Colors for Bargello

[Judy M.]

I am going to make a kind of different for me BARGELLO quilt... I am using Aqua, turquoise, green, yellow and probably fusia but not totally sure.

I have a lot of blender ( medium and darks, bright) type fabrics that I can make my strips from... what I do not have is anythning with a pattern.

I have tried looking at bargello quilts on the internet, and in books but I am still not sure... some of them are all blender fabrics... some of them include pattern fabrics in the design.

Any ideas from those who have made a bargello... should I include pattern fabric in my quilt?

What is the best way to make your fabric selection ? Any rules I should know about?

[Judy M.]

For a Bargello to be striking, Blending and Contrast are both needed. There needs to be at least one or two places in your strips where a definate break in the flow (high contrast) is evident. Between these breaks a blending of some sort is needed. The blend can be from color to color using "views as solids" or two color fabrics that move from "red and blue" to "blue and green" to "green and orange"and so on. These flows should not have big jumps. A large scale print can be a problem in Bargello because of the small size of some of the finished cuts. You can never predict where the colors of a large scale print may fall. Hope that helps.Bettty Ann

[Kathryn L.]

I don't know how "different" you want your bargello to be, but have you seen the scrappy ones that Bonnie Hunter has on her website? It looks like you can use just about anything in it. Try this link.
http://www.quiltville.com/scrapbargello.shtml

[Frances L.]

I usually try to have a zinger or two in my bargellos. The cross quilt on my profile has a multicolored zinger in it.
Frances

[Patti P.]

Frances, that's a beautiful quilt.

[Patti P.]

Yeah, I finally finished my Bargello quilt. I gave it to my niece cause she took on look at it and fell in love. I am thinking I might try this method again in the future using red, blacks and whites.

[Patti P.]

I don't know how "different" you want your bargello to be, but have you seen the scrappy ones that Bonnie Hunter has on her website? It looks like you can use just about anything in it. Try this link.
http://www.quiltville.com/scrapbargello.shtml

Previously, I was not particularly fond of bargello quilts, but these scrappy ones are beautiful. I really like the one photographed on the longarm which was made of recycled clothing. Now, I'm going to lose about an hour looking at the links to the galllery of quilts listed there. Maybe, making a scrappy bargello in now in my future. Thanks for sharing.

[Patti P.]

I usually try to have a zinger or two in my bargellos. The cross quilt on my profile has a multicolored zinger in it.
Frances

Certainly not your typical bargello. Frances, your quilt is beautiful.