light in the valley bargello?
 

Has anyone seen this quilt? the pics I have seen say it is made be the Amish. I was wondering if anyone knows if this is an Amish designed pattern or can I buy it somewhere? Thanks for any help. Laurilli

Here's a previous discussion:
http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...st-t22616.html
I think the pattern is similar to Pomagranite (sp?) and Flame:
http://ernsstev.com/bargello-flame-pattern-quilt/

The Amish make many quilts that are not Amish designs. This is one of them.

I read that the pattern is not available for purchase because the Amish own complete rights to the design -- I'm not clear on the details.

If you have done Bargello quilts before, it wouldn't be difficult to draft this design out. This is a pattern that was done in needlepoint during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

Paper Princess I clicked on the link and all I got was a link back to quilting board but when I typed in the search box it just came back to this post.
Maniac Quilter While I have done a few bargellos I'm not sure if I'm up to drafting this out myself, but I will give it a try if I can find a close up picture. Thanks all.

It was originally designed by Mary Beiler, an Amish woman, but she sold the rights to a quilting company called Almost Amish. Almost Amish does not sell any patterns for Light in the Valley. Also, they fiercely defend their copyright on the design -- even suing an Amish woman for making a quilt to sell at a charity auction based on the design.

http://lancasteronline.com/news/loca...a4bcf6878.html

Bree123 that's a real eye opener. I know about copyrights, of course but why buy the copyrights if you're not going to market it? Just seems strange. Thanks for the info.

Seems odd that they could copyright a design that is based on a very old needlepoint design.

They bought the copyright to the design so they can make Light in the Valley bargello quilts themselves & sell the finished quilts. That way, if anyone wants to legally own a LitV quilt, they are forced to purchase it from the Almost Amish store. Each LitV quilt is a numbered, limited edition piece meaning they can ask substantially more money for it.

The design process is often the most time-consuming part of making an original quilt. There are two ways to get compensated for that time: (1) turn the design into a pattern and sell hundreds of copies of the pattern -- designers get around 8% royalty or a flat commission, whichever is less ;). So let's say you manage to come up with the design in a mere 20 hours; they'd need to sell 4-500 copies in order for the designer to earn $20/hour for her design time. (2) protect the design rights & don't allow anyone else to copy your quilt. Quilts that are marketed as "one of a kind" or "limited edition" typically sell for higher prices so instead of selling a quilt for $800, you can now sell it for $1200. That extra $400/quilt pays for the design fee (or in this case, reimburses Almost Amish for the money they spent to buy the rights from the designer).

Personally, I prefer the second route. I create the designs so I can use them in my own quilts. There are dedicated marketplaces for original/limited edition designs and often they don't even allow visitors to take photographs because there are skilled forgers and pirates whose work devalues the original. They spend 2 seconds snapping a photograph & maybe an hour figuring out how the quilt was constructed; they have nothing invested in it other than the cost of fabric so it doesn't matter to them whether they make it to keep, gift or sell. Meanwhile, I may be out hundreds of dollars because my "one-of-a-kind" quilt is no longer one of a kind... and my reputation is tarnished, reducing how much I can charge on future quilts for a number of years.