Best of British

Kaffe Fassett is the king of shreds and patches

Quilting in Notting Hill

‘I hate machines. I don’t d r ive, I don’t type and I don’t own a mobile phone,’ s ays t he qu i lt maker Ka f fe Fassett. ‘as for sewing machines, I can use them... but I don’t.’ Instead, Fassett, 79 – who has also worked as a knitter, ceramicist, still-life painter and needlepoint ar t ist – ex pla i ns, ‘ I’ve a lways enjoyed working by hand.’

after studying at the school of the Boston museum of Fine arts, Fassett became a successful knitwear designer – one of his coats appeared in British

Vogue in 1969, and he collaborated with missoni on collections in the 1970s. But he found his calling in 1991 when he experimented with patchwork quilts.

a friend, who was preg nant at the time, decided to make one for her baby and asked Fassett for help. Impressed with the result, she suggested Fassett start a quilting business. ‘I couldn’t see how I could make money out of it,’ admits Fassett. But it quickly took off – his quilts now hang in the Victoria & albert museum.

today, he produces just 20 quilt s each year f rom his studio in notting hill, west London. ‘It’s chaotic, there a re masses of fabr ic and yar n ever ywhere,’ he says. each quilt is square, measuring six feet, and is made using a patchwork of 50 pieces of fabric.

First, Fassett desig ns t he patter ns for the fabrics: many of the bold designs have been inspired by a trip to andhra Pradesh, in south-east India. he then sends his patter n desig ns to a tex t ile manufacturing company, which prints them on to long rolls of cotton.

next, he cuts the cotton into geometric shapes – he draws around a cardboard stencil on the fabric, then cuts it with a rotary blade. ‘Precise cutting is one of the secrets of a good patchwork.’

Fassett then arranges the pieces into a quilt shape, attaching them to a sheet of f la nnel, hung on t he st udio wall. When he is happy with the composition, he decides on the most suitable stitching – ‘It could be a paisley stitch on top of a rose-printed fabric,’ he says – then a friend sews the pieces together, usi ng a longa r m quilter (es sent ia lly a g iant sewing machine) and fills the middle with a sheet of cotton wadding.

each quilt takes roughly two weeks to make, and at the final stage for every one, Fassett takes a photograph of his design and emails it to the friend with whom he made his first ever quilt, for a second opinion. ‘she’ll say, “Did you rea lly mean t his? this squa re look s a litt le light for t his colour combination,”’ he says. ‘that’s where computers are fabulous.’ Kaffe Fassett ’s Bold Blooms, by Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy ( Abrams Books, £21.99), is out now

Kaffe Fassett (above) in his studio. He is continually experimenting with colour combinations and juxtapositions of fabrics (right). Interview by Robbie Hodges. Photographs by Andy Donohoe