I do. In fact it was one of the first needlepoint techniques I did and I still love it. I was noticing in the last couple of days, some of the oldest pillows I have I made in Bargello back in the 70’s (oh those colors!) The wools are still vibrant and the patterns lovely.
Bargello is simple to do. It’s made up of straight stitches,often going over four threads. One or more stitches is in a step. The steps move up and down in a regular pattern. The shades and/or colors progress in a regular pattern as well.
Once you stitch the first row, Bargello is just following the pattern. At least most of the time. This makes it very smoothing and relaxing.
There aren’t too many Bargello books out there, but lots were published in the 70’s. Look for them in used bookstores. My favorite, Bargello, by Elsa Williams, doesn’t even have charts in it, just great pictures of the patterns.
But if you know the stitch length, and the step, you can stitch Bargello from a picture or even a sketch.
So what’s all this leading to? If you love Bargello you will be so excited about my newest project. It will be a com-bound book of 32 Bargello projects/patterns. Each pattern will be charted and the projects from the patterns will have thread/color information and a color picture.
In it will be instructions on how to stitch Bargello, information about threads, ideas for using Bargello, hints on solving problems, and about a dozen templates you can use to trace your own outlines for Bargello. And there will be a list of great Bargello books so you can complete your library.
I’m so excited about it and I’d love to hear from you if you have a clever idea for a title. The winner will get a signed copy of the book.
As I complete projects, I’ll post pictures here.
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