Join The First Ever
RAGS TO RICHES RETREAT
OCTOBER 22 - 26, 2023
Hudson Valley, New York
with special guests!
KATHLEEN TESNAKIS
EKOLOGIC
Kathryn greenwood swanson
swanson's fabrics
meri avratin
sideshow clothing
workshops
Textile Alchemist's Needle Book
We'll open our Retreat on Sunday evening with a quick learning session and a relaxed Stitch Hour to make our own needle books - the perfect way to keep your hand-stitching tools with you on-the-go. We'll elevate the humble huswife to a sacred container for a textile alchemist's precious tools.
Sweater Chop-Shop
Crispina ffrench will lead an introductory workshop on upcycling wool and cashmere sweaters. She'll walk through sourcing, washing and felting, and cutting wool and cashmere sweaters for use in upcycling projects. Crispina will show many finished products and works-in-progress and share tips and tricks she's learned over the years.
Winter Warmies
We'll take our chopped sweaters and transform them into a hat, scarf, mittens, shawl, or sweater using only hand-stitching.
Ragamuffins
The sweet little wool weirdos that started it all! Crispina ffrench made her first Ragamuffin as a way to pay her way through art school, but it quickly launched her textile upcycling career. Crispina will lead this workshop on making your own darling Ragamuffins by hand, perfect gifts to spread cheer during the holidays!
location
Our homebase for the Rags to Riches Retreat will be the Sylvan Motor Lodge in Hillsdale, New York. Located just 25 minutes from the artistic enclaves of Hudson and Catskill, Sylvan Motor Lodge is a midcentury resort on five peaceful acres.
When you register for the Retreat, you'll have three choices for lodging:
- Private Room onsite
- Shared Room onsite
- Arranging your own lodging offsite
Amenities at Sylvan Motor Lodge
Common Areas:
- Lobby with a bar, kitchenette, coffee and tea, record player, bluetooth speakers and comfy seating around the fire stove. The bar and kitchenette features belgian waffle makers, vintage Hamilton Beach milkshake maker, seltzer maker, and more.
- Additional living room with ample seating, dining room with large tables, fully outfitted kitchen.
- Outdoor kitchen, complete with hot/cold water, refrigerator, pizza oven, propane grill and range, pots, pans, disposables
- Gravel picnic area with a Preway outdoor fireplace and cooking grills
- Pool surrounded by tables and loungers
- Fire pit surrounded by Adirondack chairs
- Hammocks and outdoor games
- 5 acres of grassy meadow
Guest Rooms:
- Guest rooms outfitted with linen duvet covers and shams, down-alternative comforters, bath towels, Turkish pool towels, terry robes, Bodum electric kettle, coffee press, coffee, tea, glasses and mugs, desks, mini fridge, and shower toiletries
If you have any questions, email travelwith@ragstoriches.eco.
excursions
In addition to workshops and activities onsite at our home base at Sylvan Motor Lodge, attendees will have the chance take excursions to the nearby towns of Hudson, Catskill, and Craryville.
We'll visit the studios and shops of local textile upcycling entrepreneurs...
...Explore local sites
Linger in sweet spots...
... and Savor the best local dishes.
If you have any questions, email travelwith@ragstoriches.eco.
Pricing
Retreat
$2,799
(20 Available)
An intimate opportunity for learning and exploration, from Sunday evening, October 22 through Thursday morning, October 26:
- Textile upcycling workshops with Crispina
- All workshop materials
- Local Studio Tours and excursions
- Visits from Special Guests
- 7 Meals + plenty of snacks
- Daily movement sessions
- Time and space to create, explore, reflect, and relax
Onsite Lodging Add-on: Private Room
$600
(4 Available)
Includes 4 nights lodging in a private room with 1 queen bed.
Room outfitted with linen duvet covers and shams, down-alternative comforters, bath towels, Turkish pool towels, terry robes, Bodum electric kettle, coffee press, coffee, tea, glasses and mugs, desks, mini fridge, and shower toiletries.
Onsite Lodging Add-on:
Shared Room
$400
(10 Available)
Includes 4 nights lodging in a Shared Room with 2 double beds.
Sign up with a friend, and request to room together. Or, sign up to share with a stranger, and make a new friend!
Room outfitted with linen duvet covers and shams, down-alternative comforters, bath towels, Turkish pool towels, terry robes, Bodum electric kettle, coffee press, coffee, tea, glasses and mugs, desks, mini fridge, and shower toiletries.
The fine print
Registration
- Registration - for the Retreat is first-come, first-served. Your space is secured once your payment is received.
Onsite Lodging
- Onsite lodging is first-come, first-served. Your lodging is secured once your payment is received.
- Shared rooms will be utilized as shared rooms unless not enough attendees register for them. Then they will be offered on a first-come, first-serve basis to those requesting private rooms at the Private Room rate.
- If you register for a Shared Room and include a preferred roommate, and that person does not register or attempts to register after the Retreat is full, we will not be able to lodge you with your preferred roommate. In that circumstance, we will offer you following options, if available: 1) Share a room with someone else; 2) upgrade to a Private room; or to arrange your own lodging offsite.
- Those who choose not to lodge onsite may register for the Retreat only, but must arrange their own lodging, arriving Sunday, October 22 and checking out Thursday, October 26. We are unable to help arrange offsite lodging. Additionally, we are unable to provide any transportation from offsite lodging to/from Sylvan Motor Lodge. All excursions will depart from Sylvan Motor Lodge, and it is your responsibility to be onsite prior to departure times for all excursions.
Cancellations & Refund Policy
- Please be sure you can attend the event before booking. If an unforeseen circumstance does occur prior to September 1, we will do our best to find a replacement for you. If we are able to get someone to take your place, we will refund your full payment minus a service charge (10% of the full payment). For cancellations after September 1, we are unable to find replacements or offer any refunds. We strongly urge you to purchase travel insurance in the event of a personal conflict, health issue, or unexpected circumstance.
- Exceptions to our cancellation policy cannot be made for any reason, including weather, terrorism, civil unrest, health changes, personal emergencies, or otherwise.
- No refunds or discounts are available for arriving late, leaving early, or choosing not to participate or partake in any portion of the offered workshops, excursions, activities, or meals.
Retreat Cancellations
- Rags to Riches will be unable to offer this retreat if less than 10 people register.
- If Rags to Riches has to cancel for any reason, including low registrations, illness, etc., we will refund you 100% of your registration fee. We will not compensate you for any other expenses you have incurred related to your Retreat Registration (such as airfare, car rental, off-site lodging deposits, etc).
COVID Policy
Our first priority is to make sure that the trip is safe for everyone involved, including any changes to the COVID situation going into fall/winter 2023. Below are some potential expectations we could have in terms of COVID safety. Depending on health recommendations at the time of the Retreat, we may institute any or all of the following guidelines. Please understand that signing up indicates your willingness to cooperate with any of these rules your retreat hosts deem necessary:
- Wearing masks indoors or outdoors, no matter group size
- Social distancing, both indoors and outdoors
- Getting proof of a negative COVID-19 test within a certain number of hours before arrival
- Getting a negative COVID test upon arrival at the destination
- Proof of vaccination
If you have any questions, email travelwith@ragstoriches.eco.