Estelle Center for Creative Arts

10/13/2026

Create Your Stylish Wardrobe - Elevated is a five-day retreat with Bianca Springer, where students will create wearable art, learn sewing techniques, and develop their own signature style.

Over five immersive days, students will upcycle pieced textiles into new garments and learn leatherwork through three coordinated projects: a reversible quilt-top duster using New Look pattern 6514, a pair of flat-front zipper pants using Butterick pattern 6851, and a hand-sewn leather crossbody bag made with Bianca’s custom kit.

Bianca will guide students through quilt-top preparation and layout planning, garment fitting, pattern adaptation, and finishing techniques that honor the history of their textiles while creating wearable art.

Students will leave with a coordinated, handmade outfit and a leather bag that reflects their personal story and craftsmanship.

Join Bianca in 2027 for a retreat where fabric, leather, and imagination come together.

10/02/2026

Join us for an immersive 5-day fiber arts workshop with Dani Ives, the artist behind the mesmerizing needle felting technique known as “painting with wool”!

Workshop: August 23–27, 2027

Grounded in the Arkansas Ozarks and shaped by a background in biology and conservation, Dani creates lifelike portraits and nature-inspired pieces that capture light, growth, and the quiet connections between humans, animals, and place.

Over 5 days, students will explore demonstrations, guided exercises, and open studio time, working on a main project while experimenting with smaller studies along the way. Most students leave with multiple finished pieces and a whole new relationship with wool as a painting medium.

Whether you’re a fiber artist looking to expand your technique or simply curious about turning wool into art, this workshop offers something rare: the chance to learn a completely original process directly from the artist who created it.

✨ Spaces are limited; save your spot today: www.estellecreativearts.com/knitting-quilting-retreats/dani-ives-painting-with-wool-colorado

09/30/2026

A concertina book is more than folded pages covered in cloth. It is a place to gather memories, cherish special textiles, celebrate important moments, and share stories that words cannot fully tell.

Spend six inspiring hours with textile artist Ana Buzzalino in this online workshop. Using fabric, thread, and imagination, you will create your own textile concertina book, working with favorite fabrics, vintage linens, lace, buttons, and meaningful keepsakes to begin a book that reflects your creative journey and the stories only you can tell.

There is no pattern to follow, and no two books will ever be alike. Your concertina book will become a personal canvas, shaped by the colors, textures, and memories that matter most to you.

Ana will share her own collection of concertina books for inspiration, showing how this simple folded structure can be transformed in countless ways. You will learn to build the concertina foundation, craft beautiful front and back covers, and enhance your pages with lace, trims, pockets, buttons, beads, and simple hand stitches for extra texture.

Join us online for a day of creativity, storytelling, and hands-on textile art. Click here to register for this online class: www.estellecreativearts.com/knitting-quilting-retreats/ana-buzzalino-online-concertina-workshop

09/28/2026

ETHNIC WAVES: Intuitive & Spontaneous Improv Curves and Circles
April 5–9, 2027 | The Estelle Center, La Veta

What if you could design and sew a quilt that's a joyous, one-of-a-kind expression of YOU as an artist? Well, you can, and Priscilla Bianchi will show you how.

Join us for a five-day quilting retreat where you'll break free from rulers, templates, and rigid plans. Instead, you'll learn liberating improv techniques, free-form rotary cutting, "stack-cut-shuffle-sew," "flip & sew," simple paper-piecing, machine appliqué, and pin-free curved seams. Priscilla's teachings will likely open up a whole new world of creative possibility to implement in your quilting practice for years to come.

One of our favorite parts of this retreat is that participants get to work with an assortment of hand-woven, hand-dyed Mayan Guatemalan textiles, mixing them with other cottons to create a design bursting with color, movement, and ethnic flair.

Along the way, Priscilla will dig into the design principles that make it all sing: color, shape, balance, movement, and unity.

Spots are limited; register here: www.estellecreativearts.com/knitting-quilting-retreats/priscilla-bianchi-improv-curves-circles

09/27/2026