adjustments if too small in areas.

                                        HOW TO MAKE THE CAVEMAN LOIN CLOTH

Step 1: Measure waist (my husband made this himself). 
Step 2: Use the remnant fabric from dress and cut two pieces.

Step 3: Sew right sides together only about 4-6 inches on each side. 
Step 4: Try it on!!

I love this caveman!

The Family Cloth Movement – Get Your Wipe On

 (Feel free to skip to bottom to see my instructions for cloth wipes out of bath towels.)

What is family cloth?

It is a piece of cloth that is used in lieu of toilet paper that can be washed and used again and again. It can either but kept dry for use or like baby wipes kept damp. There you have it, simple. Below is the two of the first websites that I researched to learn about Family Cloth.

Reusable Cloth Toilet Paper

No More Toilet Paper - Switching to Cloth

To be honest when I first time heard of this I thought is was crazy and that it would just add more for me to do. My baby was between 1-3 months old and I was doing mainly cloth diapers with the supplanting (hope that is the right word) of disposable diapers (learning the way of the cloth diapering). I was only using disposable wipes at this time and was researching cheaper alternatives to disposable wipes or how to make my own (see my post on baby wipes for my method, successes, and failures).

Long story short I used cloth baby wipes now and love it and have been doing it for 10+ months. So the crazy idea of doing family cloth seemed less and less crazy. From my previous post (link below) I discussed getting a bidet, and with that purchased I also planned on switching to cloth wipes.

Toilet paper Free - Investing in Bidet

Choosing the Material

§  Flannel wipes: Old flannel sheets or stained receiving blankets.

§  Terry cloth: Old towels into cloth wipes. Others use a soft fabric called “baby terry,” available at fabric stores.

§  Cotton or Bamboo Velour

§  Cotton or Bamboo Fleece

§  Old T-shirts

§  Mixed fabric: Terry cloth on one side; flannel on the other.

I am all about saving money and try to up cycle as much of possible to prevent waste. So for me in selecting a material I wanted to use something I already had. Here are my four attempts for making our cloth wipes.

 Attempt 1: Flannel

I already cut up old flannel nightgowns and receiving blankets to make my baby’s wipes and diapers. So currently not option till he is potty trained. This would have been the BEST option.

Attempt 2: Fleece

I have ton of leftover fleece from an old blanket that I cut up for fleece liners for my baby’s diapers.

I cut a few up in the traditional 8x5 in sections for wipes and tried it out. It only lasted for day. Maybe it is the wrong kind of fleece but it does not absorb any moisture and leaves you still wet (I should have known this because I use the fleece as a liner for night time diapering, so my baby feels dry).

Attempt 3: Cotton Blend

I have ton of remnant material from past projects and inherited material from my mother. I made some beautiful 8x5 rectangles and surged the right sides together.

 

Though they look lovely and they did not do the job of making one dry. And I guess looks do not matter when wiping one’s bum.

Attempt 4: Terry cloth/Bath towels

While going through these different materials, my husband mentioned that he ended using his bath towel to dry (upon finding himself with nothing to use). IDEA! I pulled out some old bath towels that we no longer use and cut them into 8 x 5 inch rectangles. Below are the instructions.

Step 1: Select bath towel.

Step 2: Cut into 8 x 5 inch sections

Step 3: Surge edges or sew with zigzag or fray stitch. (Important: edges will fray and leave tiny bits of material everywhere.) 

Step 4: Place near toilet and use. ENJOY! (make sure you have a bin to place them when used and wash on hot)