Kaffe Fassett Exhibition

A little while ago I visited the Kaffe Fassett exhibition at the London Fashion and Textile Museum. I have been a huge Kaffe Fassett fan since I was introduced to quilting by a family friend years and years ago! The exhibition is definitely what you would call a feast for the eyes - colour and texture everywhere you look.  The exhibition has been curated really well to create a lovely warm, inviting atmosphere. I particularly loved the large columns wrapped in Kaffe's quilts, a sample wall with bits of fabric and knitting that you could touch and feel and a room full of the original designs for some of his quilting fabrics.  Whilst I was at the exhibition I also visited the museum shop and bought a copy of Kaffe's new autobiography Dreaming in colour which I absolutely loved reading - I had never read an autobiography before but I could not put this down - what an amazing life Kaffe has lived! 

I was very lucky a few years ago to do three weeks work experience at the Kaffe Fassett studio. I had no idea what to expect and had images of spending my time in a big studio cutting out fabric surrounded by studio assistants and never meet the man himself. The reality was that I spent three weeks in Kaffe's studio  which is in his amazing London home, listening to Radio 4, drinking tea and chatting to Kaffe whilst he knitted and I helped sew a massive wall hanging and make a quilt from scratch!!! Kaffe was so lovely as was his partner Brandon Mably. Kaffe's house itself could easily be turned in to a museum with his paintings, quilts and tapestries everywhere you look. I was taken really good care of and made to feel extremely welcome - everyday we would all sit down together and have a delicious home cooked lunch that Brandon had made. It was so nice to be in such a creative environment with people that were so passionate about what they do - when I left the studio each day at 5pm Kaffe would still be sat in the corner continuing to knit!  I was amazed one day when Kaffe said he had an idea for a new knit design, he sat with a book open in front of him with a photograph of a decorative tiled floor and before I knew it he had knitted a design with the same pattern of the tiles. It was an amazing experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life - I would love to work with Kaffe again one day. 

Exhibition Photos:

I love the thought of making a quilt like this out of mens shirts

Columns of quilts

Touchy feely wall!

Kaffe's knitted jumpers - very similar to one I wore during my work experience!

Beautiful Textile Designs

A painting very similar to the one that Kaffe turned into a massive wall hanging that I helped stitch

Work Experience Photos

Kaffe's front door

Mosaic in the porchway

Knitted sample with the image that Kaffe used as inspiration

Kaffe in front of the massive tapestry I helped him finish

Me in front of the tapestry

One of Kaffe's beautiful paintings

Me working on a quilt - wearing one of Kaffe's knit designs as it was a bit chilly in the studio!

The leafy dining room

The quilt I made - it was inspired by the quilts of  The Gee's Bend  quilters

The Studio

Stitching and Thinking

I recently attended a lovely exhibition in the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. The exhibition was titled 'Stitching and Thinking' and included Textile Artwork by Janet Haigh, Dawn Mason, Dail Behennah, Basil Kardasis, Jilly Morris, Jessica Turrell and Stephanie Wooster. The group of artists used the museum's collection of embroidered samplers as their inspiration and focussed on the idea of mending. I found the exhibition very inspiring and loved being able to clearly see and read about the thought process that had gone into each piece. The exhibition as a whole had been curated excellently; it had a very clear theme and aesthetic to it which meant the pieces worked really well together. 

Developmental work by the artists

'I am', 'my rock' & 'livin' by Stephanie Wooster (www.stephaniewooster.com'

'Patch Grief with Proverbs' by Janet Haigh

'Mending Takes Time' by Jilly Morris (www.jillymorris.co.uk)

'Face to Face' by Dawn Mason

'Holding it Together' by Dail Behennah (www.dailbehennah.com)

'The Buttonhole' by Basil Kardasis

Memory Cushion

I recently faced quite a challenging commission when I was asked to create a 'memory cushion'. The cushion needed to include a variety of objects that meant something to the client. The objects included a cat, a fairy,  chickens, a Norwegian troll, a witch and forget-me-nots. I was also given the task of coming up with objects to represent Family, Christmas, England, Norway, music and films. I chose to base the design around a tree to represent a family tree and to also give the design a central focus. I gave the design a border of holly to represent Christmas. To represent England I chose an English rose, for Norway a Norwegian flag, for music musical notes and for film a clapper board. I loved this commission as it was such a challenge and really got me thinking. The design is so unusual and very much a one-off, I hope that it will become an heir-loom and passed down through the generations. 

My original sketch.

Looking for inspiration for the design.

Choosing fabrics.

The design translated in to applique.

The back of the cushion which was piped and had polka-dot buttons.

The final design.

Fox Cushion

I have recently had the pleasure of completing a commission for a cushion with the image of a fox on it. I was given a beautiful photograph of a fox that had been altered using Photoshop to give it a more simplified, graphic look and was asked to translate the image in to a textile design. 

I was asked to make a large cushion (24") so started by enlarging the image using a grid technique. I simplified the image further by re-creating the image as a felt tip sketch. I was asked to use a specific fabric for the backing of the cushion so used this as a guide for my choice of colours and decided to limit the colour palette to 4 colours. 

I traced my sketch to form simple shapes that I cut out of fabric. I then built up the face of the fox using applique and added detail and texture using free-hand machine embroidery over the top. 

I turned the design in to a piped cushion with zip opening on the back. 

I really enjoyed this commission - it was quite a challenge at first but I am really pleased with the results.