A William Morris Miniature Carpet

I was holding out on you yesterday, actually -- I had only a few stitches left on this carpet before it was finished!  This project is from Dollhouse Decor by Nick and Esther Forder, and is designed by Sue Bakker, based -- pretty successfully, I suspect -- on a William Morris design.  I can't find an image of an original anywhere, but Bakker's certainly looks very Morris-like, so I'm sure it's accurate in spirit.

As a project, this wasn't quite first-rate -- there are quite a lot of ... well, not mistakes but inconsistencies in the chart, though luckily I noticed most of these before they were past.  The photos in the book clearly show different colors of floss on some of the swirls in the outer border, as well as some revisions in the stems in the main border, and the general effect of the colors in the photo is quite different from the chart, which is more like the actual colors.  I also found that the recommended thread coverage (2 strands on 18-, 22-, or 30-count canvas) was quite skimpy for the 22-count I was using, so I would advise either experimenting with more threads, or using cross-stitch as I did, for better coverage.

There is also very little finishing instruction given in the book -- you have to look hard to find it, as it's a few pages past the carpet section in the "finishing workshop" at the back of the book -- and the photo of the carpet in a room setting clearly shows that it has no edge stitching, so presumably the Forders mean you to simply turn the edges of the canvas under and sew a lining to the wrong side.

But as a finished piece, I'm very pleased with this carpet -- I really like the strong colors, and the design itself is very pretty.  Interestingly, Janet Granger's "Carole" carpet is obviously based on the same Morris design of peonies and stylized tulips, to interestingly different effect with her own interpretation of the design and her (two!) different colorways.  (Here is another interpretation in miniature presumably of the same carpet, wh. dates it to ca.1865.)

I suppose quite a lot of Morris carpets do have this formal symmetry -- the Forders' chart is only one-quarter of the design, so that you repeat it in mirror image for the other quarters -- but I felt that the center section at least wanted a little less formality, so I worked the green stems and leaves and the peonies slightly differently each time.  The border being much more stylized, I worked it with the chart's strict symmetry.

I edged my carpet using Janet Granger's overcast edging technique, but I mitered the corners instead of just folding them squarely as she does.  I also tried something different with this carpet -- I'd heard somewhere that you can leave the third row of stitching for last, then stitch it together with the hem of canvas, thereby catching down the hem quite neatly.  (I did the fourth row, actually, since the third row was white, and you are supposed to work the lighter colors before the darker ones, to prevent stray fibers muddying the colors.)  I found it pretty tedious, but then I was determined to match up the two sets of holes one-by-one as I went, and so I had to flip the piece over for every single stitch.  I don't find that the finished hem is that much better than simply tacking down a turned one, so I don't think I'll do it again very often.  It would be excellent if you are not using an edging stitch, though, because it does make a very tidy and firm hem in itself. 

I did try pinking the raw edges of the canvas this time, to help avoid that cut edge showing from the front -- this is on the same principle as grading a seam in sewing.

My overcast edging wasn't terribly successful, as it happened, which rather shook me since it's Janet Granger, after all!  But I suspect now that this stitch would work better in wool, which is what Granger generally uses, whereas the long-legged cross-stitch may be better for floss.  By the way, at one skein of each required color, there was just not enough of the two reds (which are blended in the needle) to work an edging stitch, so stitcher beware.

Comments

[Sarina]

Wow, this is beautiful! You are really getting this down. It is always funny to hear myself describe something as tedious because, of course, all this stitchy stuff we do is tedious. Also, gotta say, the "love the British" photos are great - and we are going to have to share Mr. Nansen! So handsome!

[Sandie in Sydney]

I've got this chart too, from a magazine, and it is on my 'to do' list - you have really inspired me, yours is beautiful!! I want to do it on silk gauze, so it will come out much smaller. I have tried that method of stitching the 3rd row together with the hem of the carpet as well, and like you I found it wasn't really worth the effort. I use the overstitching method of finishing the edge (the Janet Granger method) on her kits and it works well in wool, as you suggest might be the case. For finer counts I also often overcast using the DMC I stitch the rest of it with and it works well on 30 hpi or higher silk gauze. Where will you use this carpet?