Kaffe Fassett

Itchy fingers...
I’m a newbie to the glorious colours and patterns by Kaffe Fassett, but immediately upon seeing them I started dreaming of quilts and fun little bags and luminous wildness of all sorts. Which was a bit of a surprise because my sewing machine has been resting in a secure location for years.
This book is an excellent start to more concrete dreaming. Twenty patterns of projects small enough to not kill you with the cost if you have to toss them, and big enough to make making show more them worthwhile. Bolsters, miniquilts, aprons, cushions, tea cozies, table runners and mats. Even a tote bag. And a kimono!!
The instructions are very clear and easy to follow if you have a bit of seeing experience.
Love it love it love it. show less

I am not a quilter, a knitter nor an artist, but this book about Kaffe Fassett’s home and studio was delightful to me and fed my lifelong fascination with color and textiles.
I particularly enjoyed the tour of his bathroom highlighting Rupert Spira’s ceramics. Rich colors combined with muted hues are so delicious. And then the entry way...delightfully skewed stained glass tumbling blocks. The mosaiced terrace overgorwn with lush climbing florals..a stunning place to contemplate color and show more design.
Although I could not live in this riot of color, I appreciate what it must be like to be surrounded by the artistic joy.
Favorite Quotes

Color is such a gigantic enigma, changing and revealing different possibilities each time one concentrates on it for more than a moment.

Jumping from media to media gives anyone interested in the mysteries of color a fresh eye on the subject.

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I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It is entertainingly written; I found I could not put it down waiting to see what happened next. I have been an admirer of Kaffe Fassett's work and books since the 80's. Often you find that an autobiography written by an artist you admire does not seem to live up to the person you believe you have gotten to know through his or her work. This book does that an more. It's a wonderful slice of life in the 60's in swinging London as well as a detailed map to what show more influenced Fassett and how he works. I highly recommend this book! show less

I have read a few of Kaffe Fassett's books and even had the good fortune to take a 2 day quilt workshop with him 5-10 years ago. I love his fabrics and have used them in several quilts. Bold Blooms was not only eye candy for me but inspiration as well for future quilts that I am dreaming up.

The book began with Kaffe's story as an artist. He moved from California to London in the 1960s and began sketching items he saw in the Victoria and Albert Museum as well as in England's estate homes. show more Photos of his watercolor sketchbooks are included in the book which I found interesting as I never knew that he used that medium. From those sketchbooks he began his design career, initially in knitwear, oil paintings, tapestries and then quilt fabric design. However, all along the way he was inspired by floral patterns, the larger the better. He is also a colorist, by that I mean he uses color intensely and combines colors in ways that most artists would not.

I have never used large scale prints in a quilt before but Kaffe shows how it is done. He includes cutting and sewing instructions for several quilts. The colors in the photographs that make up much of this book are inspirational on their own and I can see in my mind not only quilts I can make but also colored pencil drawings too.

Highly recommended for artists and quilters! show less