2025 UK Retreats & Workshops
SEWING & QUILTING
Welcome to our 2025 Sewing & Quilting Weekend Craft Retreat page!
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After it's proved to be so popular with attendees & tutors alike the past two years, we're absolutely delighted to announce that our 2025 UK Weekend Crafting Retreat will take place once again at Rutland Hall Hotel, in the wonderfully picturesque county of Rutland (near Leicestershire, UK) over the weekend of Friday 26 September, Saturday 27 September and Sunday 28 September 2025 - please read on to learn all about our this exciting live event.
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We'll be loading the FULL details of classes during the Weekend Retreat in the coming weeks - places will be limited so please be sure to book & reserve your place in plenty of time!...
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26-28.09.25
Class times on
Saturday and Sunday
09.30-16.30 (BST)
(with lots of treats in-between!)
Weekend Craft Retreat!
Rutland Hall Hotel
near Oakham, Rutland
Sewing & Quilting with
Lucy Engels
Russell Barratt
Carl Brown
Gary Mills
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2025 Rutland Hall Hotel Weekend Craft Retreat
Friday 26, Saturday 27 & Sunday 28 September 2025
Near Oakham, Rutland, LE15 8AB, United Kingdom
So, what do we have planned for you in 2025?!
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The 2025 UK Weekend Craft Retreat will feature more luminaries of the crafting world who will need little introduction to you - Carl Brown (our first visiting American tutor!), Lucy Engels, Gary Mills and Russell Barratt - and you get to work directly with all of them!
Each tutor will also deliver a Trunk Show over the Friday & Saturday evenings! There will be a raffle and everyone will walk away with a little something!
Read on for more detail...
The location for our UK Weekend Craft Retreat in September 2024, the wonderful Rutland Hall Hotel, has become our yearly go-to UK location as it's simply soooooo good we feel we just have to repeat it year on year!
So we very much hope you'll join us in September 2025 in the beautiful county of Rutland for a truly fabulous weekend of crafting, trunk shows, relaxing spa-time, socialising, scrumptious food and... FUN!
​On this fabulous 2025 UK Weekend Craft Retreat, not only will you have a re-invigorating, all-inclusive luxury break (the hotel even features a Spa for those willing to indulge for an additional fee!) away with like-minded 'crafty souls', but you will also work with FOUR of our fantastic CraftyMonkies tutors (including our first American, Carl Brown, flying in!) plus Lucy Engels, Russell Barratt and Gary Mills!
The wonderful Rutland Hall Hotel in Rutland, very close to the equally lovely Leicestershire, is located just a few miles off the A1 (you need the A606 turn between Oakham and Stamford). The Weekend Craft Retreat ticket will see you welcomed by us with a drinks reception from 5.00pm on the evening of Friday 26th September 2025, have a 9.30am start for craft classes on Saturday 27th September 2025 and Sunday 28th September 2025 to work with each of the four CraftyMonkies tutors for a morning and afternoon session, a two-night stay in a luxurious room within Rutland Hall Hotel - did we also mention you'll also have use of the beautiful Rutland Hall Hotel pool should you so desire?! - have a three-course dinner on the Saturday night, a cooked breakfast on both Saturday & Sunday mornings (lighter options are also available, as are meals for those with special dietary requirements, if needed) and be entertained with a couple of Trunk Shows in between! Lunch & light refreshments will be served on both days (again, all dietary requirements can be catered for) and you will walk away with some goodies too!
Rutland Hall Hotel fits within our CraftyMonkies Weekend/Midweek Craft Retreat ethos: luxury, quality, attentive service, beautiful views and a stunning environment in which to learn, focus, relax, make friends, enjoy terrific food, (including cake!), and learn new invaluable skills. Did we mention a pool and spa visit is included in the price? Yes it is, but please note that any treatments in the newly refurbished Rutland Hall Hotel Spa are payable in addition to our core course fees and payment for such must be made direct to the hotel. Please also note that any treatments would also have to be pre-booked directly with the hotel prior to you arriving on the course.
Lucy Engels
Saturday 27 September 2025
"Hi! I’m Lucy Engels and I’m really excited about working with you and Rachel again. Rachel and I first worked together via Zoom during the pandemic and more recently we re-connected on Rachel's podcast, Breaking the Blocks. It was then that Rachel asked me if I would consider teaching at her yearly UK retreat in Rutland. I didn’t care where it was, I was up for it! Anything is possible if you really want to do it! I’m hoping some of my Scottish ladies and gents might make the trip with me and we can all come together!
I suppose I should tell you a bit about me. Im an award winning contemporary quilter and artist with a love of unexpected colour and texture. I graduated in 2004 from Grays School of Art with a Ba(Hons) Fine Art Printmaking and have been meandering my way through the art world ever since. With a deep interest in colour relationships and the process of tactile art making, I create work that is graphic, vibrant and nuanced. I’ve worked in many mediums, whether it is through print, quilt making or paint and it’s been said that my work has my own unique voice, as all of our work should.I’ve worked with many industry leaders in the quilting world and shown my work globally. I’m in the process of coming up with a new idea for a class for the retreat, details to come soon, but in the meantime I’d love to see you there. I promise we will have a great time and I’ll teach you some new things!"
Russell Barratt
Saturday 27 September 2025
"Hi there! I’m Russell, a self taught textile artist who is heavily into sustainability! I’m super excited to work with you and I’m loving the line up Rachel has put together, I think we all complement each other so well. I’m currently creating a class especially for you. I mentioned to Rachel that it’s really important that I teach people methods that I use on a regular basis and try and give you insight into how I work. This makes it a much more personal experience whenever I teach a class. There are a lot of techniques in my mind that I could teach, but I want it to be something completely unique, that you couldn’t get anywhere else and be something I’m very passionate about, so I guarantee it will be a unique experience when we learn together in September 2025.
I use secondhand fabrics and repurposed used clothes to make quilted artworks that are colourful, bold and expressive. Recycling is key to my practice. And my work is often inspired by memories of childhood and domestic life. With a background in fashion and costume design, I’ve put my upcycle skills to work on many projects over the years including costumes for stage and screen (Matthew Herbert, Charlie XCX, ESKA, Little Mix), collaborations with fashion designers, art exhibitions and bespoke items for photo shoots ( The V&A Museum London, The Clothes Show Live, Channel 4/ T4) ."
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Carl Brown
Sunday 28 September 2025
"Well hello there from sunny California! I’m Carl Brown and I can’t wait to fly across the pond and meet you! As a fiber artist I’ve been sewing and quilting for about 6 years. Starting with simple traditional quilt patterns and now creating more complex abstract and improvisational work utilizing my own designs. I have a tremendous fascination with color, shapes, and especially an appreciation with curve improvisation fiber work. My techniques include Improv quilting, applique and applipiecing, as well as both machine and long arm quilting. Perhaps one of my best skills is completing the Improv work at hand by fitting all those pieces into a final product.
I’ve studied with numerous well known quilting instructors to include Nancy Crow, Sheila Framton Cooper, Pat Pauly, and Irene Roderick. In my short history as a fiber artist, I’ve been fortunate to have had several quilts juried into national and international shows and I was named “Emerging New Artist” at Interpretations 2023 at the Visions Museum of Textile Art in San Diego. I’ve been juried into International Quilt Show, Road to California semi-finalist the last two years, QuiltCon, Mancuso’s QuiltFest shows, and numerous American Quilt Society shows as well. Internationally, I was also juried into Salon Pour l’Amour du Fil, in Nantes, France and I’ve also won awards for my fiber art.
Besides being a fiber artist, I’m also known as Dr. Carlton “Carl” G. Brown, RN, PhD, FAAN because I have been a long-term oncology nurse, researcher, book author, and health care executive. I’m the the editor of an award-winning textbook for oncology nurses and patients with cancer and I’ve cared for patients with cancer for 30 plus years. I currently live in Palm Springs with my always supportive husband and the real boss of the house, Pippin the Wonder Schnauzer! I can’t wait to mee you folks and see what your lovely country has to offer!"
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Gary Mills
Sunday 28 September 2025
"Hello CraftyMonkies fans! I just can’t wait to go back to Rutland to teach again, it was so much fun last time and thankfully the ladies (and gents) loved my class! I was super-excited when Rachel asked me to come back. As everyone loved the Highland Cow free motion embroidered and appliquéd piece I created, I’m going to teach a similar piece again, but I’ll be designing a new creature for you and will show you some new techniques along the way.
More details to follow soon about what I'll be teaching! But for those who don’t know me, I’m Gary, and I live and work in a beautiful part of the south-west of the UK on the edge of Exmoor. I think you could say I was born drawing, sewing and creating; I just cannot remember not being creative. From the moment I could hold a pair of scissors you would find me cutting into scraps of cloth and paper to make something. My passion and experience have grown with me, exploring all things ART, from mixed media, textiles to couture fashion. I have a BA (Hons) in Design Fashion, a Post Graduate qualification in Education and have worked as a freelance designer and also created my own fashion label! I took a career in academia and became Programme Leader for several degree programmes.
I have also written Open University degrees and I was awarded an Advanced Practitioner in Education accolade in 2016; since then I have run my own business in teaching creative subjects - all of which leads me to you!..."
Here's what you will need for your CraftyMonkies 2025 Weekend Craft Retreat:-
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Your own fabric you would like to sew with (more details to follow but it will simply be from your own stash, no need to buy anything fancy!)
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Sewing machine in good working order – with manual, and standard sewing machine feet. If you are unfamiliar with your machine, please take a few minutes to practice stitching in a straight line. You will need no further skills than that!
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Sewing threads in neutral colours (cream, ecru, greys – bring what you have!) and coloured swing machine threads for embroidery stitches.
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Rotary Cutter (45mm rotary cutter is the best size) and mat (18” x 24 approx so a fat 1ÂŽ4 fits on it easily) – please check that the cutting blade is sharp. I will have some spare bits of equipment, but it means you may have to share!
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Rulers – Easy Rule 2 (long ruler) and any square rulers you have hidden away will be useful.
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General sewing kit (pins, scissors, stitch ripper, etc).
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Optional items – craft iron and ironing mat (so you don’t have to queue!). There is an ironing station planned with domestic irons, so only bring small irons and don’t worry if you don’t have one – it’s not vital.
Rachel and all our tutors really are the most warm, engaging of souls and our total focus is on ensuring that you have an experience to remember - trying anything new is always a wee bit scary but don't be put off; jump in - you're going to love it!!!...We've curated a selection of teachers who can all teach something quite different across the weekend, traditional quilting, improv quilting and some mixed media/art! We aim to inspire you and gve you a lot of fun at the same time!
Ticketing
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For the 2025 Rutland Hall Hotel Weekend Craft Retreat we are offering TWO ticket options:-
Single Occupancy
For the all-inclusive price (please note that any Spa treatments are NOT included) of £685.00, you are guaranteed your own en-suite room within Rutland Hall Hotel.
Shared Occupancy
For the all-inclusive price (please note that any Spa treatments are NOT included) of £585.00, you are guaranteed a SHARED en-suite room within Rutland Hall Hotel. If you decide on this option, once you have booked your place we will contact you via email to see whether you would like to share with a friend or family member who is also attending the Weekend Retreat or are happy to be placed with one of your fellow attendees who is not previously known to you.
IMPORTANT: Due to the nature of advance bookings & payments needed to secure the tutors, hotel, food and facilities we operate a strict Non-Refund Policy; you are however free to assign another person to take your place on the Retreat, should you be unable to attend for any unforeseen reason. All we ask in that instance is that you give us due advance notice of such an arrangement, should it be necessary.
Paying in Full
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For those of you wishing to pay in full, simply go to our Pay Online page, find the Rutland Hall Hotel Weekend Craft Retreat 2025 graphic and follow the prompts.
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Paying via Instalments
For those of you interested in paying via two monthly instalments, the first payment is a deposit of £200.00. Just click on the £200 deposit button in the ticket area and we'll be in touch to arrange the instalments via PayPal!
All being well, we've covered any questions/queries you might have about this exciting Rutland Hall Weekend Craft Retreat but if there is anything else you'd like to know, please don't hesitate to contact us via email: hello@craftymonkies.com.
Looking for a birthday surprise, marking a special occasion or a treat for someone special? A timely reminder that CraftyMonkies Gift Vouchers, in a variety of denominations, are available all year round - could be just the ticket for your crafty loved one!...
Book online today or,
for any further information,
please email us via:-
hello@craftymonkies.com
Or call us on:-
+44 7307 622093