Glorious Patchwork: More Than 25 Glorious Quilt Designs

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saw a variety of exciting commissions, projects and publications. Exhibiting quilts at the Textile Museum of Canada, involvement at the Yokohama Patchwork Festival in Japan and Kaffe’s contribution to two group shows, ‘The Artist and Radio 4’ at the Bankside Gallery and a painting exhibition at the Catto Gallery, London saw the year end with a prestigious invitation to design and decorate the Victoria and Albert Museum Christmas tree in collaboration with Kaffe’s latest book publication ‘Kaffe Fassett’s V&A Quilt’s’.

His bold Graphic cushion, in just two blue and white fabrics, or his Brilliant Squares cushion in eight subtly different fabric squares, are ideal for those new to patchwork. His 3D Shadow Box cushion, playing with juxtapositions of dark, light and bright fabrics, and the subtle changes of pattern in his Marble Tile cushion, on the other hand, offer more of a challenge. Kaffe Fassett’s fabrics, with their trademark range of colourways in each pattern, are the perfect choice for his 20 different patchwork cushions in this book. He has created a cornucopia of eye-catching designs, with something for every style and for every level of patchwork skill, using both his sumptuous florals and his neat geometric prints to great effect. Kaffe is a Patron of the Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles; a national membership organization formed in 1979 and made up of 7000 individual members mostly in the UK, to bring together quilters, promote the heritage of quilting and work to ensure a vibrant future for the craft. He is also a Patron of the UK Knitting & Crochet Guild and the Heritage Crafts Association. He was christened Frank Havrah Fassett but as a teenager decided to change his name to the more artistic sounding Kaffe (rhymes with safe) after an Egyptian character in a children’s book. He freely admitted that he was fortunate to grow up in the 1950’s in an atypical (even for California) home and school environment that supported and encouraged his natural artistic creativity.From early 2000s, major exhibitions have included ‘The Textile Tradition, Then and Now’ (2001) and Quilt Bonanza (2003) both at The American Museum in Bath, plus shows at Stening Slott, in Sweden (2004) and Rohsska Museet, in Gothenburg (2004). Whether in the form of a cushion or a table runner, a mini-quilt or a tablecloth, a kimono or a tea cosy, or a stole or shawl, Kaffe’s 20 small pieced designs in this book – ranging from the most simply stitched to the m ore intricately pieced – mix bold flower patterns with strong geometrics in a mouth-watering range of colours and in palettes that range from the sizzingly hot to the cool and delicate. His Autobiography ‘Dreaming in Color’ was published in September 2012 and has proved to be extremely popular and sold worldwide. At the Dubai Quilt Show I finally had a chance to see and meet him in person. Most everyone at his opening lecture and in fact at the quilt show itself, was there to see him specifically. Yet despite this popularity he accepted the adulation with grace and humility, patiently signing quilt books and posing for cell phone photos with the attendees.

In his contemporary take on these amazing quilts – the 15 chosen span three centuries of quilt making and are featured in his introduction – he breathes fresh life into their eye-catching patterns and geometry, from hexagons to log-cabins and from complex medallions to simple strippies. He has invited five of his team of designers to make their own versions of five of them, creating yet further layers of interest. Past meets present in this dazzling collection of new quilts from design genius Kaffe Fassett. Drawing inspiration from the textile treasures of the Victoria&Albert Museum, London’s world-famous decorative art museum, Kaffe has created 23 gorgeous new patchwork designs. Each is a sympathetic interpretation of an antique source, using updated colour schemes and contemporary sewing techniques. All the designs are easily accessible to today’s quilters. Internationally renowned textile and fine artist Kaffe Fassett has been inspired by flowers his entire life, and he has been incorporating them into his artwork for nearly as long. In Bold Blooms, for the first time ever, he shares a behind-the-scenes look at his fascinating creative process, shedding light on how he creates the vibrant fabrics, quilts, needlepoints, ribbons, floral displays and paintings for which he is celebrated. He follows with a passionate ode to flowers in the form of eighteen quilts and seven needlepoints designed for bedgnning to advanced stitchers and divided into seven colour moods, ranging from neutrals and soft pastels to rich, dark tones. In 2013, Kaffe was awarded the Turner Medal. This is awarded by the Colour Group (Great Britain) to a distinguished artist or art historian, honouring Britain’s greatest colourists.Kaffe started his artistic career as a painter, first in the US and then in the UK where he moved in 1964. He eventually discovered that he had a greater passion for textile design which is where his successful career ultimately took him. Listening to his talk it was clear that his eye and his mind were wired to see color and pattern in ways that most of us do not. He showed us how he finds inspiration in the smallest things, like the color variations of lichen covered stones or the shade gradations in a geranium leaf. From 2009, Kaffe has been a Patron of Fine Cell Work’s ‘A Gift of Quilts’, charity project working with prisoners to create needlepoint and patchwork items sold internationally. He highlighted what he loved about each quilt using words that were also emphasized with large, expressive whole-body gestures. As he pointed out specific details about the color combinations that he admired in each example, phrases like “love the chanciness”, “otherworldly palette”, “sings out” and “absorbs heat” were combined with positive encouragements like “gorgeous”, “stunning”, “outrageous”, “lush” and “delicate”. You could see each student glow with joy as he praised their color innovations. Kaffe discusses one more of the class quilts