How to Make a Bargello Quilt

A bargello quilt looks difficult with its intricate quilt pattern and wave like pattern, but is perfect for beginners. It is made from strips of fabrics sewn together, shifted 90-degrees, cut apart and sewn together again. The way you sew the strips back together again creates movement in the design. If you can sew a straight line, you can make a bargello quilt!

Bargello is a technique used in needlepoint and embroidery, creating wave designs with yarn and thread. Needlepoint designs using this technique have been traced back to the 16th century. This pattern has been referred to as Florentine, Flame or Hungarian point. A variety of Bargello quilts can be created depending on your fabric selection and placement. There are limitless designs just by using different values, colors and scale of fabrics.

Materials needed to make a bargello quilt

Fabric selection for your quilt

The key to making a bargello quilt is the fabric selection. You want to make sure you have lights and darks so that the movement in the design is evident. You’ll want to select a minimum of eight (8) to ten (10) fabrics. You can use prints or solids. Large scale prints and small scale prints give even more visual movement to your finished quilt. Once you make one, you’ll want to make another to see what happens! This is a perfect design to use up some fat quarters in your collection (ahem, stash).

How do I create a wave design in a bargello quilt?

The signature wave design in a bargello quilt is made with the fabric selection, placement of the strip sets and width of the horizontal strip sets. It’s important to have a strong light or dark (or both) in your fabric selections, surrounded with mid-value fabrics. When you take apart the strip set rounds, you move the light or dark fabric up or down to create a wave. The width of the strip can create more dramatic dips and peaks in the waves.

Here is one collection of 2-1/2 inch strips that I considered for the modern bargello quilt. Take a picture and then turn it into a grey-scale to see if you have enough value differentiation. After doing this, I decided I liked the colors and the values, but decided to move some of the white strips around to break up the color and provide a variety of white space.

Choose a color scheme

Take some time to plan your color scheme and design. You’ll need at least one prominent fabric, whether it is a bold color or a large scale print that stands out from the other fabrics. This will help the wave pattern and movement evolve in your quilt.

I’ve read some ‘rules’ for bargello to not use a bold print. Remember, there are no quilt police! Do whatever you like. I auditioned these bold prints for the basic bargello quilt pattern and loved the movement they create!

Tools and equipment needed to make a bargello quilt

Other than your selection of fabrics, you’ll need a rotary cutter, cutting mat, sewing machine, pressing surface, iron and, most importantly, a seam ripper. You’ll be using the seam ripper to unsew the rounds of fabric creating the wave designs.

Planning your bargello quilt design

Decide on the size and shape of your finished quilt

You will be cutting strips WOF (width of fabric). If you are using 40-45 inch wide fabric your strips will probably end up close to 40-inches once trimmed. You’ll be cutting this width of fabric into many strips. The finished width of your quilt will depend on how many strips you cut. For example: if you cut 15 strips for the width, there will be 30 1/4-inch seam allowances, or about 8-inches taken in seam allowances. This would result in a finished width of about 32-inches.

Using fat quarters? Double the number of strips to get the same finished quilt width.

The height of your quilt is determined by how many strips of fabric you use in your quilt and how wide you cut them. If you use 10 fabrics cut at 2-1/2 inches, the result will be 20-inch finished height. (Remember: a 2-1/2 inch cut strip is finished at 2-inch. The 1/2-inch is used for the 1/4-inch seam allowance on each side.)

Prepare fabric strips for your quilt

Cut fabric into strips

Once you have decided on the size of your quilt and of your strips, cut your strips. The first set of strips should all be the same width. These will be horizontal on your quilt. I like to use 2-1/2 inch cut strips for most of my quilts.

Sew your strip set

Determine the layout of the strips so that they create eye movement. You can either blend your colors from light to dark in a color or separate colors with blenders or solids.

Sew the strips together with 1/4-inch seam allowances. To help reduce waviness in your strip set, sew one strip on one direction, turn and sew the next strip from the other direction.

Here is a modern bargello quilt made from a selection of solid fabrics. I started sewing three strips of white cut at 2-1/2 inches x WOF (width of fabric), then I added three strips of color, one strip of white, three strips of color, one strip of white and three strips of color.

Once your strip set is sewn together, press the seams with one seam one direction and the next seam the other direction. This will allow the seams to nest when making the waves.

Next, trim up the ends of your strip set.

Take your first strip, for me it is the first white strip and sew it to your last strip set, for me it was the dark teal strip. This forms the strip set into a round which makes it easier for making waves on your quilt top.

Cut your strip set into rounds

Now is the fun part! Determine which color will be at the top left to start and how wide you want the first strip set. I started with 2-1/2 cut from my round strip set. This makes the first ones square. Then, I reduced the width of the round strip set to 2-1/4, then 2-inch, then 1-3/4, then 1-1/2 and then 1-1/4. The 1-1/4 cut will make a finished slice in the wave that is 3/4-inch since there are two 1/4-inch seam allowances.

Here is the modern bargello quilt cut into the new strips still in the round.

Here are all of the strips cut and in size order. It is important to keep them in size order. You can use your cutting table or a design wall. I’m fortunate to have a nice big table.

Assembling your quilt top

Position your strips in order, creating waves or curves

Now is the fun part! I knew I wanted the upper left corner of the quilt to start with the three white pieces. So I started by using my seam ripper to take apart the seam from the top white and the dark teal piece. Next, I continued with the next piece, removing the seam from the next fabric piece down on the strip set round. Sometimes this is referred to as a ‘step down’. If you are shifting to make your wave go up, it is referred to as a ‘step up’.

Here is the modern bargello quilt laid out and ready to sew together. You can see I started by stepping up, then shifted to step down when the orange got to the top row, then stepped down again until the pink reached the bottom row and then stepped up for the remaining strip sets in the round.

To begin this step, get your seam ripper out and start taking apart those rounds to create strips that start at different points. Using the seam ripper, release the seam at the top of the fabric you want to be the top of that column. Shift the next column either one step up or down to begin creating the wave design.

Here are the strips laid out and ready to sew together.

Sew your strips together

Start by sewing the first two strip sets together using a 1/4-inch seam allowance, matching and nesting the seams.

Continue sewing the strips in the order you had on your table or design wall.

Here is the finished modern bargello quilt top. See how by varying the widths of the strip sets adds even more movement to your waves.

Can I make a bargello quilt from a jelly roll?

Yes! Jelly rolls are perfect for bargello quilt patterns! The colors and designs all work together – the fabric selection has been done for you! An important tip is to make sure that there is value differentiation in the jelly roll fabrics so that the bargello pattern is evident in your finished quilt.

How many jelly rolls do I need to make a bargello quilt?

It depends on the finished size of your quilt. If you are looking to make a queen size bargello quilt, you will need just two jelly rolls. This will make a quilt that is 80-inches by 60-inches.

How many colors should a bargello quilt have?

Again, it depends on what you want. You need at least one dark and one light and a few medium colors to create the design. I recommend a minimum of six (6) colors in order to see the movement of the pattern, but you certainly can have more. I like to use at least 8-10 fabrics. If I’m creating a large piece I have been known to use over 20 fabrics.

How hard is a bargello quilt?

Making a bargello quilt is not hard. If you can sew a straight seam, cut strips of fabrics and use a seam ripper you can make a bargello quilt. This is a perfect quilt pattern for beginners.

Tips for creating an original bargello quilt

• Play around with different scale prints and values of fabrics
• Vary the widths of your strip set cuts. NOTE: In order to have the seams nest when sewing the quilt strips make sure your initial strips of fabric are the same width.
• Remember that the first piece of fabric in your strip set will be sewn to the last fabric as the waves are created. Make sure they look good together!
• Some people like to make a chart to plan out their design before they start. Yo
• To keep your strips organized, you can use office labels or small pieces of tape at the top of each strip and number them in order.
• Be careful to use accurate 1/4 inch seam allowances so that all of the strips match and the seams nest.