Bargello Placemats - very basic instructions
Bargello Placemat….. 12” x 18”
Purchase 1 yard of each color you like, I used 10 fabrics, from the very darkest blue
To the very lightest blue and then added plain white. I had enough to make 6 placemats.
1. On a sheet of paper place the numbers 1 to 10 (or however many colors you will be using), cut a small scrap of each fabric and glue this scrap beside the number, so you have a legend to follow should you forget which color is which number.
2. Number these fabrics from 1 to 10 with white being number 1 and the darkest
Being number 10. (or a higher number if you use more colors than 10)
3. Cut strips from each of the fabrics at 2.5 inches wide x WOF. Keeping your strips together in their color. (All the whites together, then all the next shade together., etc). Now you will have 10 piles of strips.
Press all your seams to one side!!! Whenyou do the next step.
4. Sew your strips together in their color order from the #10 darkest to the #1lightest. Sew one Strip in one direction, and add the next lighter color in the other direction, this is so They do not curl on you. Once you have sewn up 10 of the strips from darkest to the
Lightest. NOW YOU WILL MAKE THEM INTO A TUBE, sew the dark strip to The light strip
5. Even off the end you will be cutting first – IT is important to keep your strips even.
6. Now cut this TUBE of strips at various intervals like this: 1”, 1.25 “, 1.50”, 1.75”, 2.0”, 2.25”, 2.5”
TIP: Do Not get ahead of yourself: Next Open up your strips as you need them.
Do this by picking out the stitching in each seam line.
7. First - Open up the seam at the top of the white, This is your first strip the lightest color #1
The next strip open up under the white, the next open up under your next color and continue moving only one fabric down each time, when you open up the seam line.
To sew together: You can see from the picture, the white moves up and then down.
This is how you do a bargello placemat like mine……
Sewing together your placemat -
Lay your first strip #1 on top of the next strip - with the wrong side up, onto #2 and sew down the right hand side – you will always be sewing down on the right side
You can mix up the width of each strip, but not the colors, you can see by mine that I didn’t mix them up very much.
Once you have the desired height and width, then make a sandwich with your top, batting and backing and bind as usual. I just stippled the colored portion, not the white.
I hope you don't find this too confusing.[ATTACH=CONFIG]455293[/ATTACH]
Last edited by d.rickman; 01-07-2014 at 07:06 AM.