Today's review is of Kaffe Fassetts' new book:
Shots and Stripes - 24 New Projects Made with Shot cottons and Striped Fabrics.
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| by Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy Photographs by Debbie Patterson |
First of all I pre-ordered this book, several months ago, so I had no idea what to expect until I received it. I had read about it on a couple of blogs, but other than the fact that it was a Kaffe book, the inside was a complete surprise to me.
I dove into the book, in my usual make haste style, and started to make the quilt on Page 144, Overlapping Tiles, using fabrics I have on hand, (I have a lot) because I am on a NBF diet this year. (No Buy fabric... and I am starving!) for the rest of the projects I plan to make, I will wait till I am off the diet! (The shot cottons are beautiful.)
First I have to explain that I had no idea what shot fabric was until I had lunch with my friend Aimee yesterday. If I had bothered to read the introduction to the book prior to meeting with Aimee I would have been able to answer intelligently when she said..."you do know what shot cotton is, don't you?" and no I didn't... She explained what "shot" anything was to me, and I immediately visualized those beautiful silks with their different coloured warps and wefts!
Kaffe explains it... "I then selected one of these solid stripe colors for each of my color moods. This selection was sent back to the weavers for them to make my first shot cotton color range. I had grown up loving the magical shimmer of shot silks - magenta warp with a scarlet weft would have me gasping with excitement. My solid cotton fabrics, with their differently colored warp and weft, have the same sort of shimmer, just more matte so a bit more subtle."
The Fly Leaf on the cover describes the book... "In this bold and colorful collection, Fassett shows us yet again how deep his creative genius runs. Inspired by worldwide travels and a plethora of ethnic textiles, including the quilts of the Amish and from Gee's Bend in America, Japanese all indigo quilts, suzanis from the Caucuses, and Pakistani kanthas, the projects featured in this book include full sized bed and wall quilts as well as smaller pieces that can be completed more quickly, such as throws, table runners and pillows".
As I wandered through the pages I was overwhelmed, by the beautiful pictures and of course, in Kaffe style, the colours and exuberance jumped off each page as I passed by.
There are projects in all shapes and sizes in the book as well as beginner to advance techniques. Its a great book if you just want to kick back and ohh and ahh, but for those of you who are like me and can't wait to start a new project, there are any one of 24 quilts that you can get started at, tonight!
I got my book from Amazon.ca, and I know it is available at Amazon.com and Amazon.uk. the book I got is hardcover, it was just released February 26, 2013, so you may want to wait for the soft cover edition which I am sure will be out in the future.
But I kinda like having this beautiful hard covered, sheathed book and it will find a home on my coffee table for browsing!
My quilt from this beautiful book... you will have to wait to see. We have a sew day this Saturday and I am taking it with me. So it may be my Sunday Sewing day show and tell! Stay tuned!
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