Growing up my mother never used dryer sheets. When our children were younger I used dryer sheets, as I loved that the clothes smelled “clean” and there was no static. As time went on and our lifestyle changed I began to experiment with making my own laundry detergent. I never thought of making my own homemade dryer sheets!
To deal with the static I made my own dryer balls. As you might remember I got carried away and made so many dryer balls! I’m still using them! Wool dryer balls remove static cling, and also shorten the time it takes to dry a load of laundry.
To replace commercial dryer sheets I decided to try making my own. Recently I received this wonderful recipe for homemade dryer sheets from a friend of mine. Jen is also the one who has introduced me to essential oils and I think I am hooked!
Directions for Homemade Dryer Sheets
Finding some old cotton t-shirts to cut up and use as cotton fabric squares was no problem. In fact since setting our goals to de-clutter we’ve been getting rid of a lot of old shirts. The first step is to cut up squares of cotton fabric, 4 inch squares seems to work well.
Add ½ cup of white vinegar to a 16 oz. jar, . I used a large mouth-canning jar I had on hand. Add 12 drops of Grapefruit essential oil to the vinegar. Or use an essential oil of your choice. If you do a lot of laundry this recipe can be doubled.
Fold each fabric square and place inside the jar. The cotton fabric will absorb all of the vinegar. The vinegar smell will evaporate during drying but the essential oil scent will remain.
Next time you throw a load of laundry in the dryer add one of these dryer sheets. Let me know how you think it works.
Nancy on the Home Front 
I am thrilled to find this recipe! For some reason, we are struggling with static cling far more than normal this winter. To be honest, I never thought much about making my own dryer sheets, either. This seems so easy, and I am definitely going to try it! Thank you so much. 🙂
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Cheryl,
For loads with items that might cause a lot of static like fleece blankets I find I need to use more than one! The only downside is collecting the little pieces of material in the dryer! 🙂
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Did you first wring them out before putting the dryer sheets into th dryer to use with your clothing?
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Nana,
I just throw them in, they are damp but not wringing wet, the vinegar evaporates in the dryer!
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Great idea!
Can the sheets be reused?
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Linnea,
By all means reuse the sheets, just start over again once your jar is empty!
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Do you use the sheets in addition to the drier balls? Do the drier balls ever need to be replaced? I use drier balls, but still get static cling, so I may need to add drier sheets. Thanks for this simple idea.
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Sally,
I have some old dryer balls that no longer seem to do the trick of removing static but they stay in my dryer. The dryer sheets really seem to help unless I’m drying a fleece blanket! 🙂
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Can they be used for more than one load before refreshing?
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Grammy Dee,
These dryer sheets are only good for one load but they can be refreshed and re-used!
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I am so jealous of you ladies that are ambitious enough to make this kind of stuff! Impressive! I am especially intrigued by the wool dryer balls. I will have to go to that post and read it now.
🙂 gwingal
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Nikki,
You will get a good laugh when you read how I got carried away with the dryer balls! 🙂
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I had no idea that something this simple would work as a dryer sheet. This is right up daughter’s alley she loves to make different products.
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Victoria,
I’m like your daughter, I love to see what I can make myself! 🙂
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This is something I had never thought of making, but then I rarely use the dryer anymore! Great tips 🙂
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Debbie,
In the summer I love drying clothes outside but in the winter my inside drying rack just isn’t big enough! 🙂
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I can’t wait to try this! I particularly love grapefruit essential oil as well, so plan to use that. After having our ductwork recently cleaned, I realize that the dryer sheets have contributed to the lint building up, and these seem like they will really help avoid that issue! Thanks for this!
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Sonja,
You’re welcome! They seem to work really well unless you’re drying something like a fleece blanket!
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Thanks for sharing this. Your sheets probably will not add a film to the dryer filter that could cause a fire as well. I read that regular sheets to this so I stopped using them and started using fabric softener instead. Much more expensive. This is a good find. Thanks.
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