More Bargello magic at Chattanooga Sewing

Bargello placemat class project.

I was invited to teach a special class on Bargello Quilting for the staff at Chattanooga Sewing Machine Center. We met in the classroom after closing, ordered in pizza, and had a fabulous sit-and-sew-and-chat session while they learned to make Bargello placemats.

The class project (left), with its waves of color superimposed on a geometrically influenced design was not—I was told (and much to my surprise)—the primary aspect of what drew the staff and customers to this project. It was the quilting!

Closeup of machine quilting on Bargello placemat.

While store customers loved the bright, saturated colors, the staff said there were many comments on how the quilting accentuated the movement and color placement on the placemats. Well, you just never know what catches people's eye, do you???

I provided kits with pre-cuts strips for this class, so the staff could just sit and enjoy the sewing after working all day. With a few slight variations in the kits (one wanted a few more brights to complement her dinnerware, and one wanted some golds and greens thrown in), the fabrics were mostly all the same. So, despite very similar fabric kits, here are the variations on a theme that resulted from the evening's class. The set of fabric strips is shown on the left of the composition.

The greens and golds in Linda's version contrast with the salmon pink and turquoise.

Linda's Bargello placemat.

Lisa's version has bands of lights and darks running through the center.

Lisa's Bargello placemat.

Michelle's version has the deep red and a bright pink flanking the center dark wave.

Michelle's Bargello placemat.

Notice the opposing placement of the zinger fabric in Sheri's version. 

Sheri's Bargello placemat.

I must say that is was a real pleasure having these women in a class together. Their sewing and piecing skills are top notch and they listen attentively to instructions and demonstrations. They were excited by the results they were getting and inspired to experiment with variations on the other three placemats.

Machine quilted Bargello placemat.

It will be interesting to see what each one chooses for the binding and how she decides to quilt her piece. My sample was quilted with a combination of straight line quilting and free-motion.


Thank you to Linda, Lisa, Sheri and Michelle for a fun evening! Can't wait to see your finished pieces. What do you want to do next??

Back in class: Bargello placemats

It felt so good to be back in the classroom today! I taught my Bargello Placemats quilting class and had some familiar faces (previous students) and made new friends, too.

Quilted Bargello placemats class project.

To provide an overview of Bargello, I started class with a brief multimedia presentation using my iPad. Did you know that the term, Bargello [sounds like bar-jello], originated from the Bargello palace, or fortified castle, that was a barracks and 13th century "police station" in Florence, Italy? The Bargello palace, now an art museum, has a collection of 17th century chairs with seats and backs done in the "Hungarian point" technique in the flame stitch pattern.

Auditioning and arranging the fabrics.

Bargello needlepoint had a resurgence in the 1960s. Then the technique emerged in the quilting field and offers amazing design and pattern possibilities for quilters.

For our Bargello placemats, the fabrics are first auditioned and arranged in a pleasing sequence of colors and values. After strip piecing and sub-cutting, the Bargello pattern emerges.

Color and value are two of the Elements of Design (along with line, shape, form and texture). Bargello is another technique for honing your color and value skills. The more you work with color and value, the more confident you will become.

Here are Bargello layouts for my students' projects. They were all successful with their color and value choices. The designs are smashing!

Bargello placemat. The contrast between the dark blue and
soft yellow makes a dramatic statement.

This Bargello pattern has three distinct paths.

This layout has two distinct wave patterns. The red/green side-by-side
complementary color combination adds energy to the layout.

I'm teaching a private Bargello Placemats class in two weeks. I can't wait to see the designs from these students.