The hot weather has finally arrived, but finding a beach to relax in and letting your feet sink into warm sand is difficult when you live in North London. However, Julie Napier, a single mother living in Edmonton, has come up with a solution to help you feel like you are by the seaside while you are in the comfort of your own home. 
She has started sewing a collection of pebble rugs and wall hangings made from recycled jumpers, trousers and even designer fabrics provided by her friends who work in the fashion industry, which are sold online on her website, Rugazzled. 
Julie explains how she is able to shape the rugs to give the illusion they are pebbles and rocks without the material wearing down or being flattened.
She says: “I cut the fabric into circles, before filling them with wadding and then sewing them and shape them into pebbles. 
“I then attach them all together on a backing, so there is no way they will come off and they are also sprayed with a nano-spray which means that they are dirt and water resistant and even if people wash them, they will still stay in the same position.”
Julie had been making handmade rag rugs and woven rugs for a number of years while home-schooling her two children, who are now aged 16 and 19. After they began college, she realised it was never too late for a single parent to start their own business and so started stitching from a studio she built in her garden last February. 
The 51-year-old says: “This is my full time job now, as I was previously educating my children and so a lot of time has been focused on them and I feel it is my time now.
“I was weaving rugs in the beginning and selling them on markets, like New Spitalfields Market in Leyton and Alexandra Palace Market, near Muswell Hill.
“I randomly made a pebble one and everyone just went mad for it. People said my creations were very quirky and tactile and so from then on, I scrapped all the others and started focusing on those designs.”
Julie admits she has never had any training and her designs come naturally, although she does come from a creative family full of actors and artists, who have all been very encouraging towards her venture. 
With so much support from her family and the public, she is hoping to expand her online business further.
She says: “I like to give recycled fabric a new lease of life and I’ve now made quite a lot which is sold online, so want to be able to sell my items sold in shops, spas and hospitals.
“The rugs and wall-hangings are quite tranquil and people enjoy touching and walk on them.
“It is great having my business so close to my home in Enfield. I really love it round here as there is a great community and a lot of great character, where everything is on your doorstep.”
Despite creating the rugs in her home, her website has given customers from all over the world the chance to buy her works of art. 
She says: “Quite a few people have contacted me online and said they want certain designs bigger or in a different colour, so I do customise some of the rugs depending on their tastes. 
“It’s amazing there is such a strong interest from people in so many countries, even places like Australia. There really is a market for the pebble design.”
Details: rugazzled.com