6 Unconventional Must-Haves You’ll Regret Forgetting at Your Next Quilting Retreat

A guide for quilters who want to have the best time at their next quilting retreat

Whether it’s your first retreat or your tenth, there are some must-haves you don’t want to forget.

So you’re going on a quilting retreat? Fabulous. When you think of must-have’s you’re probably thinking:

Machine—check
Fabric—check
Good intentions—double check

Those are more of the “Duh’s” of what you need to bring to a quilting retreat (seriously, don’t forget your machine). But let me stop you right there, because there are some very specific, and mildly unconventional things you’re going to want once you get settled in... and trust me, you don’t want to be That Quilter who forgot something critical.

If you’ve never been to a quilting retreat before, you might be thinking of all the actual quilt-related things you need… And that’s good. It would be a little awkward to show up without something like the pattern you were hoping to make or thread.

But there are other things you need at a quilting retreat that might be less obvious.

These are the things Andrea and I would 100% turn the car around for. (Yes. Even if we were already 45 minutes down the road with snacks in the backseat.) They’re not the obvious must-haves, but they’re going to make your experience so much better.

Let’s get into it.

1. Your Own Teacup (and Tea. Obviously.)

If you’ve ever been to one of our retreats, you know the drill:
No cup = no drink.

We don’t supply mugs, and even if we did, would you really trust communal cups? Bring your own. And make it cute. (Bonus points for matching thermos vibes.)

Why it matters:

You stay hydrated
You stay warm
You have an excuse to get up for a refill every 45 minutes, which is basically your built-in wellness routine
It doubles as a hand warmer when the room is an icebox (which it will be, for someone, always)

I think it’s a canon event that all quilters are also tea drinkers. I would love to see the stats on that one.

But add your mug (and thermos) and tea to the top of your list.

2. A Personal Fan (Because, Sweat Happens)

Andrea has what we like to call a broken thermostat. One minute she’s freezing, the next she’s melting into her chair.

Retreat venues don’t let you control the temp (I know, rude), so bring something that lets you control your own little microclimate.

Any fan will do—USB, plug-in, foldable, glamorously glittery—we don’t judge. We just appreciate a breeze.

Why? Because we all know how uncomfortable it can be when you get too hot or too cold. You can’t focus, it’s hard to be creative, and the thing you’ll remember the most from the retreat will most definitely be the temperature.

And really, we don’t want that to be your takeaway. We want you to remember the friends you made and all the quilting you did.

3. Your own personal seat

We love our chairs. We whisper sweet nothings to them while packing.

Listen: those basic retreat chairs are NOT designed for 8-hour sewing sessions. No one’s back is left unscathed after that. You want something that rolls smoothly, supports your back, and doesn’t make you want to cry when you stand up.

Bungee chairs = sciatica’s worst enemy
Rollerblade wheels = gliding gracefully from snacks to cutting mat

Trust me, your body will thank you.

I know it seems a little useless to waste space by bringing your own chair. But take it from the experts (yes, we have made this semi-fatal mistake before), this will save you from a large chiropractor bill when you go home.

Supplies for a quilting retreat: Fabric, thread, pin cushion, etc.

4. A Sewing Machine Mat (You’re Not Eating at This Table)

You know those wobbly, banquet-style tables at most retreats? They bounce like a toddler on a trampoline when your machine gets going. It’s so annoying to be constantly interrupted by your own machine bouncing. Talk about some pretty jagged stitches.

Slide a sewing machine mat under your machine and boom:

Less vibration
Less noise
Fewer wonky seams (...hopefully)

Bonus: it folds flat and fits in with your extension table like they’re besties.

5. Graph Paper + Pen (Ideas Wait for No Quilter)

You never know when inspiration will strike.
Sometimes you see a quilt on the wall and think, “I could totally make that.”
Sometimes you’re halfway through assembling blocks and realize the math ain’t mathin'.

Enter: graph paper.

Perfect for:

Block layouts
Border math
Sketching the quilt that just hit you mid-sip
Doodling while pretending to listen to your neighbor’s quilting horror story

This is absolutely a quilting retreat must-have. You can’t do it all during the retreat (wouldn’t that be nice), and you don’t want to get home and lose all of the ideas and inspiration you got from the retreat, so record it.

Even the best of minds can’t remember everything.

6. A Stiletto (Not the Shoe Kind; Ouch.)

This tiny tool has saved me so much frustration.

Need to hold a seam flat while feeding it under the needle? Stiletto.
Working with long, annoying strips that wave like spaghetti? Stiletto.
Trying to avoid shoving your fingers dangerously close to the feed dogs? STILETTO.

If you don’t have one yet, no worries:

A Wooden chopstick = a great starter version
Purple Thang = classic
Golf tee, pin, awl, even a pen in a pinch

But if you do find yourself using one a lot, upgrade to a nice one with some weight. You won’t regret it. Ask us at the retreat what our favorites are!

BONUS WELLNESS TIP: Tea. Yes, Again.

Because it keeps you hydrated, makes you get up and walk around, and gives you something warm and comforting to sip on while someone tells you about the paper-piecing disaster of 2022.

Tea is a lifestyle. Tea is self-care. Tea is how we retreat.

You can also bring different types with you for some variety. Black tea in the morning, green tea for the afternoon, and chamomile for the evening.