Making Homemade Laundry Soap

I first discovered this when a good friend (Jody! Thank you!) made me a sample which I held on to for a really long time before I actually tried it.  I thought, ok, whatever.  I finally used it one day just because I had run out of detergent.  

I was so surprised--IT WORKS GREAT!  

Since then, I looked up several recipes online, tried a liquid version, but decided that this one is the easiest and least messy one for me (as well as the most similar one to my friend Jody's).  I have not bought laundry soap since.  

Check it out:

These are the ingredients you'll need.

 You should be able to find the Washing Soda and Borax in the laundry aisle.  If you're like me, you probably never noticed either of those products before.  They are all-natural and have been around forever.  

Secondly, the soap--I'm using Kirk's Castile soap because it is readily available at my little local grocery store.  Other soap products you could use are Ivory Soap or a product called Fels-Naptha which is a 'laundry' bar soap great for stains.  That would be my ideal one to use, but I would have to go out of town to get it.  Basically, you want to use a very mild, natural, not too heavily perfumed soap that will rinse very clean and dissolve well.

Step 1.  Grate the bar soap.

OK, the first thing that you do is to grate the soap.  This is the only "hard" step.  If you have any children who need something to do or who need to be punished, have them sit in a corner and grate up your soap!  Just kidding.  It's not horribly difficult.  I use a regular cheese grater for this part, nothing special.

This is what it will look like.  (This is a triple batch, by the way.)

Once you've grated the soap, you'll need to make it much finer, otherwise it probably won't break down as quickly in the wash.  I use a little food processor for this step.

Make it as fine as your chopper is able.

This is what it will look like.

Next, you'll add the washing soda and the borax.  The ratio is:

2 cups grated soap (1 bar = 1 cup)

1 cup Borax

1 cup Washing soda

Mix it all together and you're done!

1 cup washing soda, 1 cup Borax.  Add these to 2 cups of the soap.

Finished product!

The BEST part about this soap is that you only need to use 2 TBSP. per load!  What a huge money saver this has been.  I didn't even start making it to save money, what I like is that I can avoid whole aisles in the store, it's pure and natural, and I'm the one making it (which I like).  I don't have to be sucked in to the whole laundry aisle hype.  This stuff works GREAT and smells really nice but not in an overpowering way like so many of the store-bought detergents.  

If you wish to add fragrance you can add a few drops of essential oil in whatever scent you prefer.  I happen to like it just the way it is.  

Now--go on and get dirrrrty!

Making Dog Beds and the tale of too much blue fabric.

I should have just said "no, thank you" to the clerk at the fabric store.  She measured out the 1 3/4 yards of this cookie monster blue fabric I'd picked out (because solid colors were 6.99/yard versus 12.99/yard for cute patterned fabric of the same type) and remarked that there would be a remnant remaining from the bolt that she would sell to me for 1/2 price.  "Sure," I said, without knowing what I would use the extra for.  Dog beds were the first priority, and in this post you'll see three more projects completed after the dog beds just to try to use up the remaining fabric.

If you know me really well, you know that I'm lost without a project.  I also have a tendency to do many things "quick & dirty" (to quote one of my college professors) mostly meaning that I rarely use a pattern.  Sometimes my creations are inferior, sometimes superior to the store-bought versions.  Sometimes I save money making my own, sometimes I spend more to do it myself.  The bottom line is that I am more happy "making" than shopping, and care less about the finished product than the actual creative process.

So I went to the fabric store with no measurements for the dog's crates.  I figured I'd just eyeball it and make it work.  I saw this foam pad that looked about the right size to cut both beds from.  Well, as it turns out--it wasn't big enough.  This did not phase me.  Yes, I probably should have gone in with some measurements.  Foam is not cheap, though, and I was determined to make it work.

I cut the larger one first, then pieced together enough of the remaining foam to make the smaller bed.  I had only about a 2x2 tiny piece of waste.  Awesome!  It was not pretty though.  

Pieces used to make the smaller bed.

I thought it looked uncomfortable and that my little dog was going to hate this bed.  So, I looked around my "stash" and found a largish piece of quilt batting.  Everything in our basement smells of mildew due to some recent flooding, so I spritzed it with a diluted vinegar mixture and let it dry.  The smell disappeared.  What I did next was basically wrap the foam in the batting as if I were wrapping a present and hand-stitched the seams down to secure them.

Hand-stitching the seams

It did not need to look pretty since it wasn't going to show.  It just needed to securely hold the foam so that the pieces didn't jostle around in there.  It also served to make the whole thing more comfortable.  I also stitched the top and bottom after folding in the batting.

Tucking in the batting, just like wrapping a present.

Both beds with batting complete.

Next step--cutting the fabric.  I first washed and dried it just to make sure that it didn't smell "funny" to my dog.  Then I cut strips for the sides and bottom.  The foam was 2 1/2 inches thick, so I cut the strips 3 1/2 inches wide to allow for a 1/2 inch seam allowance on both sides.

Strips cut for the sides and bottom.  Larger pieces cut for top and bottom.

I also cut 2 pieces for the top and bottom of the bed, adding an extra inch all around for seam allowances.  I did leave a lot of extra fabric at the top (6+ inches) to allow for the velcro closures I'd planned.

Next, I ironed on some interfacing at the top (on the wrong side) to reinforce the fabric where the velcro would be placed.  This is a fairly important step, especially when working with stretchy knits.

Iron-on interfacing to stabilize fabric.

Next I measured out a piece of Velcro (shown here not yet attached) and folded over the top edge to make a hem before attaching the Velcro.

Making a hem at the top of the fabric.  The interfacing is underneath.  Velcro will be attached at the top.

I stitched down the side panels leaving a top flap so that I could tuck it in at the end (like the flaps on the box for a deck of cards).  I did this because I didn't want the dog to have any access to the foam or batting inside.  She would likely be tempted to start pulling at it and tearing it out if it were accessible.  This way everything will be tucked in.

Side Panels.  The extra part of the flap at the top will be turned inside out and tucked in.

Side and bottom panels stitched to top and bottom piece.

Then, I hemmed and folded over the remaining piece and added the other part of the Velcro to finish.

Velcro closure on the finished product.  The small flaps are tucked in so that none of the lining is visible.

Both completed beds.  They both fit perfectly in the crates!

Oh, but the fun didn't end there!  Remember--I had too much fabric.  (By the way it occurred to me much later on that this blue is practically the same blue as painter's tape.  Every single time I paint I think "that's a nice color".  I had just painted this room and thought that it would have been a great accent color.  No wonder I was drawn to it in the fabric store--I've already seen it in this room!  I am such a weirdo.)

I decided to use some of the fabric to make a door draft stopper.  I don't know the proper name for this thing, but I saw it on an infomercial once and thought "I could totally make that."  So, here it is--this one is quite simple to make and you don't even need a sewing machine.  If you can't hand sew, you can use safety pins to secure it.  Seriously.

PROJECT #2  -- Draft Stopper

Supplies--foam, batting, and fabric.

I found the foam at Menard's.  I have no idea what it's supposed to be used for.  I cut them the length of my door and used another piece of batting.  I feel like it adds an extra layer of draft protection. 

Make a sandwich of fabric, batting, and fabric.

Roll up on side and secure by sewing or by using safety pins.

Roll up the other side in the same fashion.  It doesn't need to look pretty.  The door will hide it.

Open door and slide into place.  You will be able to open and close door as usual, but no drafts!

There is still more--I decided I needed a little bag to hold my new camera.  Yes, the very camera that I took all of these blurry pictures with!  Easy--

How cute is that?  I added a patch I already had, and the camera fits perfectly inside!

Oh, and I didn't quit there.  Still a little more fabric left.  Could I possibly make a little hoodie for my dog?  Why, yes!

Started with armholes

Elastic bottom.

Made a hood.

Checking the fit.  (Awesome.)

Awww.  Someone's not happy.

finished product hanging on a hook :)

Velcro closure and elastic armholes.

It turned out super cute, but I want to mention that I although I do knit my dog sweaters (for warmth) in the wintertime, I don't usually dress her up in clothes just to look cute.  I only made the hoodie to see if I could.  And I did.  End of story.  Hope you enjoyed these projects!