Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Can you believe that this is a rag rug?  Jackie Hervey is a German Shepherd owner and lover of the breed.  Her current shepherd is called Cooper and he did the modeling for the cartoon.  Jackie posed him lying down as he might do on a rug.  She then photographed the posed dog, put a grid over the photo and made a cartoon, elongating the dog silhouette so that when the rug was finished she hoped it would be an accurate replica of how Cooper looked in the photo.  In the next photo, Jackie is holding the cartoon and the stripe plan for the rug.



Jackie used old sheets and some of her fabric stash for the main body of the rug.  She also bought some cotton seine twine in black for the warp.  The black  made it possible for the German Shepherd silhouette to remain a solid black and also toned down the other fabric wefts.  The technique used is a brocade weft and was  a very time consuming process.  All the time Jackie was weaving the rug she wondered if the proportions would be accurate once off the loom.  And, once off the loom the dog was still elongated and the ball not quite round.  After several days - everything slipped into place and  turned out as intended.   Yes, Cooper will be allowed to sleep on this special rug made just for the kitchen.

The reverse of the rug showing a shadow dog

rug detail

Since we are talking German Shepherds and weaving, Jackie completed a table runner as an auction piece to benefit German Shepherd Rescue of Northern California. She used a Theo Moorman technique and came up with a piece that reflected their logo photo.