Felted Wool Dryer Balls
Felting wool into dryer balls is a good alternative to using dryer sheets or adding fabric softener to your wash. Here are three dryer balls I felted and I have been using them now for over a month. I am happy to report that they worked wonderfully. I have no static cling and my clothes are soft after coming out of the dryer.
Apparently the felted wool balls not only help with static cling by moving around the clothes as they dry but it also may help with drying the clothes faster. I can’t say for sure but it seems as though my clothes aren’t taking as long to dry as normal. I am still hanging most of my clothes outside on the line but I have been using the felted dryer balls for our dress clothes in the dryer with great results.
Materials needed per ball:
2 ounces wool (Scrap pieces used)
1 small stone – quarter size
First step is to get a small stone about the size of a US quarter. The stone adds weigh and provides a firm base for the dryer ball center.
Just start wrapping wool scraps around the stone. I had some red and another partial skein of blue wool yarn for this project. When you see three blue balls at the first felting stage, it’s because I covered all three with the blue wool at that point.
I placed the wool dryer balls inside panty hoses sock and tied a piece of yarn between each ball. I then tied a knot in the end of the sock to keep it securely closed.
Wash in the hot water in the wash machine along with a load of jeans. Then I dried the clothes along with the dryer balls still inside the panty hoses sock in my dryer.
Here are the three wool dryer balls after wrapping them with wool for the first washing stage. They measure about 8-1/2 to 9 inches around. I then added more wool around the balls before felting them again in the washer. The balls were about 10 inches around before the 2nd washing process. I washed and dried my wool balls twice. If your wool doesn’t felt enough after two washing, don’t worry. The wool continues to felt as you use the balls to dry clothes.
Here is the same wool dryer ball after two washing and drying cycles. It measures about 9 inches around. The ball sizes may vary depending on the amount of wool you wind around the ball and the amount of felting. 9 to 10 inches for the final size is a good size for the wool dryer balls.
So if you are looking for a frugal and effective alternative to fabric softeners and dryer sheets, I hope you will try out these handcrafted wool dryer balls.
Tags: crafts, dryer-balls, drying-clothes, wool-balls, wool-dryer-balls
Sep 01, 2012
An excellent idea! I do most of the laundry, so this will help me a lot. Thank you.
Sep 02, 2012
[…] Felted Wool Dryer Balls Felting wool into dryer balls is a good alternative to using dryer sheets or adding fabric softener […]
Sep 02, 2012
Really cool idea and a money saver, too!
Sep 04, 2012
I love making these — they are a great way of using up “oops” yarn purchases too — stuff I thought I loved in the store, but could never find anything to do with when I got them home!
Great tutorial!
Sep 06, 2012
What a wonderful idea!! I have a skein of wool that is the ugliest color-it came in a bag of yarn & I had no idea what I would ever do with it-now I know!
Sep 25, 2012
Great tutorial! Do you keep them in the nylon sock all the time or just in the beginning of the felting process? Do you think strips of wool fabric wrapped in the same way would also work?
Sep 25, 2012
@Sharon- I just felted the balls in the nylon sock and then just use them loose in the dryer. I do know another on-line friend who used wool fabric wrapped around in a ball for her dryer balls and it worked well too.
Sep 26, 2012
Thank you! Great tutorial! These wool balls really have unique properties! All clothes will be dried very fast.