Bargello Pattern Generator
Makes an original bargello chart: vertical stitches of one length, stepped up and down column by column along a repeating line, with your colours repeating in bands below it. Choose a flame, wave or two-peak line, how many colours and how many threads wide and high, and the page draws the chart cell by cell with a letter in each, lists the line's steps, counts whole and part stitches for each colour, and gives the finished size on 10- to 18-count canvas.
What this generator does
Designs the pattern and does the counting: the chart, the step sequence that defines the line, how many stitches each colour needs and how big the finished piece will be at your mesh.
How to use this tool
- Choose the line, the number of colours and the chart's width and height in threads.
- Choose your canvas mesh so the finished size is right.
- Press Make a chart; the status line confirms the chart was read back from its own cells.
- Print the chart and the key, and write your own colour beside each letter.
Understanding the controls
- Line
- Flame (slow rise to a point), wave (gentle curves) or peaks (two peaks of different heights per repeat).
- Colours
- 2 to 8, repeating in order down every column; shown as grey shades with letters.
- Width and height
- In canvas threads; the height is raised if needed so every colour appears in each column.
- Canvas mesh
- 10, 12, 13, 14 or 18 threads per inch; used only to state the finished size.
- Paper and seed
- Paper size for the printed chart; a seed rebuilds the same chart while the generator is unchanged.
Worked examples
- Seed 'ember', flame, 5 colours, 48 × 48
- Stitch length 3; the line repeats every 10 columns, stepping up 1, up 1, up 1, up 2, up 2, down 2, down 2, down 1, down 1, down 1. Colour A has 149 whole stitches and 18 part stitches at the edges; about 8.7 × 8.7 cm on 14-count canvas.
Common use cases
- A first bargello piece in your own colours
- A cushion or glasses-case panel sized to a given canvas
- Teaching repeating patterns and step sequences
How this generator works
A stitch length of 3 to 6 threads is chosen and one repeat of the line is built from steps each smaller than a stitch, mirrored so the line returns to its starting height. Each cell's colour is the band it falls in below the line: ⌊(row + line height) ÷ stitch⌋, taken round the colours in order. The finished chart is then read back from its cells alone — stitch length, every step and the colour order are recovered and compared with the pattern — before it is shown.
Randomness and fairness
The stitch length and line are drawn with the browser's cryptographically secure generator, or from one seeded draw when a seed is typed. Seeded charts are deterministic, not cryptographic. The chart itself is computed from the line.
For how randomness is produced across the whole site, see how Generate Random works.
Limitations and good to know
- This is a chart, not stitching instructions; it does not estimate yarn, recommend threads or say how to start and finish.
- Colours are shown as letters and grey shades, so you choose real colours yourself; the page does not suggest a palette.
- Only straight vertical stitches of one length in a single repeating line; four-way, curved and multi-length bargello are not drawn.
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