When my daughter was younger, she made hundreds of miniature stuffed animals, dolls, personalized pillows, and so forth, using fabric scraps. Even with the fabric free, of course, cotton batting or fiber-fill would have cost money to stuff her creations. So, she stuffed them with dryer lint!
It sounds odd, but realize that the lint caught in the dryer has just been thoroughly washed in the washer. It's clean, soft, and free. For a while, she sewed so many dolls that she even had our family's friends collecting their dryer lint for her. She repaid their favor with little stuffed mice and other novelty dolls, which they loved.
So, don't discard it. Use it! I had a stuffed tiger when I was small, whose original stuffing looked like dryer lint, whether it actually was or not. We got the idea from that.
By Sterghe from Pennsylvania
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This is SUCH a great idea! Thank You!
I love your stuffing idea! I really like the idea because it's not chemically treated like store bought! A good point was made about being flammable but store bought stuffing is also flammable. Store bought is less flammable but contains flame resistant chemical toxins that can cause serious health issues not just to humans but also to the environment.
When I was a little girl we had a neighbor lady who would collect hair from haircuts and use that for stuffing :-)
Please everybody reading this, do NOT use dryer lint as it is one of the most volatile flammable things you could possibly use as stuffing. You can use dryer lint to make fire starters for your fireplace. Use old pantyhose or go and buy stuffing. Dryer lint is made up mostly of fine dust particles. That's why it's imperative to clean your lint filter after every load. Also periodically check your vent hose to make sure it's free of clogs. I got all this information from the Heloise Household Hints.
I had a bunch of jeans I cut up for the fabric. I then made simple cat shaped patterns, sewed them with the seams out, and called them "Fray D. Kats"!
Know what I stuffed them with? Plastic bags! Yep, if your project is for collection and unlikely to be washed and dried, you are fine to use this recycled and free stuffing.
Another great one is old pantyhose. I have also used old tee shirts that weren't good for anything. I cut the ribbing off, wash them and cut them up into 6" by 6" pieces.
Human hair is great for pin cushions!
I wouldn't use lint, it's flammable.
Not only is it flammable, it clumps up, and it's not very washable. It's a dingy color which may show through light colored fabric.
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