This article is from my French friend and fellow Bargello needlepoint stitcher, Odile Berget. Odile writes that she discovered a Bargello fabric in a very small museum in La Chapelle des Marais – France (South of Brittany). This village is in a Natural Park of a marsh region with thatched houses and saltern places.
Museum Brochure in French
There are annual exhibitions of old sewing machines, quilts, embroideries, old “toiles” (the French word for cloth) similar to Toiles de Jouy but from the other well known Nantes’ manufacturer, Petit-Pierre &Cie. You can find these old “toiles” in museums all over the world. There’s a wonderful collection at the Art Institute of Chicago, here in the US.
Odile Berget's Adaptation
Odile enclosed in her message pictures of the antique Bargello fabric, her adaptation of it and a brochure from the museum. As we carried on an email discussion of her unique find, I got even more excited about such a Bargello treasure for the fabric dates from the time of King Louis the 13th of France (1601-1643). Time has been gentle to the needlepoint fabric for it still retains such beautiful colors. Odile, who is fond of Bargello needlepoint technique has designed and stitched her own masterful adaptation using the flame pattern.
To learn more about Odile’s Bargello needlepoint adaptation, you can visit her at http://www.berget.fr/ or email her at odile.berget@gmail.com. By the way, Odile is the webmaster for the French Quilter’s Guild and a member of several English speaking forums such as Needlebar, the international antique sewing machine forum, and TreadleOn, which promotes the use of antique and vintage human powered sewing machines.
If you’ve discovered a Bargello heirloom, treasure, find or some interesting historical facts about Florentine Embroidery, drop me a line and I’ll include it in a post here on the site.
