Note: These ideas have not been fully tested and are not mattress kits for purchase; the purpose is to inspire. Think of this as our private design notebook, now opened for everyone to see!

Some of the fillings used are sold on our store, but not all. We try to share link where we purchased our prototyping materials. 

*We will share the size of the sample + links to the materials we used so you can calculate the material needed for any mattress / cushion size and the total cost. 

You will need to use your imagination + *math skills if you are curious. If you need help with the general math needed to calculate filling amounts, feel free to reach out! 

Wooly Worm Mattress or Topper  

Wool Selvage are the trimmings left over after manufacturing an organic mattress.  (Wool selvage can be purchased here, ships for free)

 

Wool selvage is sold here in 10 lb bags.  Each strip is slightly different in length and contains about 50% lush wool fiber and 50% organic cotton fabric. The selvage is what is trimmed off / left over from making an organic mattress.

For this project we encased each selvage strip inside these elastic and cotton mesh tubes!  

Each wooly worm ended up around  8' long and weighed .75 pounds on average.  This gives you an idea of how many you can make from one 10 lb bag!  We made 13 wooly worms from a 10 lb bag.

Here is how to make them:

To make the wooly worms you will need a 10" plastic tube (mine had 1.75" opening so I think a 2" piece of PVC pipe from the scrap bin at Home Depot would work fine).

Simply cut a length of the mesh tubing a foot longer than the piece of wool selvage filling. Feed this length of the elastic + cotton tubing onto the plastic pipe.  

 

Next push the wool through the tube.  I used an ice pick to help get it to reach and pop out the top. 

Then hold the top wool and mesh and pull entire strip through the pipe.  The wool will now be encased in the mesh.  

These are so easy and fun to do, plus the lanolin in the wool makes your hands feel great!

Once you have all your wooly worms made, simply coil them into any cover (see hints section below).  We recommend using these Organic Mattress Topper Covers.

 

Inspiration for this DIY Mattress Idea: 

We were inspired by our dog toy mattress idea. The outer rubber mesh really added to the springiness of the wool scrap filling, but there was almost too much spring.  This is another play on this idea, the stretchy tube adds the bounce and the coiled nature of the worms inside the case do as well.  

Our sample:  The finished sample mattress section using our 13 worms, loosely packed, measured 20" X 30" @ 7+ thick ". The sizing can be adjusted by the size mattress cover you use and how tightly you pack them in.  

Pretty cool that this was a one day, no-sew project!  

Could you sleep on a mattress filled with wooly worms?

Hints: We found we could simply tie shorter strips together to make tubes any length we wanted.  Our first attempt at stuffing the topper cover, we did it randomly and the mattress felt a bit lumpy.  Once we coiled the worms into long loops laid in the same direction, the mattress felt much nice and even.  

How did our sample feel?  Wonderful, thick wool mattress. This may be the winning choice for our guest bedroom mattress. 

What we like about this mattress idea:  That it was fun to make and the light scent of the wool is very pleasant. We also like that the materials are all organic. We love that it can never wear unevenly, just redistribute your worms occasionally.  You can also hang your worms out over the clothes line in the sun to freshen your entire mattress!

Negatives:  The mattress does look as if it is filled with worms :) and you can feel the shape of the worms but it does not take away from the comfort.

Future possibilities:  2 strands of wool selvage inside a looser netting may yield better results, some more testing needed.  We also want to test this inside a duvet cover with the tubes woven or braided to make an extra thick, warm duvet and maybe an extra topper layer so we can sleep sandwiched between temperature controlling, healthy wool.

Do you know someone who enjoys DIY projects that save materials from the landfill?  Please share this article!  

  

CONTINUE TO NEXT MATTRESS IDEA 

(new links are added as mattress ideas are posted)