Inspiration for winter wear knits

Press, 17 May 1989, Page 13

Inspiration for winter wear knits

While overseas last year I was lucky enough to see an exhibition by Kaffe Fassett, the world famous knitter, at the Victoria and Albert Museum. I was overwhelmed by his talent, and inspired by his philosophy. Fassett was born in San

Francisco in 1937. As a child he read a book about an Egyptian boy, and changed his first name to Kaffe. Later he won a scholarship to study painting in Boston. After exhibiting in the United States he travelled to England in 1964, where one of his friends was the fashion designer, Bill Gibb. His change in career came in 1968 when he accompanied Bill Gibb on a fabric-buying trip to Scotland. There he came across a beautiful range of hand-dyed knitting yarns which so inspired him, or so the story goes, that on the train back to London he persuaded someone to teach him to knit. As he was a beginner, he learnt stocking stitch and has continued with his simple stitch ever since. Not knowing the “rules” of knitting, he combined many different textures and weights of yarns. He also mixed his materials, using silk and cotton as well as his first love, wool. Difficulties that beset all knitters, such as tangled balls of wool, Kaffe overcame by simply using shorter lengths of yarn and knotting them together when they ran out. Another tip for a beginner was a circular needle, saving endless dropped stitches. Ribbing, which can sometimes spoil the pro-

portion of a finished garment, he knitted on afterwards, still using his myriad of colours. The resulting garments are a wonderful mixture of texture and colour. When searching for designs he looks around, him at life and copies leaves, walls, old carpets, patchwork quilts, in fact, almost anything you can find. This freedom of design and use of nature as a copy can inspire the most timid knitter. The exhibition I saw had been inspired by the exhibits in the V. and A. Museum, from the pottery and china to Victorian post cards and wall hangings. Any scrap of design which appeals to Kaffe is hoarded for some future garment. By now Fassett is designing for world knitwear

names such as Missoni. Over the years he has become involved with yarn manufacturers, who now dye yarns to his own colours for kitsets. Having mastered knitting, Fassett turned to. needle point. Again he chose the easiest stitches — tent stitch and long stitch. His inspiration comes again from life. Fruit and flowers featuring greatly, and there’s everything from porcelain to plaid. While appearing on television he asked his viewers to take up the needle and try to produce a 15 by 15 cm square of needlepoint, taking as their design some familiar object from their life and using strong colours. The response was great. More than 2000 people completed works depicting all sorts of subjects from teapots and cats to houses and cars. These have been joined together to form a screen which is now on exhibition. Again the philosophy is anyone can do it. If you are nervous, start with something small and watch your talent grow. * * * Several books have been published by Kaffe Fassett. Titles include, Glorious Knitting, Glorious Needlepoint, and Kaffe Fassett at the V. & A. His work is sold in kitset. The needlepoint is already available in New Zealand and the knitting is under negotiation.