I spent this past weekend in Palm Springs, and it was so, so fun!! It’s going to be tricky to try and encapsulate the weekend with a blog post, but I’m going to try. Heather Ross has been hosting sewing workshops at the Ace Hotel for years now, and this year it finally worked out for me to attend. I’ve been a participant in two previous Heather Ross Weekend Sewing workshops, one in Vermont, and one in New York, as well as Heather’s Fabric Design workshop, but this was the first one I’ve attended in Palm Springs, this time my mom joined me, which made it even more fun.

What I love about Heather’s workshops as opposed to most of the sewing-related travel I do is that it’s always completely unstressful and relaxed. She does such a great job organizing everything and finding great places to stay and great food, so you just sit back and have fun. This time there weren’t any sewing machines; all of the “crafts” we did were by hand. Anna Joyce taught indigo dye methods:

palm springs indigo on lawn : made by rae

Mom brought one-sies along for her grandkids. Smart, eh?

palm springs indigo onesies : made by rae

Anna Maria Horner taught hand-painted embroidery (that’s my design, bottom left):

and Annabel Wrigley taught macrame! Which was harder than I thought it would be, but once I got the hang of it, very fun!

The Ace Hotel in Palm Springs is pretty great. Outdoor fireplaces, rooms that look like beach houses, pools, bohemian decor, fantastic food. And it was warm…at least warmer than Michigan, so it was a great place to get away this time of year. I guess I didn’t realize that Palm Springs is basically in the middle of the desert (for some reason I had always thought it was on the ocean…not that I ever looked it up), so it was drier than I expected, but really beautiful. We had a gorgeous view of the mountains right from the workshop area where we spent most of the weekend. The sky was all pink at sunset the first night I was there, and turned everything such a lovely warm color. Such a beautiful place.

palm springs rope elephant : made by rae

The best thing about these weekends away by far is hanging out with everyone. The crafting is great but I suspect it’s just an excuse to get people together. I am only sorry the weekend was too short to get to know everyone — or even everyone’s name — better. It was really fun that Allie of IndieSew and her sister Whitney (top right) were there, and Erin of SewBon (bottom right), another blogger I follow online. Mari (top left) even brought one of the Charlie Dresses that I had sewn and donated years ago to a charity auction (she had placed the winning bid, and her daughter wears them now!!!); it was so fun to see it again and know that it ended up where it’s worn and loved.

Needless to say, it was a great time and I would go again in a heartbeat. On my way back home, I had a connection in Phoenix where the mountains and the sky were just amazing. It looked like a painting. Need to go to Phoenix someday, too…

Weekend in Palm Springs

Explore

Help

Stay Connected