How to Make Clothes From Dog Hair

Commercially sold yarn made with dog hair and wool

Want to make use of all the hair your dog sheds during brushing, or create a garment to remember a special canine companion? With some basic fiber preparation and textile skills, you can make a sweater, mittens or anything you can imagine from your best friend's hair. Collect a bag of it, grab your fiber tools, and start creating this unique and unusual item today. It's also a cheap project---you already have the fiber at hand ... or maybe on your couch.

Things You'll Need

• Dog Hair From a Long-Haired Dog (amount depends on desired garment)
• Hand Carders
• Spindle or Spinning Wheel
• Weaving, Knitting or Crochet Tools (such as a loom or knitting needles, as desired)

Instructions

Creating Clothes From Your Dog's Hair

1. Gather hair from your dog. The hair should be clean, free from grass or other vegetable matter, and free from fleas and bugs.

2. Use the hand carders to prepare the hair for spinning. Combine it with any other fiber desired, or use the hair alone. Card the hair or fiber blend and form it into rolags (rolls of fiber) by gently rolling the mass of fiber from the hand carders so that the fibers are parallel.

3. Spin the rolags into yarn using your drop spindle or spinning wheel. (If you don't know how to spin, see the Resources below for a link to basic information on spinning. You can also have your dog hair processed into yarn by companies that provide this service.) You may wish to spin the yarn fairly fine, as dog hair is extremely warm, and to make a garment that is wearable and not too hot, the finished cloth should be fairly thin or should use a lacy and open pattern. Ply the yarn if desired.

4. Select a pattern or design your own for the desired garment. You can use your dog hair or blended yarn for a variety of clothing, such as a sweater, mittens or scarf. It can also be used as an accent on a garment primarily made from another fiber.

5. Create the finished garment using the technique you prefer---weaving, knitting or crochet. Yarn made from dog hair will perform much like angora yarn, with its great warmth, occasional shedding and fuzziness or "halo." Keep these characteristics in mind when creating your clothing.

Tips & Warnings

• The fuzzy "halo" of dog hair yarn will make it difficult to undo if you make a mistake during the creation of your project, so be sure to work carefully. Clothing made from dog hair should be washed in warm water with gentle detergent. Avoid agitation.

References

• Making a Sweater from Dog Hair
• Dog Hair Yarn

Resources

• YouTube: Carding Wool -- Making Rolags
• The Joy of Handspinning