About the Retreat

We created the Texas Freestyle Textiles Retreat to serve as an introduction to and celebration of freestyle art. We invite anyone interested in learning about this relaxing and rejuvenating approach to art to come spend a long weekend with us in the beautiful Texas Hill Country, where you’ll have an opportunity to rest and renew in a lovely country setting, spending time with old friends and new, while learning about the freestyle art philosophy and exploring several creative freestyle art forms as they relate to fiber arts and textiles.

Attendees will have the option to choose from a creative menu of workshops that includes:

• Experience SAORI Weaving
• Art-Yarn Spinning
• Freestyle Knitting and/or crochet
• Freestyle Woven Vessel Sculpture
• Japanese Sashiko/Boro-style Decorative Mending

Select as many or as few classes as you’d like, guided by instructors you’ll love!

Enjoy the pampering of home-cooked hearty breakfasts and healthy dinners (if you choose). Carve out leisure time for yourself with lunch on your own, and browse the quaint Wimberley downtown area’s restaurants and shops, or luxuriate with a nap! Don’t forget to make time to visit one of Texas’s finest yarn shops, PLY Yarn, located in Wimberley’s Quarter Shops by Cypress Creek.

Workshops are taught by freestyle textile artists Debra Lambert, Kathy Rothstein, and Kathy Utts, all experienced fiber artists and SAORI weavers.

Who Should Attend:

This retreat has been crafted for women (or men!) who feel drawn to textiles. It’s a celebration of a creative, freestyle approach to “making.” This is an opportunity to rest, renew and recharge in a lovely country setting with old friends and new and explore several freestyle offerings within the genre of fiber arts and textiles.

Imagine enjoying companionship with like-minded individuals while knitting or spinning or just sitting on one of BellaVida’s comfortable screened porches.

Imagine sipping a hot cup of coffee/tea or something sparkling with women who you’ve decided are AMAZING, while sharing stories of your creative journey so far.

Imagine carving out time for you to learn a new craft, make a new “thing” or be touched by a philosophy born by another woman’s creative journey.

Retreat Details

When: Thursday, November 11 – Sunday, November 14, 2021

Where: BellaVida Bed and Breakfast & Retreat Center 5701 FM 2325 | Wimberley, Texas 78676

Registration: Retreat registration opens August 1, 2021 and will remain open until we reach max capacity or until November 3, 2021. Early-bird pricing will be available until August 15, 2021. Saturday-only Day Passes will be made available starting October 1, 2021. Tickets can be purchased on this page, below.

Lodging: Lodging registration to be arranged by attendees individually and directly through lodging facility of their choice. (See below)

Note: As of August 12, 2021, all rooms at BellaVida Bed and Breakfast have been booked. We recommend making lodging arrangements at one of the facilities listed under “Other Lodging Options” below.

Cost:

Full Retreat – Includes events on Thursday afternoon, all day Friday, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning, as well as snacks / refreshments throughout the workshop. Please note, this ticket does NOT include any lodging or meals. For participants staying onsite at BellaVida, breakfasts will be provided Friday through Sunday. An optional meal plan for dinners at BellaVida on Friday and Saturday evenings is available for $30 (see below).

• Early-Bird Pricing: $300
  Special early-bird registration for the full retreat is valid from August 1, 2021 until August 15, 2021. After August 15, regular pricing for the retreat will resume
• Regular Pricing: $349
  Tickets will be available until November 3, 2021

Full Retreat – Friday & Saturday Dinner Plan (Optional): $30
Optional dinner plan for participants who would like to have dinner at BellaVida on Friday and Saturday evenings. This option is open to both individuals staying at BellaVida and those who are lodging elsewhere.

Saturday Day Pass Only: $149
Tickets for a Saturday Day Pass will go on sale October 1, 2021 for local day trippers interested in attending the Saturday workshops and Makers Market. If you are interested in a Saturday Day Pass, please Contact Us, and we will put your name on a wait list, to be contacted after October 1 if seats are still available.

Saturday Day Pass Only – Meal Plan Add-On (Optional): $30
An optional meal plan including breakfast, snacks / refreshments, and dinner is available for individuals attending the Saturday sessions with a daytripper ticket.

Maker’s Market – Vendor List

Please check back soon for the list of vendors who will be selling their wares at the Maker’s Market during our retreat.

Freestyle Workshops:

Experience SAORI Weaving with Kathy Utts

This is a fun mini-workshop that highlights the limitless creativity of weaving freestyle! Using pre-warped SAORI floor looms, we focus on the creative, inspirational aspects of color and texture, along with many weaving techniques used in SAORI weaving. Those attendees who bring their own SAORI looms are also invited to join in for a refresher or deeper dive into SAORI‘s Zen-like philosophy.

Each participant will create their own unique piece of art! A wall hanging or pillow cover? Up to you! You’ll make a good start on beautiful SAORI-style woven cloth during our time together, and later during the retreat you’ll have time to continue weaving on this piece, if you like. All materials are provided.

*Please reserve a SAORI loom when you register. There are a limited number of SAORI looms for this Retreat, however 15″ Cricket Rigid Heddle Looms will also be available for participants to use.

Continue Your SAORI Journey with Kathy Utts

This extension of the “Experience SAORI Weaving” workshop will allow time for morning workshop participants to continue working on their handwoven art. Kathy will offer guidance by suggesting additional techniques, how to safely take your piece off the loom, and finishing options including the SAORI recommended way to finish your cloth prior to sewing or wearing it.

Art Yarn Spinning with Debra Lambert

What is “ART YARN” you ask? Some would say it is handspun yarn created with artistry and intention. If you sit at a spinning wheel with a desire to create random beauty, then you’ve just made “art yarn!”

Anyone who has ever seen Debra’s handspun art yarn will agree that she’s a master at it! She will guide you in spinning your own art yarn using a variety of fibery ingredients that are provided! You’ll learn how to manipulate the fiber with your hands, adding interest and beauty along the way, while still maintaining the characteristics of each sheeps’ curls, crimps, and waves as part of the design elements of your sculptured yarn.

*Please bring a spinning wheel and, if borrowing one, practice spinning on it before the retreat. If you do not own or have ready access to a spinning wheel, please contact a spinning guild to inquire about borrowing one. For those in the Austin area, contact the Weavers and Spinners of Austin who might be able to loan you one.

Freestyle Knitting & Crochet with Debra Lambert

Bring your stash! Bring your favorite needles! We’re going to bring the “freestyle” concept to knitting and crochet! Learn how to design your own freestyle “pattern” while you knit/crochet using your own favorite stash yarn. Create a one-of-a-kind “textural landscape” resulting in a beautiful throw, scarf, or shawl that uses simple techniques that Debra will show you.

Like SAORI weaving, yarn size, color, and texture can be mixed in the freestyle way to create something interesting that turns knitting/crochet skills into ART! Take tips and ideas learned in this class and apply them to future projects too!

Create a Freestyle Woven Vessel with Debra Lambert

Try something NEW! (This is Debra’s new favorite thing!) Using an eclectic combination of yarn, fibers, and sticks and your imagination, create an eye-catching woven vessel. Your woven and hand-sculpted vessel might become a light shade, a vase for your flowers, or even a conversation-starter piece of decor! There is no limit on what you can create in your own freestyle way.

Japanese Sashiko/Boro-style Decorative Mending with Kathy Rothstein

Japanese Sashiko hand stitching is an ancient form of mending clothing born out of necessity. Boro is the art of mending, and historically refers to mending done by the peasant class to repair work clothes and linens. Often families of fishermen and farmers mended clothing year after year, patch on top of patch, to extend the life of clothing and linens. Modern Boro-inspired textiles have exploded in popularity for both embellishment and as part of the current “slow stitch movement” of mending clothing.

Sashiko and Boro stitching are a perfect example of freestyle, since “imperfect” or “irregular” stitches are at its heart. Like SAORI weaving, Boro-style stitching invites individual self expression and artistry.

With great respect for this honorable Japanese tradition of preserving precious cloth instead of consumer-driven consumption and waste, our multi-talented friend and fiber artist Kathy Rothstein will teach participants a variety of techniques often used in modern Sashiko and Boro, using an array of new materials. You’ll receive a kit with everything needed to embellish cloth using a variety of Sashiko and embroidery stitches, and go home with patches to mend jeans, jackets or shirts! Feel free to bring your own well loved clothing items to practice on, though this is not required. You’ll also finish the workshop with new skills and an appreciation of the ancestry from which it came.