Bargello stitch

           

The bargello pattern is also known as Florentine work, Hungarian point, or flame work. It supposedly originated in Hungary during the medieval era then became popular throughout Europe after it was used in 17th century decorations for chairs in the Bargello Palace in Florence, Italy. 

These are simple satin stitches or straight stitches worked in a wavy pattern or zig-zag manner.It is fun to work with different patterns of waves and color shading in each of the rows. Row upon row it looks like gracefully flowing curves.I have worked these on aida or cross-stitch cloth with different threads of different colors.

When worked up and down in a wavy manner it  looks like a flame worked with threads as shown here.

 These kind of stitches are mainly used for quilting. These may also be worked on plastic canvas.

 For the patterns that are done with motifs, begin at the centre first and then move outward. Also, if you plan to do a background, do the motif first and then the background.