Glorious Interiors: Needlepoint, Knitting and Decorative Design Projects for Your Home [Hardcover]

Kaffe Fassett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1995

A master of knitting and needlepoint shows, using full instructions and charts, how to recreate the look of seven striking rooms from his own home through thirty-one creative home-decorating projects, each designed around a central motif and color scheme.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Many designers have the gift of gab; few can actually write. Kaffe Fassett is a delightful exception. Indeed, the text of Glorious Interiors is something rare in interior design: a down-to-earth account of a complex and sophisticated personal style. Drawing inspiration from circuses, fairgrounds, the Watts Towers in Los Angeles, the liveries of Pakistani trucks, and Slavic peasant costume, Fassett dedicates his book to "all those with a touch of gypsy who share my vision." Going by the vibrant kitsch, the obsessive repetition, and the migrainous, fractal surfaces of his trademark interiors, one suspects that not a few of them have ended up, tragically, in decidedly minimal circumstances, complete with soft white walls and bars on the windows.

Fassett's embroidered flower gardens, frog cushions, trompe l'oeil flower plates, and postage-stamp lampshades teeter spectacularly on the knife's edge separating genius from schizophrenia; his text, meanwhile, really makes the reader think--in a way few other books have ever done--about the emotional power of the richly patterned traditions of eastern Europe and the Indian subcontinent. Fassett contends that Western interiors--the best of them evoking "a sterile beigeness ... that chilled me to the core"--have lost all sense of humor. And he knows just what we need to get it back.

Glorious Interiors is full of lengthy, meticulous instructions for jaw-dropping rag rugs, collage screens, mosaics, and many other pieces. Whether inspiring you or scaring you half to death, Fassett is one interior designer it is impossible to ignore. --Simon Ings, Amazon.co.uk

From Library Journal

Textile artist/designer Kaffe Fassett's passions are color and pattern: color upon color?dozens in one piece?and pattern upon pattern?always something new for the eye to feast on. Here he shows the reader eight different rooms in his own home, each with its own color scheme and each built around a central idea or motif such as shells, leaves, mosaics, and flowers. The rag rugs, pillows, screens, and throws designed to populate those rooms will be major projects for most needleworkers, but the actual techniques utilized are simple enough to put all projects within reach of the motivated beginner. Fassett offers instruction, charts, and color photographs for some 31 projects?including valuable techniques for working with many colors in the same project?and also serves up a brief chapter on needlecraft techniques. Libraries that have any of Fassett's other "glorious" books (e.g., Glorious Knits, LJ 1/86) will want to add this title. Highly recommended.?Janice Zlendich, California State Univ. Lib., Fullerton
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co (T); First American Edition edition (November 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316275069
• ISBN-13: 978-0316275064
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 9.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #354,598 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kaffe Fassett, an accomplished painter and designer of textiles, is widely acknowledged as a visionary in the use of color. In 1988 he was the first living textile designer to be given a one-person show at the V&A in London, where he lives. He is a fabric designer for Rowan Patchwork and Quilting and the primary knitwear designer for Rowan Yarns.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five stars plus!, November 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Glorious Interiors: Needlepoint, Knitting and Decorative Design Projects for Your Home (Hardcover)

This is one of Kaffe's best books, if not the best. The photos are beautiful, and the displays of his needlepoint tapestries or vests among the collections of furnishings, etc., in his home are truly beautiful. Stunning needlepoint rugs, both of which are available as kits as noted in the book, although the kits are simplified versions of the rugs. Some rag rugs with patterns to make them. Lovely paintings too, if you like Kaffe's style or at least find it appealing. Some needlepoint charts, although I wish there were many more charted items, although some are photographed sufficiently that they can be copied yourself. Just a beautiful book on home decorating, on needlepoint, and on lovely ideas for tapestries.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Love the Charted Designs--those included, that is!, September 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Glorious Interiors: Needlepoint, Knitting and Decorative Design Projects for Your Home (Hardcover)

Kaffe Fassett is a designer that you either love or find almost sea-sickeningly over the top. I've got a foot in both camps--some of it is just too, too much--other things I want to make immediately. My main problem is the lack of charts. He states that one cushion can be easily coverted to a chair seat--true, if there were a chart to begin with. Now, I can understand that a wing back chair might be a one off, but there is no excuse for showing a tantalizing close up of a pillow without a chart! It is too frustrating. And there are far too many references to things that are available as kits from Ehrman--particularly when not all of them are still available. Still worth it for the charts that he does include and for some design ideas--if you are willing to just pile on the patterns!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A World of Color, April 17, 2000

By 

Valerie Tornick (Haledon, New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Glorious Interiors: Needlepoint, Knitting and Decorative Design Projects for Your Home (Hardcover)

I absolutely loved this book. Although I read it mainly for my interest in mosaics, I found many of the collages appealing as well. The photos are wonderful, colorful and display a great sense of creativity. What a happy feeling this rainbow of colors gives to a person inhabiting these unique rooms. And isn't that what decorating is all about? This book is a must for every creative mind!