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Color-Shift Bargello
Quilts and Wall Hangings
After making my bargello jackets
and vests for four years, I had a lot of left over strips sewn
into color families of eight shades from light to dark. I had
an idea of what to do with them but had not acted on it until
my father had to start dialysis and my sister-in-law suggested
I make him a quilt to take with him. So I made a large lap quilt
using just my leftovers. I laid out a bargello line on graph paper.
I then sewed together several color families and, using the tube
method shown in the available books on bargello quilts, I began
to piece the design on a base of backing and a flat cotton batting
basted together. Working from the center toward the edges, I used
a sew and flip method to add each strip so the machine quilting
shows only on the back side of the quilt. When I ran out of one
group of color families, I simply shifted to another group. And
so was born my color shift bargello quilts.
I work in two scales for the
color-shift bargellos. The larger scale starts with strips 2"
wide for making my color families. Then, when cutting the different
size strips from the tubes, the narrowest strips are cut 1”
wide. The smaller scale starts with strips 1-1/2" wide, and
the narrowest strips cut from the tubes are 7/8" wide.
After doing several purely abstract color shift bargello quilts,
I decided to do scenic ones. Seasons of My Imagination
is made using the smaller scale and Neptune’s Realm
is made using the larger scale. |
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Midnight
Cityscape
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Abstract and scenic
color-shift bargello quilts can be made in most any size. The larger
scale will be close to a multiple of 11 inches in length and can
be any width. The smaller scale will be close to a multiple of 7
inches in length and can be any width. Pieces up to about 65”
by 65” will be done by building it on a base so the machine
quilting shows on the back side of the quilt. Larger pieces or bed
quilts will be pieced as a top and then layered and machine quilted
using machine quilting by a colleague of mine.
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Large-Scale Color-Shift
Bargello Quilts |
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Large-Scale
#1
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In my large-scale
color-shift bargello quilts, I begin with 2" strips when making
my color families. Then, when cutting the different width strips
the other direction, the smallest cut strips are 1" wide for
a finished width of about 1/2". This scale is appropriate for
larger wall-hangings and full-bed quilts. The length of these pieces
would be close to a multiple of 11" while it can be any width.
I charge $125 a square foot for this scale.
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Small-Scale Color-Shift
Bargello Quilts
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In my small-scale color-shift bargello quilts, I begin with
1 1/2" strips when making my color families. Then when
cutting the different width strips the other directions, the
smallest cut strips are 7/8" wide for a finished width
of about 1/4". This scale is appropriate for small wall-hangings
or where greater detail is wished such as in Seasons of My
Imagination. The length of these pieces would be close to
a multiple of 7" while it can be any width. I charge
$175 a square foot for this scale. |
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#1 |
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