Bargello fabric colors - how do these look?
 

I am doing my first bargello quilt, following the pattern Surf Song from Eileen Wright's book Twist and Turn Bargello Quilts. I want to use blues and greens (I found an image of a quilt I loved, I believe the quilt was actually made by a member of Quilting Board - Eddie - a number of years ago).

It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to choose fabrics. I did end up going to a second LQS and ended up replacing 5 fabrics. Since the pattern calls for 20 fabrics, I feel pretty good that I only felt I needed to swap out 5!

How do these fabrics look together? I took a picture in color then in black and white. I am also posting a picture of the quilt that is my inspiration for color. Nervous to start cutting!
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I've never made a bargello quilt, but to my eye, these fabrics look very nice. I can see why you would be inspired by that terrific quilt. Good luck.

Leslie

I think it will be beautiful! I have just made Bargello runners but I love the process. I have been wanting to make this pattern also, but I have to get it first-lol-I will be anxious to see your finish.

The first dark blue on the left sort of "stood out" to me -

Perhaps rearrange/rotate the fabrics - like what happens when one makes a bargello - to see how the fabrics play together when they are "moved"

(I know what I mean with that last sentence, but it definitely reads awkwardly. Maybe someone can help me/us out?)

It will be gorgeous!

looks great to me!

I understand what you mean! I already have quite a few pictures on my phone of various swaps with regard to fabric placement. That fabric is just outside of the other darker blues (it has black in it). I'm actually thinking of another blue that I think I have at home that is dark - but I think more inline with the other dark blues. I'll have to do some switching around. I know that I had one of the greens that I thought was in the right place, but just for grins switched it with a different fabric - and immediately I was like YES! The 2nd fabric is the one that really belongs here.

Your inspiration photo and fabrics seem to work.
Then it gets into personal preferrence. I'd like more value contrast. Someone else said the dark stands out.

I think you are going to be fine with that particular pattern, as it is waves and does not intertwine. So even though your blues look very similar, it won't "muddle" the design. When I look at your thumbnail pictures without my computer glasses on, I can only count 12 different colors changes. It can give very subtle shading and sometimes that it can be too subtle for the design.

One of my biggest mistakes when pulling fabric (and embroidery thread) is having colors that are too close together, so when you back up a bit, you end up losing some of the pattern because of it.

Wow, that's going to be a gorgeous quilt!

I've seen bargello quilts made with fabrics which had little contrast. All that work didn't show up in the final quilt. I think your choices have enough contrast and will work well. I can't wait to see your quilt!

Interesting, I did as you said you did (backed up and looked for the color changes). I come up with 12 changes also, didn't think to look at it that way. I'm hoping this will be okay with this particular pattern, as you said. I thought it wasn't as hard picking the fabric as I thought it was going to be, but that said - I have scoured the blues and greens from the 2 biggest quilt shops I have access to (and one of those was an hour away). At the 2nd quilt shop, I ended up making 5 color changes. I have one more small shop I want to pop into before I do any cutting. Funny, when I first saw a bargello quilt and looked at the process, I said that is not for me, I will never do one of those! Yet it has kept calling my name to try.

I'm looking forward to seeing this quilt!

Those are my favorite fabrics

Thanks for sharing. As soon as the garden freezes I must get busy.

I love Bargello quilts and have made many. One thing that has helped me is when I think I have the colors right I fold them and overlap them in the order I think they will be into 1-2”;strips, lined up so I can see how they actually look in the order of the pattern. Then you can see if something is too light, too bright, too….whatever. When you are pleased with the (run) label everything. The most important step to a successful Bargello is organization - label everything- I use numbers and letters keeping things in order. It’s really easy to turn something wrong, pick up the wrong strip or reverse something. Your quilt will be beautiful!