Colour Workshops for Quilters

About the workshops

Kaffe & Brandon use most of the class time to teach about the arrangement of fabrics, to develop each participant’s own personal color palette to help them make their own original designs.

No sewing takes please during the class. No sewing machines are needed.

The class is one full day, with running time from 9:30 – 12:30 with an hour for lunch, then 13:30 – 16:30. Together, Brandon and Kaffe can teach up to 30 students. The room required for this class must be large enough so that each participant can have ample cutting space but more importantly, each participant needs enough wall space to hang and work on their own design wall (see picture below).

For the classroom layout, participants need one trestle-sized table between two people and a chair each. The room needs to be large and WELL LIT with enough uninterrupted wall space (not over windows or doors) for each and every participant to place their flannel design wall on a flat vertical surface.

We recommend the host provide the Kaffe Fassett grey flannel cloth as a design wall to work on and include it in the price of the workshop. This is available from your rep at FreeSpirit Fabrics. Here is what it looks like on Gloriouscolor.com for reference.

Each participant will need wall space 6’ high by 4’ wide on a FLAT UNINTERRUPTED VERTICAL SOLID SURFACE to place their flannel cloth design wall. This wall space is very important for the class. Working against windows and doorways is not an option!

The best way to place the flannel on the wall is to use wide painters’ tape (strong blue tape) that needs to be supplied by the class organizers. Available from any hardware store. We suggest a minimum of four rolls to hand. PLEASE be sure it is OK to hang design walls using this tape, as this is the best way to place the flannel on the wall. The painter’s tape won’t mark the wall surface when removed at the end of the day. Placing name tags on each design wall makes the set-up more efficient.

If you do not have wall space or need extra wall space, you will need to supply boards for every participant (size 6’ high by 4’ wide) to tape/pin the design walls to – large polystyrene insulation boards from a hardware store are sufficient and easy to move too.

Fabric Selection:

Some participants prefer that we tell them beforehand exactly what fabrics to bring, but the principle of this class is to inspire creativity and work instinctively. We don’t have a theory or work from a planned recipe. We all like different fabrics and colours for different reasons and so we should! The best suggestion we can give participants is to bring a wide selection of large-scale prints in either bright/light colours or dark/richer colours. It’s much easier to have more fabrics to play with in the class and to be able to eliminate. Kaffe and Brandon will help participants shop in the class, so leave some choices to them.

Please DO NOT cut fabrics before the class.

If the host is not a fabric shop, a shop should be organized to support the host by providing stock on the day for participants to purchase additional fabrics from. We love people to use fabrics other than just ours in the class, such as designs from Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner or novelty and others. It adds spice and variety to quilts, which we love. We can help shop owners choose fabrics for the workshop when we arrive. Lots of shopping usually takes place during the class, so it is very important to have good selection of fabrics available.

About the workshop

Brandon Mably will give an introduction to the Persian Poppy design. He will have students work from a basic given graph that he will provide. Class participants should bring to class a selection of at least 6 light or brighter colours for the poppy plus 6 dark or deeper colours for the background to start off with.

There should be extra colours of yarn available so that Brandon can help students with other choices of colours. The more colours available in the class the easier it is for participants to make substitutes and have choices. Brandon will demonstrate the method of carrying yarn in Fairisle knitting and then work with students as they apply the technique to their own knitting. The class is about working with many colours in a given design, not about theory or technique. Only the basic stocking stitch will be used. Brandon will critique everyone’s work in the afternoon.

The workshop will run for 6 working hours with 1-hour lunch and coffee break to be provided during the day.

Brandon will bring samples of his knitted designs. He will also bring the Persian Poppy design on graph paper and will need to make copies for students to use in class.

To be provided by the Organizers:

• A room large enough for a class of 25 students, with horseshoe shape circle of chairs
• 2 tables to display Brandon’s sample garments
• 5’ x 4’ neutral coloured pin board or cork board – ESSENTIAL and big enough to pin up all the student swatches. (A large flattened cardboard box will work best, as I like to turn the board upside down at the end of the class a surprise)
• A large selection of yarns, good colours and textures for the students to choose from. It is strongly suggested that the store supplement the yarn that is brought in by the students.
• Lunch and refreshments for the designer
• Water or other liquid refreshments to be provided during the day. If snacks are provided, please consider a crudités tray rather than doughnuts 🙂
• The store should have extra knitting needles and scissors available.
• 1 printed out persian poppy graph for each student
• Iron and ironing board

For any further information, please contact Kaffe Fassett Studio by email: kaffefassettstudio@gmail.com

About the lecture

The Kaffe Fassett lecture is designed to inspire and motivate. The presentation highlights works from his latest projects, including his patchwork quilts, fabric, needlepoint, mosaics, painting and knitting designs. A tremendous amount of Kaffe’s inspiration comes from his continual travels and his lecture is designed not so much to instruct but to empower and inspire the audience to create and develop their “mind’s eye”. Audiences leave invigorated – entranced by Kaffe’s sense and use of colour; they are ready to try it themselves and are encouraged to do so. The slide show lasts approximately one hour followed by a Q&A session and book signing.

Technical Details:

While Kaffe talks to the audience, Brandon will be operating the slideshow using Keynote on an iPad.

We ask you to organise a projector or screen that is ‘High Definition’ (1080p), and that a suitable input cable is supplied. We require either HDMI or VGA interfaces for use with our equipment, and Brandon will be prepared with the necessary Apple adaptors for use with the iPad. Brandon will also bring a backup on a memory stick, as a PDF presentation (for Windows users) and Keynote file.

Other Requirements:

It is ESSENTIAL the lecture facility can be in complete darkness during the presentation and must be able to accommodate a minimum of 100 people. Kaffe regularly lectures to audiences of more than 200 and likes to have as big an audience as possible. A key aspect to Kaffe’s lecture is his presentation of approximately 120 colour images. ANY light will compromise the visual quality of the slides and the viewers’ experience!! Please also provide as large a screen as possible and a hand-held microphone. Kaffe doesn’t need a lecture podium but we do ask for water to be provided and a couple of tables if samples are going to be shown.