Kaffe Fassett's Timeless Themes

March 20, 2023
Textile designer Fassett (Kaffe Fassett in the Studio) delivers a vibrant if advanced manual for making quilts. Exploring the inspirations behind fabrics he’s designed, Fassett describes how his striped boro pattern draws on the indigo patches that Japanese farmers once used to mend their thinning clothing, and he credits the flower arrangements in English gardens as “a great instructor on the power of color” for his floral designs. The author explains how to incorporate his fabrics into bed covers, suggesting that readers get “as many leafy prints as you can” to make his “Salad Days” quilt, which uses pastel-hued textiles featuring various kinds of plants and leaves. Standouts include a quilt made from concentric rectangles with beach balls, oranges, and poppies on them; the psychedelic “sunrise” quilt composed of dozens of small diamond-shaped patches; and the “organic seahorses” quilt made out of triangular pieces arranged into a shape loosely resembling a seahorse. The instructions are straightforward but assume the reader has a solid background in sewing, and though the intricate projects dazzle, they’ll likely challenge novice and even some intermediate quilters. Rewarding if demanding, the eye-popping designs are hard to beat.