Apothecary: rug

I’d been debating whether to add a carpet to the set for a while, when I found a roll of upholstery webbing in my craft cupboard. It had a nice coarse knit, and a good width, and besides, colour-wise it almost perfectly matched the shop sign I’d already made.

I cut a 12 cm length of webbing, then to give the carpet a bit of a fringe, unravelled three rows of weaving at either end. To prevent the ends fraying further, I used the thread I’d unpicked, and glued two strands at either end on the underside.

And voila!…Or so I thought.

After making my embroidered wall hanging earlier this week I found I really enjoyed embroidery, and saw the potential for this carpet. The loose weave and repetitive pattern made this embroidery a lot easier than the last.

For thread, I used tapestry wool in a very dark green, almost black, and for the design, I chose diamonds, a common motif in carpets, with little crosses at the centre of each diamond. In the two longer sides of border I made rows of tiny diagonal crosses by unravelling a length of wool and using one of the thinner strands.

Apart from ease, my main reason for choosing a diamond pattern has to do with snakes. In many cultures snakes are associated with wisdom and medicine, and I thought it would be an appropriate element for my apothecary set. It’s a subtle hint, but it works well in my eyes.

I’m really coming to enjoy embroidery quite a lot, and will probably be using every excuse to add it in to future projects!