About
Oh hey! I'm Brett Bara, the creator of Hello Bargello. Thanks for stopping by! I'm on a mission to bring back this forgotten vintage craft for modern makers -- because bargello is simply too awesome to be forgotten forever.
So where did this whole bargello thing come from? Several years ago I discovered some vintage bargello pattern books at The Strand, a legendary used book store in Manhattan. A lifelong fiber crafter, I was intrigued and started making projects from those vintage patterns. I fell in love, started to look for modern bargello patterns and found... literally nothing! There were literally NO modern resources for bargello! No bargello on the internet, no in-print bargello books. What the heck?! It was like the craft that got lost in time.
So, I kept working from those vintage books. The patterns were hard to use and not up to modern instruction standards, but I muddled through, and had fun with it.
Meanwhile, I started teaching bargello classes in the modern craft store I co-owned, Brooklyn Craft Company. It seemed like everyone who learned bargello loved it and got instantly hooked. We started sharing bargello images on our social media feeds, and the likes were off the charts! Everyone who learned about it seemed to be really enchanted and wanted more. "Where can we find bargello patterns?" people would ask ask. Well... actually nowhere, I'd say! "Where can we buy bargello supplies?" they'd ask? It's complicated, I'd say.
And so I saw a need in the modern craft landscape for fresh, approachable bargello designs, patterns that are understandable and easy to use, supplies made easy, and tutorials to help teach this intriguing technique. I also really wanted to rescue the amazing tradition of bargello from out-of-print books by creating updated, modern patterns that would ensure bargello would live on for years to come. (And I wanted to get some bargello on the internet already! I mean, it was 2018! What wasn't on the internet at that point?!)
And thus HELLO BARGELLO was born! (Cue the confetti!) Dedicated to reviving this vintage craft in a modern way, Hello Bargello has inspired a new modern bargello movement. Today, thousands of crafters around the world have gotten hooked on this new (old) craft.
Hello Bargello is here to teach you how to bargello, inspire you with killer designs, and make it easy to get all the supplies you need in one place.
So let's do this! Who's coming to the bargello party?!
