Helpful Household Hints – Floss for Fixing Pet Toys

Everyone has their own household tips and tricks that they’ve picked up over the years. Well, I have a few tricks up my sleeve too and I’m continuing my little series of Helpful Household Hints to share them with you.

Helpful Household Hint #3: Floss for Fixing Pet Toys

Even with a pup as calm as mine, pet toys only last so long. Carrying your beloved toys around in your sharp little teeth and the occasional games of tug, eventually will cause a bit of wear and tear.

Instead of going out and buying a whole new batch of toys, try salvaging what you have. I’m sure your pup will be thankful to have his/her favorite toy around as long as possible.

First, sift through that toy bucket and determine what is salvageable and what is not. Some toys may just have too many holes.

To fix that beloved stuffed animal you will need to know how to do a basic hidden stitch (here’s a YouTube video I found if you need some extra sewing help). Next, you will need some sewing utensils: a needle with a fairly big hole on the end and floss.

Now you might be wondering, “floss?!?!” The reason I use floss is the reason for today’s helpful hint. Floss lasts a lot longer when it comes to fixing stuffed animals. Personally, I’d rather mend my dog’s toys less often, wouldn’t you?

To get started, I cut off a long length of floss (probably about double the length of my arm) and thread it through the needle. Pull it through only to the halfway point of the floss. Then take both ends of the floss, hold them evenly and tie them in a thick knot. Now not only do you have the thickness of floss, but you have DOUBLE the thickness of floss.

Find one end of the hole you want to fix and thread the needle up towards you through the inside of the stuffed animal. Your knot should hold on the inside and be hidden. Continue the stitch throughout the length of the hole. I usually go back up the length of the stitched hole again for added reinforcement.

Wha-lah! Fixing your pet’s toys is as easy as that.

Feel free to send me any questions that you might have about this helpful hint. As I was writing, I was starting to feel like a video almost would be necessary to fully explain the process. But if you are an expert sewer, just the idea of using floss should be enough for you.

Credit: Photo taken and edited by me. Video via expertvillage on YouTube.