The White Rabbit – June 2027

The White Rabbit

Monday 5th – Friday 9th July 2027

Do you want to escape the everyday and immerse yourself in creativity? Why not join one of our inspiring stitching holidays and enjoy a truly relaxing experience dedicated to beautiful  Goldwork Embroidery.

Our Monday-Friday retreats are held throughout the year, they offer something suitable for everyone. Leave your chores and daily routine behind and enjoy the luxury of being completely looked after, from dinner on your day of arrival to lunch on your departure day. Spend your time stitching, unwinding and connecting with like-minded people who share your passion.

We will be creating a stunning white rabbit in Goldwork and felting, this will be combined with a trip to local area with connections to Alice in Wonderland and Lewis Carroll, as well as a guest tutor for the day

During this retreat you will learn the art of goldwork embroidery and felting, how and why stitches are done in a certain way and how to perfect the skills that you already have,

• Essential techniques
• Create your own unique felted rabbit
• How to refine and perfect your existing skills

With our expert guidance you will create a stunning piece of work, which will showcases all the techniques you’ve learned. A material pack will be available to purchase

You will be creating your own 3D Rabbit using needle felting which will be taught by our guest Tutor Maria Livesley. The rabbit is approximately 6-7inches tall an will have an opening at the back to hold your needles. You will then be creating his tabard all in goldwork  which is taught by our very own Sarah Rakestraw. This project is inspired by the works of Lewis Carroll and the original illustrations.

We are delighted to be holding our fabulous White Rabbit retreat in 2027, where you will create a 6-7 inch felted rabbit from scratch with tuition from Maria Livesley, and goldwork techniques with Sarah Rakestraw. You will learn the following techniques to create a fabulous 3D needle case.

• Goldwork
• Felting constructing your rabbit
• a choice of accessories available

A material pack will need to be purchased directly from Maria for the felted Rabbit, a back will be available from Golden Hinde for the Tabard

What do I need to bring?

To do this project you will need to bring a Frame, we prefer bar fames you can see how to put these to via this link Set up your bar frame you will also need backing fabric, needles, scissors both serrated (for wires) and embroidery, beeswax, and a stand/clamp – such as a barrel clamp or seat frame so that you have your hands free (this is optional)

Do I need any experience? 

This stitching holiday is suitable for everyone, whether you are a complete beginner or you have done many goldwork projects before, we welcome all levels and abilities.  Is there a particular stitch you want to learn? we can show you how to do it. Choose your design and away you go. Our tutor is Sarah Rakestraw who has many years of experience in the world of Goldwork, she has even writing a book Glorious Goldwork which is available on our website.

Venue details

This retreat will be held at our venue in Crewe Cheshire

What is included?

• accommodation, usually a private en-suite room, we occasionally have other options available
• All meals – Continental breakfast, 2 course lunch and 2 course evening meal
• Tea, coffee and biscuits
• All tutor time
• Trip to local areas associated with Lewis Carroll
• Mad Hatters Tea Party

This retreat is suitable for everyone, is there a particular stitch you want to learn? we can show you how to do it. Choose your design and away you go. Our tutor is Sarah Rakestraw who has many years of experience in the world of Goldwork, even writing a book Glorious Goldwork which is available on our website.

Unfortunately on this retreat we are unable to have people working on their own designs due to the schedule for this retreat

A pack will be available to purchase, you will be able to choose the colours you want to work with, so the cost will be selection dependent.

Terms and conditions and cancellation policy:

All bookings must be paid in full to secure your place – there is an option at checkout to spread the cost with Klarna or Clearpay please note your agreement for payments will be with them. Please ensure that you can attend before booking. You can view the full terms and conditions here. All details of any cancellations or amendments can be seen in the terms and conditions.

A copy of the terms and conditions will be sent to you as a downloadable file when you book.

Want to know what others have thought of this retreat

White Rabbit course inspired by the Lewis Carrol book Alice’s adventures in Wonderland. It was a busy but incredibly enjoyable few days, packed with learning new and refining existing skills. We covered many techniques including goldwork embroidery, wool felting to create the rabbit from scratch, ruffle making, needle lacing and many more, all brought together to produce a beautiful White Rabbit, adorned in a tabard of glittering goldwork.

The week was made even more special we were treated to a wonderful Mad Hatter-themed tea party as well as a fascinating trip to visit Lewis Carroll’s home and museum, which really added to the experience. The full kit was provided, tuition both from a felting tutor – to ensure we would be able to create a fabulous Rabbit, and from the main tutor Sarah Rakestraw who taught the goldwork, needle lace and ruffle elements of the project –  all meals were included, and we had unlimited access to the sewing room.

It was a varied, inspiring and thoroughly enjoyable course. I came away with a beautiful finished piece.

Caroline – who attended this course in 2024

For more general information please check our retreats page