Stay Cool This Summer With These DIY Pool Noodle Float Ideas

Imagine a stifling hot and humid day in August. The air feels like it has condensed on every bit of your skin. You're ready to lounge in your oasis-inspired pool. At a time like this, a quick dip easily turns into hours of floating in the cool water. Prepare for this inevitable summer moment with a few pool noodle DIYs that will make you never want to get out of the water.

Pool noodles will equip you with all you need to upgrade your cool-off time from a necessity to a luxury. There's nearly no need to leave the pool when you've got a floating seat and hammock made buoyant by pool noodles. These summer DIYs will have you basking in the sun in no time. The fact that you don't have to inflate these floats or worry about them popping is a bonus we can all get excited about.

Morph some pool noodles into a floating seat with the help of mesh fabric and some crafting supplies. YouTuber Amanda from Crafters Autonomous shares a recipe for a sewing-free floating chair. Two pool noodles act as a backrest with a laundry bag as a seat, all held together with snaps. For this DIY, source two pool noodles, one mesh laundry bag similar to this one from Amazon, and a snap kit like this one from Michael's. You'll also need scissors and some chalk to mark where you'll be cutting the fabric.

Cut the bag along the bottom and one of the sides. The bag should now open into one large piece of fabric. Remove the drawstring, and use it to tie your two noodles together into a curved U-shape for the backrest. This shape will be your guide to cutting pieces of the mesh for a seat. Lay the fabric so that the edge that held the drawstring is facing you. Place the curved noodles on the fabric with their ends facing you and lined up with the fabric's edge. Leave a margin of 12 inches of fabric at the top to wrap around the noodles with a bit to spare just in case. Mark and cut the fabric at this top end following the noodles' curve.  Fold the fabric edges over the pool noodles, and affix a snap to hold the two layers of mesh together on what will be the edge of the seat. Toss it into the water and enjoy!

Check out this clever tutorial from Day to Day Adventures to create either a chair with a leg rest or a mat you can fully recline on. One or two pool noodles (depending on how buoyant you'd like it to be) cut in half, connected with a length of non-stretching mesh fabric, will hold you afloat for as long as you like. The pool noodle halves act as a head or neck rest on one end and a foot or leg rest on the other.

Gather your pool noodles and 3.5 yards of mesh fabric (depending on your height and whether you want a seat with a leg rest or a full lounger.) You'll also need scissors, straight pins and a sewing machine. Start by determining how long you'd like the mesh seating/lying space to be. Once you've decided on how much fabric you'll be using, hem the raw edges along the sides to give your finished product a longer life. Fold the edges over twice, pin them, and sew with a zigzag stitch to allow a bit of stretch. 

To make the pockets for the pool noodles, drape the hemmed fabric over the pool noodle piece(s) at each end of the fabric. Fold the cut edge under for reinforcement, pin it, take the noodles out, and sew the pinned edges. When you're ready for a relaxing float, stick the noodles back into the pockets, jump in, and chill.