bargello

mini bargello needlepoint ogee free pattern, designed and stitched by needlepoint expert janet m. perry
This little medallion is stitched entirely in Rainbow Gallery’s Flair in white and three shades of green. This horizontal ogee shape has one or two stitches in each step.

It’s surrounded by a Brick Stitch over 2 threads background . I used the same color for the center of the ogee and the background, but you don’t have to.

Mini Bargello Needlepoint Ogee pattern, sylvan, designed and stitched by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

To start the pattern (above), find the center and place the center stitch. Color by color, fill in the shape and then stitch the background.

This design is made to fit Sudberru’s mini box and is 29 threads square using 18 mesh canvas. To finish the box, trim the needlepoint to two threads beyond the stitching, center behind the glass, put the thicker cardboard behind it and replace the backing.

See the original post:
Sylvan Mini-Bargello Boxtop

What Is Bargello?

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

I’ve been thinking about this a good bit recently. Largely because I see things that are called “Bargello” that don’t quite fit into our regular picture of the technique.

When we think of Bargello, we think of straight stitches that move in a stepwise fashion. If the stitches are two different lengths, it’s Hungarianpoint. If the stitches are diagonal instead of straight, it’s Diagonal Bargello.

You can also take a Bargello pattern and turn it along one of more axes. If you turn it on one axis, it’s Two-way Bargello. Two-way can be on diagonal, horizontal, or vertical axes. On two axes running diagonally from corner to corner, it’s Four-way Bargello. I even have a book of Eight-way Bargello which adds two more axes, at the mid-point of each side.

To be Bargello, as traditionally defined, the pattern has to move in lines or define shapes, everything in steps. If you take a pattern, stitch it with straight stitches, but don’t have this step-wise motion, is it Bargello?

Looking at my vintage books, the opinion is mixed. I have one book that calls this Gobelin Stitch Embroidery, which I think is an excellent description. But I have another book that has almost exclusively this kind of pattern and calls it Bargello. It happens to be the newer book and the one I encountered first.

I am also seeing newer projects that are using the word “Bargello” to define Straight Gobelin patterns.

Do I care? Should you care? I don’t know. I’m throwing the question out to the world and would love to know what you think.

Follow this link:
What Is Bargello?

Interrupted Bargello – A Fresh, Modern Look

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Books,Nuts About Needlepoint

interlaced bargello needlepoint, designed and stitched by needlepoint expert janet m.perry

Although the colors in this mini-sock (from my book Bargello Revisited) are traditional, the Bargello is not.

A fairly straightforward, if large, zig-zag line pattern is interrupted by two straight lines. Those lines, in turn, are interrupted by a few of the Bargello lines. It’s an easy technique to freshen Bargello line patterns, especially those with lots of movement.

Begin by making your establishing line of Bargello, somewhere near the top of the piece. A pattern with stitches four threads long is good here.

Count down an even number of threads and make a line with a Pigma Micron marker. This is the top of your interrupting line.

Stitch down to the line and decide if this will be your interrupting line on the pattern. If it is, continue to make the pattern all the way to the end of your area. If it is not, stop. Go back to the beginning of the area and make Bargello lines stopping at the interrupting line until you have the Bargello line that will go straight through.

Once you’ve made your through line, stitch the top accent line. Drop down four threads and make a second accent line. The thread you use for this should be a strong accent, different in both color and texture. Make the accent lines all the way across, stopping only for the through Bargello line you have already stitched.

Using that through line as your new establishing line and following the same color progression, fill in the areas between and below the accent lines.

Finally finish up the rest of the unstitched area.

It sounds far more complicated than it is. But it’s a lovely way to make line patterns look fresh.

See how Bargello Makes Even Simple Items Exciting!

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

There are so many things I love about Bargello — the patterns, the different ways to use color . . . I could go on and on.

But Bargello is so easy and so simple and so fast to stitch, that it makes anything you put it on special and turns something everyday into something special and worthy of being a gift.

That’s why I’m crazy about the things Allison Durno stitches and has in her Flickr photostream. She’s put Bargello onto a series of coffee mugs (bought at a chain craft store and onto a bookmark with a pretty metal frame.

You can see three of the mugs plus the bookmark on her Bargello set. There’s more stitching goodness in her crafts 2012, hardanger,and biscornus sets.

See original here:
See how Bargello Makes Even Simple Items Exciting!

Vintage Bargello Newly Made – Needlepoint Eye Candy

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Stitched from a vintage book by Bobbie from At Home Modern

Remember the post recently about Erica Wilson and Bargello?

Thanks to the same folks at Retro Renovation, we have another glorious post showing us lots of pictures of vintage Bargello patterns that have been newly stitched by Bobbie, an interior designer in Philadelphia.

This delightful elephant seen here is one of hers.

You’ll love seeing the pillows in the context of a real home and be delighted by her interview, with even more pictures.

One more note, at the end she has a cautionary note about Jonathan Adler’s ready-made Bargello pillows. You can learn about how to adapt his patterns to your own stitching with this Bargello pattern

Read the original:
Vintage Bargello Newly Made – Needlepoint Eye Candy

Mini Bargello Free Pattern – Hildegard

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

mini bargello needlepoint for sudberry box, hildegard, designed and stitched by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

Hildegard is the first of my mini Bargello patterns. They are sized and stitched to fit into Sudberry’s charming Mini Boxes. The design is adapted from one in a Bargello book by JO Christensen.

You can stitch this design tonight and give it as a gift tomorrow. This is the first of four mini Bargello patterns.

Because the design is small, this is a great piece for using up your scraps of thread. I used one strand of a three-strand knitting yarn in orange, pink, and violet for every other line. The remaining lines are stitched in 4mm silk ribbons from my scrap bag.

Because needlepoint compresses the canvas as you stitch, you’ll find it easier if you mark out a space slightly larger than thee 1.5″ finished size. Mine at 28 stitches was barely big enough. You’ll have better results if you mark out a square of 29 threads.

Find the center of one of the sides and begin stitching the pattern. This establishes the line.

mini bargello needlepoint, hildegard, designed by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

This pattern is easiest to stitch if you do it line by line. The tiny size of the stitches can make it hard to fit them into open threads.

To finish the box, trim your canvas to two threads beyond the edge. Disassemble the box opening, leaving the glass in place. Center the stitching on the glass, then the cardboard, then place in the backing.

You’ve got a charming piece, ready for a gift.

Read the rest here:
Mini Bargello Free Pattern – Hildegard

Mini or Maxi — not Skirts, Bargello!

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

moonlight mini bargello needlepoint from Bargello Revisited, stitched & designed by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

A full-size Bargello pattern was reduced in scale and stitched in white threads to make this delicate jewelry box.

You might think that Bargello stitches can only be one size, but by picking the right kind of pattern and changing the length of the stitch, you can turn a Bargello pattern into a mini or a maxi version of the same pattern.

The key is (oh no here comes the math) the ratio between the stitch length and the step between stitches. Look for numbers for both that are even numbers. If you remember about ratios, then you know these can always be reduced by dividing each side by 2, You can also make them bigger as long as the resulting numbers can be reduced to the same ratio.

That’s your key to changing sizes of Bargello patterns.

Finding a pattern is a bit harder. It’s made easier by the fact that so many patterns are based on stitches four threads long, with a step of two threads. Reduce that by dividing by 2 and you get a ratio of 2:1. In other words the step is half the length of the stitch.

Knowing this, we can change the length of the stitches and steps in the patten, making them smaller, as in the jewelry case (from Bargello Revisited) shown here, or making them longer.

The mini size uses stitches two threads long with a one thread step. The maxi version uses stitches six threads long with a step of three threads. Use the mini patterns on small pieces and the maxi ones for large areas that won’t get hard wear.

You might have thought doing the math was the hardest thing, but actually finding a suitable pattern is hardest. I’ve spent some time looking through my vintage Bargello books for patterns to adapt and I’ve figured out the patterns that are candiates for these alterations. They have:

stitches all the same length
steps all the same length

If a pattern has these two characteristics and a 2:1 ratio, it can be shortened or lengthened. If you’re in doubt about how it will work, try stitching a line or two on some scrap canvas.

I’ve done several small scale pieces before, but I hadn’t thought about how easy it is to do and how endlessly addicting making them can be. I’m so excited to share the results with you.

Throughout the month, on Saturdays, I’m going to share with you a series of mini Bargello patterns, small stitch versions that are made to fit into Sudberry’s mini treasure boxes. The first one will run on Saturday.

Link:
Mini or Maxi — not Skirts, Bargello!

Using Color Blogs to Create a Bargello Color Scheme

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

coral house hungarianpoint bargello needlepoint designed and stitched by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

A color blog post was the inspiration for this Bargello color scheme.

This design was the most recent piece in my 2011 Bargello Club. I used my favorite color blog, design seeds, to create the color scheme. There are lots of lovely color blogs out there, many of which do just what design seed does, show a source picture and then create a color scheme from it.

But going from a color blog to a design isn’t always as easy as it looks. Take a look at these roses in our example scheme from design seed. On the left is the picture, while on the right are the colors selected from it. All well and good, but the samples are all the same size but the colors aren’t the same extent in the picture.

How do you translate something like Bargello?

First look at the swatches, do they fall into color groups? Here you could classify it ins two groups. One, dividing the swatches into two groups would have three warm colors for the roses and the two neutral background colors. The other would further split the rose colors into two groups, the two soft corals in one and the yellow in the other.

Now look at the picture and think about two things, focal point and extent. You want the colors in the focal point to also be the first colors you notice in the Bargello, so clearly these will be the flower colors, even though they are not used as extensively as the background colors.

So my scheme will focus on the rose colors and use the background colors as “background.” But because I’m thinking about a line Bargello, I’ll make them dividing lines.

With two background colors, I could use just one or both. For the moment, I won’t decide about that because I might be limited in my use of threads.

Let’s concentrate on the rose colors. Because the colors are similar, I think I’ll put them all together into one group that will take up several lines. When I do Bargello I often use odd numbers of lines in my main colors and have them reflect around a center line.

I could do this here because the colors are so similar. I could go from light to dark (light coral, coral yellow, coral, light coral) or from dark to light (yellow, coral, light coral, coral, yellow). Each group would be separated by one line of one of the background colors.

Which of the two I would choose would depend on if I wanted the feeling of being drawn in (light to dark) or drawn out (dark to light). Although I could test stitch both, I’ll begin by laying out the threads and seeing if I prefer one to the other.

By looking at inspiration pictures such as these, thinking about them, and then translating them to threads and the abstract patterns of Bargello, you have an endless source of wonderful pieces. I know, at this point, I’ve saved over 200 of design seeds schemes in about six months to inspire me.

The rest is here:
Using Color Blogs to Create a Bargello Color Scheme

Turning a Bargello Purse into a Pillow

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Several different Missoni patterns, from the blog OC Family

I got a question last week asking about how you would turn my Missoni purse pattern into a pillow. If you look at the pattern as charted, you see there is a line of six stitches on one step, followed by three stitches where it moves up or down. A repeat of the pattern goes for the middle of one long step to the middle of the next step that is one the same level.

Missoni patterns, several of which are pictured here make great candidates for creating your own Bargello pattern as well.

You can easily extend any Bargello pattern as long as it repeats.

Here’s how:

First find a pattern where the chart (or picture) has a repeat, so you know how the pattern continues. Most Bargello patterns have repeats, but if you are taking another Bargello-like pattern, it might not. You can check this by using some graph paper and charting the pattern.

If it doesn’t repeat you can still do it as Bargello and extend it by taking some of the pattern and adding it onto itself at either end. I do this on graph paper first to be sure it looks good.

Now that you have a pattern, figure out the color sequence you want. In this case you could use the sequence on the purse or use a picture of another Missoni piece. Write it down, so you have it when you are looking for threads. Sometimes I even print the picture as a reference.

Mark the edges of your pillow on your canvas and find the center and mark it.

Start stitching at the center with the center stitch of the pattern. Stitch to one side, then the other.

Follow the color sequence you wrote down to stitch the other rows.

Missoni patterns are pretty good for this because as clothing or fabric, they do repeat. If the pattern doesn’t it’s harder to extend, since you have to make assumptions about what it will do.

See more here:
Turning a Bargello Purse into a Pillow

Make your own Bargello Pillow

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

vintagerust and turquoise Elsa Williams bargello

I got a question recently asking about kits to make a Bargello pillow.

There aren’t many of them out there, so it’s best to make your own. This is easier than you might think.

The pillow pictured here is a vintage pillow, made from an elsa Williams design. A great place to find over 30 Bargello patterns is my book Bargello Revisited. The book is available on Amazon, at Nordic Needle, and at your local shop through Unicorn Books.
Here’s how:

1. Pick your mesh size. I think 14 or 16 mesh is the best for Bargello because it can use the widest choice of threads.
2. Decide on your finished pillow size. Cut your canvas to be 2″ wider on all sides.
3. Using a permanent marked made for fabric, mark out the edged of your pillow.
4. Using books or Internet resources, pick out a Bargello pattern you like and count how many colors of thread you will need.
5. Pick out your threads and colors. The classic look is done with multiple shades of the same color.
6. (optional) Using craft paint in a color slightly lighter than the lightest color of your thread, and a sponge brush, color the canvas inside the pillow outline. This helps prevent needlepoint dandruff.
7. Start stitching.

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