Bargello--design wall?
 

I'd like to make a bargello quilt, although I don't have a design wall and really no space to create one. How necessary are they to make the process go smoothly?

I also feel that choosing the fabrics could be a daunting task. I'd love to find a kit for my first experience. I have looked for one and at this point am not having much luck.

Wisdom please......

I have made several bargello's without a design wall or laying out the entire quilt on the floor. I just followed the pattern and put the quilt together strip by strip. They came out nicely.

Picking out the fabric can be tricky although your LQS will probably help you select fabrics. I just saw a beautiful bargello quilt kit in Keepsake Quilting catalog. I would buy it if it weren't so expensive. http://www.keepsakequilting.com/morn...rce=igodigital Choosing your own fabrics would save money.

Here is one of my favorites that I made from a kit.

Elise

Elise--thanks much for the link to Keepsake. I had seen that one. I decided it was to floral for the look I hoped to achieve.

Your bargello is beautiful! I love both the pattern and your fabric choices are spectacular!

One of the stores that I frequent would be very helpful. Maybe I should just block out a day and spend it there choosing fabrics!

Thanks

I have a design wall made from insulation board, like you would use when building a house. I covered it in batting, stuck on with duck tape. It just leans agains my closet and I move it when I am not using it. (Just in case that might help you.) I will take a picture and attach it....just in case. The board comes in 8 x 4 foot pieces, and I cut mine down to 6 x 4. (Ignore the blocks on the design wall. I have just decided they are just too light and will be scrapping them. There is pastel and then there is "just too light.")

As for selecting fabric, that is challenging, but when I did my first Bargello, folks here were very helpful. I took lots of pictures and just posted here often.

I made my first Bargello about a year and a half ago. I bought Eileen Wright's book, Twist and Turn Bargello Quilts. She has good advice about fabric selection and she has a really simplified set of instructions that go with a placemat, so a beginner can learn the process before tackling something bigger. I think her best advice was to buy/have/select more fabric choices than you need so you can narrow it down. I ended up with most being from my stash and then just buying a few shades I was missing.

I am addicted to Bargellos, so be aware that once you realize they aren't that hard, you might get addicted too.

Okay, I am attaching 3 pictures. The first is of my design wall, the second of the placemat I made to learn the Bargello process, and the third is my first Bargello. It is one of 13 patterns in Eileen Wright's book. (I know this is probably way more than you asked for...)

Dina

I bought my kit from Keepsake Quilting, and I do not have a design wall either, but I had no problems.

The kit I bought from Keepsake was all solid color fabrics.

Your bargellos are all beautiful. I made one also and had no problems without a design wall. I just followed the directions.

How pretty!! I love the purples and blues.

I have a couple of books I need to look at to see what they say.

Thanks again!

I made my avatar without a design wall and had no problems....I only cut one strip at a time to help keep it simple...I also pinned a strip of all the fabrics in order on the wall directly behind the sewing machine and numbering each fabric with a sticky.....I think I probably checked that strip 500 times during construction to make sure I was doing it right!....stay as organized as possible, it does make it easier.

I made over 2 dozen bargellos in my quilting life. If you are an organized person and pick out a simple pattern, you will be OK. It is when the pattern is complicated that it is so easily to make an error before you realize it. One of our board member posted this recently:

http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...x-t261340.html

I am NOT an organized person so I rely on my design wall to catch an error I could easily make.