Today marks the end of the first week (7 days) of the 365-Days of Bargello Needlepoint Challenge and I’m still stitching strong!
This design reminds me of slanted ribbons. Depending on the color scheme used, it can even look three-dimensional. Taken from page 47 of Bargello: An Explosion In Color by Margaret Boyles, it’s small and neat.
Since it has steps and slopes, it’s best to start stitching in the top left corner and work down to the opposite one using a 4-1 step repeat. If you are making a large project, consider increasing the number of slopes (instead of 6 stitches, make it 10 or even more), and adding more stitches to each cluster.
I used four colors (red and three shades of a soft grayish green) in this design–all Silk and Ivory threads. When I stitch it on a larger project, I will try some gold variations or peach/orange combinations.
Well, only 358 more days to go!
These are wonderful wonderful projects. Thank you so much for undertaking this. I’ve not done much bargello, and I wondered if this small and neat pattern might work as a background for a Christmas stocking? My background needs to be one color, but I would like to incorporate a sense of movement, which bargello does. Thanks again.
Yes, Robin. I think this design would be a great background. You can vary the steps and slopes depending on the size of your stocking and the background area. Althea