Kaffe Fassett Workshop

This profound statement typifies exactly what Kaffe Fassett really does believe, and undoubtedly what he has spent a large part of his life successfully recreating on various textile media including knitting, needlepoint, patchwork and fabric design, to name but a few. He is internationally famous and travels the world lecturing, taking workshops and inspiring others. This is my own personal account of the workshop I attended in Shropshire, England, it was a charity event to raise funds for restoration to More Church, More, Bishop's Castle, Shropshire. Kaffe and his partner Brandon gave their time voluntary.

We (my friend Margaret and I) arrived at Church Farm at 7.00 pm, (picture 1) this is the home of Rupert Spira (ceramic artist friend of Kaffe Fassett) who was hosting the lecture and workshop in the converted barn (picture 2), which is his studio and gallery.

Church Farm -1

Workshop - 2

Lecture - 3

Around 80 people attended the lecture given by Kaffe, it consisted of a number of slides of his travels around the world, he showed numerous stunning slides of past projects and commissions he had designed and created. Picture 3 shows Kaffe and Brandon displaying a patchwork design created by Kaffe (unfortunately the design does not show clearly due to poor lighting). We were shown slides of many of his larger projects, one that sticks in my mind as stunning, is an enormous needlepoint design of pebbles which measured 17 ft x 9 ft, it was worked in sections, (he had help with the stitching) and then finally it was joined together, I believe is now homed in Australia. Other memorable pieces of needlepoint was one design full of garden vegetables, (cauliflowers, cabbages, tomatoes and artichokes to name but a few) and I also liked one with beautifully shaded sea shells.

26 people attended the workshop held on Saturday. We arrived at 9.30 to find two large rugs covered in wool balls of a variety of colours with chairs set all around the large barn workshop (see picture 4). A number of coloured postcards were placed around the room and we had to choose one with colours we liked to work from. This would be our colour plan for our knitting for the day.

Rowan wool - 4

Demonstrating - 5

Preparation - 6

Picture 5 shows Kaffe demonstrating how to knit in your ends as you go along, instead of having to sew in at the end. All through the day you are encouraged to pin your work on card and stand back and look at it from a distance to see your work in a totally different light and perspective. The work was pinned out (picture 6 and 7) at the end of the day together with the postcard and Kaffe spoke about each piece in turn (picture 8) and showed how people had progressed throughout the day.

Display - 7

Any questions? - 8

My work - 9

I had a lovely day at the knitting workshop, (one person turned up who couldn't knit!) Kaffe's method of knitting is not at all conventional, he admits he is not interested at how the back of the work looks, and the tension of the knitting was not important, consequently changing colour so often, you end up with hundreds of ends at the back of your work and your tension goes to pot. Many of the experienced knitters found this concept hard to accept as tension, in particular, has always been extremely important in the end garment looking professional. Kaffe enjoys sewing in the ends, and he said once the garment has been dampened and pinned to dry out, the tension becomes more even.

I did enjoy my day out, it made me more aware of colours, the different shadings and the effect one colour has on another, to stand back and view your work from a distance, when you work closely you are not getting the true effect. My traditional embroidery background did make it difficult for me to work in Kaffe's unconventional way. Nevertheless, I did get a lot out of this workshop, it really opened my eyes to colour all around me and to look in more detail at shading.

I would certainly recommend these workshops for whatever textiles you work with, they really are an eye opener and I would certainly consider the needlepoint or even the patchwork one next time.

His web site is: http://www.kaffefassett.com take a look and see his work for yourself, his diary workshops are planned for all over the world.