How to Make the Wedges in Your Bargello
04-20-2010, 04:27 PM
#1
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Hi everybody! If you watched me make "My Experimental Bargello", you saw that I had never made one before and I didn't have a pattern. So to make mine I made my main focus first then filled in the wedges. But, due to cats loving to slide on it, I had to go ahead and sew the strips together in sections as I was designing it. This tutorial will explain how I went about figuring out the wedges and how to sew them in.
Now let me tell you that if you buy a pattern for a Bargello, either mine or someone else's, you would not have to learn how to make the wedges. Regular patterns show what colors and widths, to put where. There is no need to "fill in" around the main focus. Also, check out the post on My Experimental Bargello, as there are lots and lots of pictures on there which will help.
Alright, this first picture shows the last wedge that I did on my Bargello, "Swish!". Since I was sewing this one together with the seams meeting in the middle of the next rows seams, instead of matching all those seams, you need to end each row with 2 of the same color. (One for the half of square and one for the whole square.) Here is a link to page 10 of my bargello to show more of what I'm talking about. On this page you can see close ups of the "mismatched" seams, plus the 12" block that I did first, with "matched" seams.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-40652-10.htm
You can see in this picture where on every other row, the squares will be cut off to make them a half of square. You can see it even better in the 2nd picture.
Now let me tell you that if you buy a pattern for a Bargello, either mine or someone else's, you would not have to learn how to make the wedges. Regular patterns show what colors and widths, to put where. There is no need to "fill in" around the main focus. Also, check out the post on My Experimental Bargello, as there are lots and lots of pictures on there which will help.
Alright, this first picture shows the last wedge that I did on my Bargello, "Swish!". Since I was sewing this one together with the seams meeting in the middle of the next rows seams, instead of matching all those seams, you need to end each row with 2 of the same color. (One for the half of square and one for the whole square.) Here is a link to page 10 of my bargello to show more of what I'm talking about. On this page you can see close ups of the "mismatched" seams, plus the 12" block that I did first, with "matched" seams.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-40652-10.htm
You can see in this picture where on every other row, the squares will be cut off to make them a half of square. You can see it even better in the 2nd picture.
I started on the inside edge of the wedge and worked towards the corner. There were 7 colors in my strips for the wedges. I filled in with one color (on 2 rows), then 2 colors (on 2 rows), etc. until I got to the point where I could just add a full strip. I just used 2 1/2" wide strips, cut to the needed length to do the wedge until I got to a full strip. You would also have the option of just putting in full strips and then "un-sewing" them at the correct seams, but that seemed like a waste of fabric to me.
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The Wedge that I put in last to finish up my bargello "Swish!"
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04-20-2010, 05:23 PM
#2
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These rows are not sewn in this picture. They are just laid out so that I could see how it was looking. There were 7 colors in my wedge strips, so continue in the pattern until you have put down 2 rows of 6 colors. Then you will be able to add a full strip of 7 colors for 2 rows and go from there.
After you sew them to the main focus or the main part of the quilt, this is what it will look like.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]54809[/ATTACH]
I had already removed one of the strips of 7 colors when I took this picture. When you make yours, there should be 2 rows of 7 colors. Then I worked from light to dark instead of dark to light. Do the same as before, doing 2 rows of each color until you get to the edge of the quilt.
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When I have all the rows laid out like they should be, I take them into the sewing machine and sew all the rows together.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]55679[/ATTACH]
Notice that I am working from dark colors to the light colors.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]56043[/ATTACH]
Once you have all the strips sewn, you may want to do a few at a time. But, when the strips are sewn, pin them each to the row where they need to be sewn. Sew each wedge strip to the main focus strips.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]60589[/ATTACH]
04-20-2010, 05:52 PM
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Then, I just started at the black squares and sewed the seam between the 2 rows of black. I continued all the way across, then did it again. I sewed the 2 rows of black to the 2 rows of purple flowered, etc. Continue is this pattern until everything is completely sewn together.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I hope this helps you to design your own bargello. It isn't a "fun" way to do it really. It would be much better NOT to have to sew anything together until you had a whole row, (like the length of the quilt), ready to sew. Then you could just sew on the various strips. But if you have problems like I did, this is an option.
I will be making a pattern for my Bargello to sell when I get it back from the quilters. On the pattern it will tell what colors in what widths so where, so you can make up a few complete rows at a time and not have to worry about adding in the wedges later. It would be a whole lot easier to do it that way.
Thank you for your time. I hope this is clear enough to understand.
Marilyn
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I hope this helps you to design your own bargello. It isn't a "fun" way to do it really. It would be much better NOT to have to sew anything together until you had a whole row, (like the length of the quilt), ready to sew. Then you could just sew on the various strips. But if you have problems like I did, this is an option.
I will be making a pattern for my Bargello to sell when I get it back from the quilters. On the pattern it will tell what colors in what widths so where, so you can make up a few complete rows at a time and not have to worry about adding in the wedges later. It would be a whole lot easier to do it that way.
Thank you for your time. I hope this is clear enough to understand.
Marilyn
04-20-2010, 07:15 PM
#5
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Originally Posted by quilterguy27
thanks Marilyn. Unique way of doing it. I don't think I will be trying this method, but I will watch for the pattern and try it without the wedges. Great job, by the way. I love it so far.
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