Woman needs dog fur to create jumper for her mum

February 18, 2020 | Culture

A Scottish crafter has launched an appeal to dog owners to send her their dog’s shedded fur, so she can make her elderly mother a ‘comfort jumper’ that reminds her of her beloved Yorkshire Terrier.

Her mother lives alone and is too old to care for a new animal but regularly reminisces about her pet, who died six years ago. The daughter is willing to pay £100 for 500 grams of fur.

A 52-year old woman – who has asked not to be named – is asking dog owners to send her the fur, as the family agrees is now too old to look after an animal.

The woman says in her email that her mother regularly reminisces about her beloved Yorkshire Terrier, who died six years ago. As a ‘handy crafter’, she’d like to make her mother a jumper with dog fur woven into the yarn, so it simulates the texture of her dog’s coat.

The full request can be viewed here, where members of the public who are willing to sell their dog’s fur can apply to do so HERE.

The woman emailed leading platform for makers, LoveCrafts.com, last week, however LoveCrafts does not stock dog fur as a material, but were set on helping her find a way to get started on her project by doing a call out to the public.

The daughter has said she’d like to remain anonymous due to the nature of her job, and has budgeted £100 to spend on 500 grams of fur and postage, which she’s happy to split between suppliers.

She hopes to blend the fur into 1200 yards of wool for the jumper and has stated she doesn’t mind what colour the dog fur is, however would rather it comes from a non-hypoallergenic dog, so it resembles her mother’s previous pet as much as possible.

A cut above the rest of this Yorkshire Terrier (Photo: Scorpp)

Dog fur yarn is called Chiengora and has been a historical practice for hundreds of years, dating back from prehistoric Scandinavia and was the main fibre used in North America before foreign influences introduced sheep. Chiengora is 80% warmer than sheep’s wool, and works best when sourced from breeds such as Chow Chow, Border Collie, Newfoundland and Shih Tzu.

LoveCrafts.com started in 2012 and is now a global community of makers from all over the world. Since its inception, LoveCrafts has opened a US warehouse, has customers in 97 countries, a designer pattern marketplace with 33,000 patterns, a social community for knitters and crocheters, as well as offices in London, New York and the Ukraine with 100 employees.

Edward Griffith, Founder of LoveCrafts.com, said: ‘Some might think this is a highly unusual request, but dog fur has been used in clothing for thousands of years! It’s not suprising that some dog fur makes for an excellent garment material, the thick undercoats of Newfoundland’s and Border Collies have evolved to trap heat and keep the dog warm in extreme cold, so why can’t it do the same for us?

‘Dog fur is often chucked away, and actually quite expensive to source as already woven yarn, so if any dog owners are willing to sell their dog’s fur to help this lovely maker start her project, please get in touch. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled at the prospect of being able to make her vision a reality and add joy to her mother’s life.’