Kaffe Fassett’s colorful designs inspire artists and quilters everywhere. Now you, too, could be inspired by Kaffe’s work through our two-book giveaway.
Are you ready to dream in color?
The lucky book giveaway winner will receive a copy of Kaffe’s autobiographical Dreaming in Color (Stewart Tabori & Chang Publishing, 2012). Kaffe chronicles his experiences of exploring and teaching all over the world, from 1937 to today. He discusses what shaped him as an artist, and he offers tips for success.
If you love to quilt, this is the book for you.
The winner also will receive Kaffe’s Quilts in Morocco (The Taunton Press, 2014) in which he shares more than 20 unique designs for readers. He lends his tips, which could make even the most amateur seamstress an expert. Kaffe’s easy-to-understand steps help readers make gorgeous quilts of which they can be proud.
How to enter
To be eligible, leave a comment below about what most inspires you to sew/quilt. All comments must be submitted by midnight EST, July 31. The winner will be chosen at random, contacted via email, and announced shortly thereafter. Make sure to check your email to see if you’ve won.
The colors, definitely the colors.
I have to say…beautiful fabric and just the act of making something fun and useful.
Beautiful fabric coupled with wonderful design.
Seeing something come into being by my hand! Love the feel and colors of fabric.
The play of colors. The fact that color and pattern is never ending.
My inspiration comes from the need to create something that makes me happy, connects me to a community of creators and keeps a life skill alive and well.
So many things....fabric, colors, classes, LQS owners
Blending colors and taking small bits of barely nothing to birth them into functional art inspires and drives me. I have to create, birth, innovate, recycle, explore and Kaffe is a huge inspiration to push boundaries and fly. Thank you for the giveaway!
I love fabrics with bright colours, which is probably why I am such a big fan of Kaffe's designs! Big bold and beautiful inspire me to quilt!
Usually my inspiration is needing a gift for a new baby or to give someone for birthday or Christmas. Touching fabric makes me want to sew also.
Color! Pattern! Creativity!
Put them all together and what do you have?! Quilting!
My inspiration is often color and pattern. I love to,work with both!
color, pattern, and structure are my sewing inspiration. Nature is one of my favorites.
Fabric. Always fabric, especially anything I don't have and then have to acquire immediately.
I'm driven by color & texture. Give me a catchy color combo, & I'm all over it.
My daughter! I love to make colorful fun things that make her world a cheery and happy place!
i love to try to create beautiful things.
My daughter inspires me to want to quilt. She draws a picture and the colors might inspire me to make a quilt.
Fabrics may be the first to inspire me. I love patterns and color.
The beautiful colors and fabrics are what inspires me to quilt and create.
What most inspires me is the challenge of creating…. so many colors, patterns, arrangements, sizes, purposes, giftees….. It leaves me reeling until I can settle into a decision and start the creation going…. Then, I fly! It's the agony of finally deciding what to do that is the hardest of all…. After that, I'm in exultation!
Long walks in lovely landscapes always inspire me to quilt x
The freedom of being able to create the style YOU want with lovely fabric!!
I love the tactile quality of fabric first, then the beautiful colors, and, finally, the potential--what will I make today?! :)
The out of doors is my constant inspiration. The mix of colors and shapes in nature can't be topped.
I am definitely inspired by the patterns and colors of the fabrics. But I also find myself inspired (dare I say, overwhelmed) by the sheer volume of creative ideas, projects, patterns and tutorials available now! I just want to sew everything!
I'll see something pretty someone has designed and that inspires me to make my own, or I'll find the perfect fabric or a great sale!
What's not to like about quilting and sewing? Each of us may decide to make the same pattern, but each one turns out differently. We each use our own unique blend of colour and pattern combinations. They speak about who we are as individuals. I love to look at fabric and visualize what it will become.
I love quilting because it allows me to make something useful and beautiful for my families. I love sewing bags, curtains, and clothes because I get that "wow" factor from people when they see how skilled I am.
Creating something no one else will be wearing using beautiful quality fabrics!
seeing the beautiful work done by others
Seeing a beautiful garment or quilt is my inspiration. I want to have it! So I must set to work to make it.
touching fabrics, seeing colors, imagining designs is the most inspiring
Books with photos of beautiful quilts, & quilting exhibitions : so much inspiration, never enough time....
I love to create gifts for those who are having a big event in their life. I have a new grand-daughter and started sewing for her as well. I have so many fabric scraps that I plan to make her a quilt.
Wow! Inspiration comes from so many sources... the color of a flower, texture of a stick or a leaf, light coming through a window, a postcard in the mailbox, finding Grandma's button box; it's everywhere. I can look at a painting and "see" a quilt, or a coat! Then the fun of making that vision come to reality becomes part of my life. Sometimes it's quick...an afternoon of activity. Sometimes it takes years to create the vision.
I've admired Kafe Fasset ever since my mum gave me a book of his tapestry designs when I was a schoolgirl. 30 something later and it's still a source of inspiration.
Oh, my, I get inspired by just all sorts of things. Sometimes, it is as simple as seeing something shopping that I can either copy or use the idea and adapt it to my own liking, whiter it be a color change or a pattern change. Actually, Kaffee Fassett's books could inspire anyone with a creative bone in their bodies. Several years ago, at the Houston Quilt show, I happened to be in the museum when they announced that Kaffee would be personally giving a walking tour of his quilts on exhibit. I couldn't believe it! I have heard Kaffee Fassett referred to as a colorist. I do understand what they meant. No matter the medium, color is always his story!!!
I've been sewing since 1954. First so save money, then to fit my 6' frame, now just to have clothing and quilts that no one else has, and to keep learning new techniques. I love Kaffe Fassett's designs. I've knit them, but would love to try to sew them!!
I'm inspired to use what I have - and create
things that no one else would!
The feel of accomplishment
The Australian outback with beautiful colours and hues most inspires me to quilt and Kaffe Fassett colours and designs are spot on.
So many reasons to sew and quilt. The gorgeous fabrics, making something unique, something that fits. The gorgeous fabrics, did I say that already.? The challenge of each new technique and project. Sewing well and the satisfaction of it. Giving my work as gifts.
I sew for many reasons...mending, to save money...making drapes and curtains, so I have exactly what I want in the size I want...sewing clothing for myself for the same reason...making doll clothes for the little girls in my life, just because it's fun to do...and occasionally I'll quilt, for the very old-fashioned reason that it's a great way to use up scraps of fabric. Inspiration? It comes from just about everywhere.
FREEDOM!
Creating shapes and combinations of color and texture are liberating.
Preservation. I want to preserve memories, antiques, and seemingly unimportant remnants of fabric.
I learned to sew back when patterns and material were much less expensive than clothes, so I made my school wardrobe each year. That has changed over the years, so now I sew for personal pleasure.
I learned to sew from my mother, and sewing still connects me to her even though she's gone.
Colour and colour combinations inspire my sewing, and my quilting. The right colour and combinations can put a spring to your step and give a gladness to your heart.
My home and fellow sewers provide my inspiration. Though I keep hoping to have more success sewing clothing, ultimately sewing for my home is what I do the most.
Inspiration comes to me from an interesting pattern, a beautiful piece of fabric, or somebody else's creative combination of the two. But the most challenging are the ideas that come from a scene in a book or even just a phrase. My first original quilt idea was one of these, and I realized right away it was beyond my skill set and I'd better start learning more!
What drives my designs is most often the seasons and nature. I see lovely things in my day to day wanderings and want to translate them to a permanent memory. Same for the changing seasons, with all the family related dings and memories.
I knitted my way though Kaffe Fassett knitting books and need his inspiration to support my patchwork efforts.
Mostly I am inspired by the colors of nature. All year long I take pics of the flowers that grow wild on my land.
Colors...grandchildren...quilts for each and every one of them!!!
It's all the eye candy, whether in a book or on a fabric. It's the pretty that makes me want to sew.
Kaffe's quilts are SO HAPPY! That's what makes me want to make/quilt them.
Fabric inspires me and eye candy--magazines and shows. Thanks.
Sewing allows me to make clothes and other items to fit my style, my body, and my ideas - which never quite matches what is available in stores. My ideas - my creations.
I can make the style and color(s) I want, regardless (and despite)what's in the stores. And hey, it usually fits!
Part of what inspires me to sew AND quilt AND knit AND crochet is that I've always done those things. I learned as a child, some taught by my grandmother,but most self-taught from books. Books can inspire by showing how-to, or how someone else did things.
What most inspires me to sew is an unsuccessful shopping trip for something I need or want and can't find - or am unwilling to pay retail for. New babies most inspire me to quilt !
Since I no longer use my design skills in an everyday job, I enjoy using fabric to design, usually vintage inspired childrens clothing or unique camp type shirts. Just looking at beautiful fabric gives me ideas of how to use and then touching, draping and letting it slide through my fingers, even the smell gets me really insired. I may think of many items before settling on one. I feel I am a true fabriholic and I admit that I am not all that interested in a 12 step program yet! Fabric store here I come.
I love the creativity of sewing and quilting. Ideas burst into my head constantly, and it gives me something interesting to think about even while I am away from my project.
I'm inspired by combining fabrics.
Dreaming in Color is an inspiration in-itself.The content must create a wonderful opportunity to envision dreams, and plans to express unique, and very personal artistic works.
I am most inspired by the outdoors. I love the spring and fall colors!
The fabric! I can create wonderful designs but if I can't find the right fabric, ir goes no where. So now I find a great fabric and go from there.
Woman's first impulse is to create! I love the creative outlet of having a project and the therapeutic effect of devoting myself to it!
It would be a great addition to the bookshelf!
I'm inspired when I can utilize my stash to create something that is useful such as place mats, cushions, table runners, etc. But I also like to use leftover fabrics in quilts. When I look at them I can see the clothing I have made from the original fabrics. Some new patterns (and methods) would be great to work with.
I love taking whole cloths, cutting them into a million pieces, sewing a million miles to put them all back together into a whole that is different from its parts. The patience and zen of creating something beautiful from disparate parts.
love making something useful from all the scrapes of fabric fron my stash
I think it is the whole package that inspires me to quilt.
It could start with color or a great pattern or a new technique
that I just have to try! I am hooked ufo's and all!
Jewel tones, paisleys, scroll designs, the feel of fabric all inspire me. The bright jewel colors are my paint pallet to create and embellish garments, art quilts, home decor you name it. The books will be well used if I win them so I won't have to look for Kaffe Fassett's books in the local library any more.
Colors and their combinations come first, then I am seduced and inspired by the touchie-feelie aspects of cloth--hand and drape.
In a strange way, walking through our local arboretum, which includes loads of flowers. I take my camera every time, and it forces me to really look closely at nature: the colors, the shapes, the textures. It makes me think carefully about how I compose my designs in fabric.
The northern winters have superb colours in the sky, but long nights. I appreciate the bright colours of Kaffe Fassett designs and would enjoy making a cheery quilt for our bed - a final cheery sight at night and first thing in the morning.
It is always the colors & prints. I also get great joy from creating something beautiful.
Simply put, I love to play with fabric; its patterns, colors, and textures. 50+ years and still love playing with it.
The whole process of turning a piece of fabric into something new is inspiring. My stash doesn’t look like folds of fabric on shelves to me; instead, I see dresses, blazers, drapes, reupholstered chairs…endless possibilities!
Quilting lets me play with fabric while indulging my love of history. My quilts are fabric family history albums, and include fabrics that my Mom used to make our stuffed animals, doll clothes and our own school clothes some 60+ years ago, as well as those I’ve used to make clothes for my own kids. Design inspiration is everywhere, anything from traditional patterns to leaded glass windows or mosaic tile floors in historic buildings. The fun never ends!
I'm most inspired by the beautiful clothes handmade by my favorite bloggers, but also learning and perfecting a technique also inspires me to sew more. My quilting inspiration comes from bright beautiful colors that I crave in the dark dreary winter.
I have years and years accumulation of fabrics and scraps of many beautiful colors and textures. I would love to have this book for inspiration. I love to put various colors together for exciting results. I love your magazine and have many years of it.
Starts with fabrics: first the visual; color, pattern, weave. Is it lovely? soothing? challenging? Then the feel; fluid... crisp... demanding... forgiving... After that, the behavior; does it like to be held, folded, shaped, ironed? It's the sensually nourishing experience more than the finished object, for sure. But it is also a real source of joy to create something personally satisfying.
Colorful fabrics and patterns in quilt making!
There are so many beautiful fabrics and ideas especially in Threads magazine how could anyone not be inspired.
Quilting is an outlet for my desire to be creative, to learn new skills, to enjoy creating an object of beauty through precise, careful work. Quilting satisfies my love of color, textures, fine hand and machine work, and making order from chaos. The friendships that begin in a class or when working together on exhibits or charity projects have enriched my life immeasurably. The wonder and appreciation for needle arts is ever inspiring.
My love of colour, and the finished projects of my sewing mates, and my wacky imagination, all offer me inspiration to sew and quilt.
When you're a fabric-aholic, you must sew constantly or risk having to buy a bigger house. Never underestimate the siren song of a new piece of material!
I simply love fabric and all of the wonderful things I am able to create from it.
I love being able to see what my finished projects and whether I have accomplished what I set out to do.
I'm inspired to sew and quilt by the sense of achievement that comes from making beautiful, colorful unique creations
The history behind the quilt. The fabrics and patterns mark a period in time, and creating such an heirloom to celebrate my brief time in history is priceless.
Always hoping to grasp combining colors even just a fraction of what I see in his books. Have followed him in knitting, quilting and fallen in love with his paintings. Some day I will get to take a class with him. Thankful for all he shares in his books and patterns.
Fabrics beautiful to the hand and eyes!
I love to feel the fabrics I use for dressmaking and most of all the colours and patterns in making quilts. I just love to create and enjoy .
Inspired by the colors around me, that makes me happy! Sewing is my creative outlet that has it's rewards.
Fabric is my starting point of inspiration. Color and texture draw me in like a kid in a candy store. I have always gravitated to the more difficult fabrics to sew with. Always up for a challenge!
This looks like a good read for after work.
very inspirational books.
Very informative book
great
very inspirational book
very nice!!
nice good job
amazing
My love of sewing and quilting came from my Grandmother Pearl. I was with my Grandmother and Granddaddy 24-7. I remember cutting the squares or odd shapes for her, learn how to piece them together, then she would stretch the back and top on her quilting board (lowered from the ceiling because it took up the whole room) and we would stuff, stitch and pull yarn through to make knots. When I was old enough to be trusted with a machine - well, I can't tell you how excited this country girl was to be able to make my own clothes (I was the baby of the family so I got not only my sister's hand-me downs but my brother's as well). Grandmother gave me the love of fabric, teaching me that there is no wrong way to match various fabrics together just my way - as long as I loved what I was creating.