I have been working on a small tapestry project from the American Needlepoint Guild magazine that will be made up into an evening bag when it is finished. It is a bargello project using a range of black threads, with the only colour being a Frosty Rays blue. It is done on a black 18pt canvas and it is sitting on my new embroidery stand - which I love. I have made a lot more progress since I've had the new stand. Having both of my hands free while stitching makes the work go faster and improves the quality of stitching.
This project uses 9 different black threads - most have some kind of shiny, metallic reflective quality to them. The most reflective thread is actually the black patent leather. And as mentioned only one thread with a touch of colour (blue). The designer Toni Gerdes said that she wanted to 'design a purse that was done entirely in stitching but still had the elegance of a beaded evening bag'. Her pattern can be found in this edition of Needle Pointers.
The article in Needle pointers was quite interesting about the history of this type of stitching. Although referred to as Bargello - it is more precisely called the Florentine stitch, which is a series of straight stitches, all of the same length. Hungarian point is a type of Florentine stitch that uses varying lengths for the straight stitches - if you search images of "flame stitch" you'll find some pretty amazing examples of this pattern; stitching, upholstery, clothing, glass ware. Some hideous, some beautiful and a few quite collectible. I had a bit of a wanty want moment with some of the search term objects.
And while I quite enjoy a bit of historical detail, I'm sure that it is completely irrelevant that this type of geometric stitching that we refer to as Bargello, is actually the name of a building in Florence. The building, is now a museum but given it's been around since the Middle Ages, it has had a number of uses, one of which was a jail. So..the word bargello means a "head of police". You can't find that in a dictionary now though. A google search will tell you that it is a type of geometric stitching. And that this pattern is a pomegranate.
