DogHouseMom

Have made several and love them. My favorite in fact.

1) Stay organized with which fabric is which letter or number. An easy way to do this is put color run together - lop off one end - then write in black marker A, B, C, D etc. Hang that on your design wall.

2) Sew the color strips in alternating rows. Sew up one, down the other. The way I remember is that I don't trim the threads at the beginning of the row, and I trim the threads at the end of the row close. I can look at a row and know which end I started with by the length of the thread.

3) Make sure you are ACCURATE in your seam allowance. It's important to be accurate from one strip to the next, and all the way through the project.

4) When you cut your bargello strips from your color strips, keep checking that they are straight and adjust if necessary. If you cut them crooked - you'll have lopsided pieces that will be very hard to match.

5) Make a copy of the pattern of where each strip goes. Use a pencil to mark off each strip as you've cut it and hung it on the wall.

6) Cut all your strips and hang them on the design wall first, don't cut and sew them together right away.

7) Oh drat ... forgot the first step and didn't feel like re-numbering :) Choosing fabrics!! Pat attention to both color and value (light/dark) when choosing fabric. Also, avoid prints that have a marked degree of value or color change that are of a size larger than your smaller bargello "square". For example, if you choose large pink roses with a green background - the flowers are 5" diam and the largest background area is 3". If your smallest bargello color strip is 1" you are going to have areas where all you see is green in anotherwise color run of pink. It will stand out.

Have fun with it! I love bargello!!!