This easy tutorial will show you how to make homemade natural wool dryer balls that you can use over and over again in the dryer.
A few years ago I made Felted Dryer Ball Pumpkins as a fun home decor craft. In that tutorial I used skeins of yarn to make the dryer balls. I also hand washed the balls to felt the fibers together.
Today I'm sharing a fun general dryer ball tutorial with natural wool roving and colored roving. This is a fun way to play with colored wool and make pretty patterns while also creating useful and practical dryer balls for your own home use.
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How to Make Your Own Wool Dryer Balls
Supplies
- Natural Wool Roving
- Colored Wool Roving
- Felting Pen
- String
- Nylon knee-high pantyhose
Start by taking a 3 foot piece of the natural wool roving and rolling it into a ball.
Use your felting pen to punch down on the edges to secure them into place.
Add two additional strips of roving or more to make a large ball.
Then use the felting pen to combine them all together into a round ball shape.
Adding Color
Now comes the fun part. Add different pieces of colored roving yarn in stripes or dots. Whatever you want to do. Tack in place with the felting pen.
Here's what two of mine looked like at this stage.
Next, stuff them into a nylon knee-high and separate the two balls with a piece of string. Close the top with another piece of string.
Then wash the balls in the washer with some detergent and hot water. Followed by a run through the dryer.
Cut away the pantyhose and you will see that your dryer balls have reduced in size and have become nice and compact.
Now you can use them in the dryer to help fluff and dry your clothes instead of dryer sheets.
Miss the scent? Add a couple of drops of lavender or other essential oils to the balls before placing them in the dryer. It's that simple.
Suzanne
Approximately how many ounces of wool roving is needed to make 1 dryer ball? I am trying to estimate how much wool to purchase. Thank you in advance.
Patti Estep
Suzanne, I'm sorry I didn't measure/weigh the wool when I was using but I'm guessing it was about 1-2 oz for a nice size ball. Of course, it will vary by size. And, as you can see, just a little bit of the colored wool for decoration.
MrsSW
Hi Patti - I love using the dryer balls I have. First I tried plastic porcupines - cute but their "quills" eventually came off in the dryer. After that I bought the wool ones. I think I have eight now. I don't think they do much for static but they definitely speed up the drying process.
I'm not familiar with wool roving - will the colors rub off?
Thanks,
Sheila
Patti Estep
Sheila, I haven't been using them long but so far they seem okay. I did wash them in hot water by themselves first and dried them in a hot dryer to felt the fibers together. This may have helped with any bleeding of the colored roving.
A couple of things to consider.
You could opt for neutral or very light colors.
You could use roving yarn (not plain wool roving) that has been processed not to bleed. Patton's wool roving yarn says that their's does not bleed.
I also found at least one online seller that is stating that their roving wool will not bleed. Here's the link:https://www.precimaxw.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=12452