Dryer balls are a great natural alternative to dryer sheets which contain chemicals and fiberglass shards. These handcrafted felted wool balls will decrease drying time and make your clothes soft and fluffy!

A few weeks ago I posted about how I cleaned the raw sheep’s wool in my post Cleaning Wool.  Since that post, I have been trying to decide how I wanted to use the clean wool. I have spun some of it into yarn and also started learning how to felt little animals. A friend of mine mentioned I should give dryer balls a try as well. So I set to doing some research on how they were made. Most people do not use raw washed wool, they go out and spend a small fortune on wool yarn instead….. Well as you probably know by now I spin my own yarn so that would save me some money but also after a bit of searching I found you didn’t actually need to use the yarn at all, instead use the wool in its raw state. Below is my easy version of how to make your own dryer balls.

How to make Wool Dryer Balls:

Pantyhose

Laundry soap

Washed wool

Take a softball sized handful of wool and begin to twist and spin it onto itself until you form a somewhat tight ball. Once your ball is formed place it into a pantyhose and tie a knot close to the ball. Now you can continue this process until your pantyhose are full of softball sized wool balls. Make sure between each ball is a knot to keep the wool balls from felting together.

Once you have the number of balls you want created go ahead and throw them in with your next load of laundry. You will need to wash these balls about 3-5x before they become sufficiently felted. You will start to notice the wool fibers getting stuck in between the threads of the pantyhose. Now it is time to dry. Go ahead and start with one dry cycle and then check the balls to see if they are firm. If the balls are still slightly soft continue to dry a little longer. Once your balls have firmed up then it is time to take them out of the pantyhose and continue to dry until completely felted. If you notice some soft spots you can also hand felt them by grabbing a felting needle and slowly jab the wool ball until firm and symmetrical.

You now have your own hand made dryer balls that are environmentally friendly and natural! Add a few drops of your favorite essential oil every other load for irresistibly soft and scented clean linens. Or if you do not have the time or resources to make your own you can purchase them in our online store!

Have you ever made dryer balls? If so, how many do you use in your wash and what are your favorite essential oils to use with them?