I put this tutorial for my Eco Etsy Team’s blog a couple of weeks ago and received rave reviews so I thought I’d post it here for those of you who are not a team member.
If you are the one who does the laundry in your house, you know the age old mystery – what happened to the other sock? You are sure you put both socks in the washer and dryer but when you start to fold the laundry, you have at least one missing sock. You store the orphaned sock away, hoping that the partner will turn up in the next wash but undoubtedly, it doesn’t. So, if you are like me, you have a drawer full of single socks. What to do with them all? I have a solution. Make dryer balls! Here is a tutorial on how to use up those orphaned socks or holey socks.
Here is a collection of poor orphaned socks.
Cut the long cuff part of the sock.
Turn the cuff inside out (the right side inside) and sew the cut end and then, turn it right side out again, as in picture above.
Fill the cuff-pouch with 50/50 mixture of lavender and flax seed (for weight), leaving about 1/2″ seam at the end for sewing. Sew the ends to close. I would double stitch it to make sure none of the content spills out when in use. Be careful not to spill the filling when sewing.
The size of the ball can be small or large – whatever you want them to be.
Here they are….perfect dryer balls to fluff up your laundry while leaving them smell like lavender garden.You can substitute lavender with other fragrant dried flowers if you’d like. You can leave out flax seeds if you want more fragrance but they will weigh less. These dryer balls are very eco-friendly since you are using natural ingredients to make your laundry smell nice and soft – not like the commercial dryer sheets infused with chemicals or fabric softeners. (I posted in my blog about washer/dryer maintenance and these two are bad for your washers and dryers) And they are made with socks that you would have had to throw away – which means you have rescued them from ending up in a landfill.
Oh, one other thing….if you want them to be unscented, fill them with small beans and leave out the flax seeds and dried flowers. They will make great fabric softeners without the scent.
If by chance, you don’t sew, I can make these for you if you send me your socks’ cuffs.
A useful tip from a busy bachelor that I knew – buy the same socks – same color and same design. This way, you don’t spend extra time pairing up the right socks and when one sock is missing, you have plenty of partners to pair it with.
{ 10 comments }
This tutorial is awesome, I read it on the team's blog…thanks for posting it here also.
I'll have to try this – if I can keep my puppy from running off with the pairless socks. She has a bit of a foot fetish!
odd_artist,
lol….my dog does the same thing! She loves to get a sock out of my sock drawer and run around with it and teases me to catch her. She also grabs a sock out of the hamper, turns it inside out…..no matter how long the sock is! It's hilarious. I do give her the orphaned socks for her to play with…but not these dryer balls.
Bululu and Artist,
Thanks for stopping by.
Karen
I am intending to pull out the old machine in the next couple weeks and whip up a couple things for the house, I have tons of socks that have lost their other half, this is a fantastic tip! Thanks so much!
This is a great idea! Now maybe I can get my husband to stop buying those nasty dryer sheets.
Ha! You too?
My husband did the same thing. When I complained about the toxic sheets he was buying, he brought home Seventh Generation Eucalyptus ones and we all hated the smell. Eucalyptus might be good for clearing up sinuses for colds but not on my clothes! My family definitely prefers these to those nasty smelling dryer sheets.
yet another great idea!
wonderful idea! I couldn't help, I had to spread the word about this tutorial, hope you don't mind!
Also, while reading it I was thinking, those cuff could also be stuffer with poly fill or, even better, with fabric scraps, and make pincushions out of it…what do you think??
Karen, this is absolutely brilliant–the perfect substitute for chemical-laden dryer sheets.
I confess I occasionally use those sheets–and feel terribly guilty afterward. I wracked my brain for alternatives–I even thought of cutting stalks of lavender from my garden and throwing them into the drier, but hesitated as I considered how the fragrant oils might stain the drying clothes.
The sock-drier sachet idea is great. A few questions: Where do you buy the lavender seeds? How long do the sachets last before they need to be replaced?
Hi Lorraine,
I bought my organic dried lavender from Etsy and organic flax seeds from Ebay. The sachets I made with about a cup of lavender and 1/2 cup of flax seeds lasted about ten loads. But I still use them with fresh new ones for ‘softening’ purpose.
Dried red beans work well too if you don’t have flax seeds.
Thanks for stopping by.