Camp Workroom Social | Recap Part 1

If you’ve been following along on my Instagram the past couple weeks, you might know that I just got back from Camp Workroom Social on Monday. I got so many questions over the course of the weekend and wanted to share about my experience at Camp and answer your questions here!

One thing to note before I jump in, I get bad blogger award this weekend and did not do a very good job at taking photos along the way – so we might need to use our imagination here a bit!

A little bit of housekeeping before we get going – I started writing this and was at 600 (and ended at > 1,000) words before I blinked! Therefore, I’m going to divide this post in two (double the fun, right??)! Today you can read about the weekend schedule and I answered some frequently asked questions at the end. On Friday, you can read about the intensive I took and my lessons learned from the weekend. Once Friday’s post goes live, I’ll link it here too!

The Weekend

Camp Workroom Social (CWRS) is a 4 day-3 night overnight sewing camp hosted by Workroom Social featuring sewing intensives, craft time, and all around girl power amazingness! The Camp is held at Frost Valley YMCA Camp which is a full functioning camp and there were lots of groups there during the weekend. Frost Valley is up in the Catskills in upstate New York and was about a 2 hour drive from NYC. CWS arranges bus transportation from NYC or you can drive directly to camp. I too the bus up there and took the train to NYC from DC.

From the minute I arrived at the bus every single person I ran into this weekend – headed up by Jennifer from Workroom Social – was incredible! Jennifer knew everyone’s name which made you feel like you were among friends from the get go!

Day 1

The weekend kicked off with a Camp Welcome, an hour in our sewing intensives to get oriented and meet one another and then the PJ party! I wore my Hudson Pants + my Linden Sweatshirt I wrote about on Monday. It was so fun to see everyone’s PJs – Carolyn Pajamas from Closet Case Patterns were a crowd favorite and there were a fair number of Hudson Pants as well. There were so many talented instructors at camp, and it was so fun to wear the Hudson Pants and Linden because both Kelli from True Bias and Jen from Grainline were instructors!

Day 2

Day two was a full day of sewing – 8 hours of sewing goodness! I’m talking all about the intensive I took later on, but there were six different options — Bra Making with Amy Chapman of Cloth Habit, Couture Hand Sewing with Brooks Ann Camper, How to Sew Swimwear with Fleur Hoare of Maison Fleur Patterns, Jacketmaking with Christine Haynes (what I took!), Pant Fit with Melissa Watson for Palmer/Pletsch and Melissa Watson Patterns, and Advanced Sewing Techniques – which had a last minute sub of Jen Beeman from Grainline Studios and Erin from Brooklyn Pattern Co.

The evening of day 2 ended with different craft workshops (knitting, macrame, embroidery, block printing, and dying) and haunted trails put on by the YMCA Camp! Emily and I took macrame, taught by Kelli from True Bias, and had so much fun making these keychains.

Day 3

Day 3 was another day of full sewing –  and was a bit more chaotic because it was the last day of sewing! We sewed all day and then ended the day with an incredibly inspiring Me Made Spectacular! Everyone was invited to bring a make they’re super proud of to display at Camp. There were so many INCREDIBLE garments and accessories. It was such a testament to how talented all these women were.

The night ended like any good camp should – with a bonfire and s’mores!

Day 4

Day 4 was our last day and before we headed back to NYC to catch our train, we had some camp activities. There were ropes courses, ziplining, archery, canoeing or just hanging out and knitting and enjoying some quiet time before heading home. The weekend closed out with a really fun awards ceremony (more on that later [check back on Friday]!)

The weekend was so incredibly well planned – you could attend any, all or none of the events if you chose to! It was structured enough that you didn’t ever feel bored or without something to do, but not too structured that it felt like you were just running around like a chicken with your head cut off!

Make sure to swing back on Friday to read about my intensive and my lessons learned from the weekend!

Frequently Asked Questions

I asked on Instagram if people had questions about Camp and while I answered everyone individually, I wanted to include them here to! I answered all of these from my perspective and there is more info on some of these on the CWRS website.

What are the sleeping arrangements like?

There are two different sleeping options – a hotel like upgraded room or a traditional bunk like accommodation. I stayed in the hotel-like option and shared a room with my friend Emily. The majority of women stay in the bunks. All accommodations have AC. You have the option to request a roommate or they pair you with someone (or multiple people in the bunks!). Everyone was SO nice and kind that anyone you’d be paired with would be a great roommate!

How was the food?

It was pretty good (ish)! [I mean, it’s cafeteria food…] The chef took great pride in the food and offered different options each day and was super sensitive to any food allergies. The chef circulated our dining area at least once a day checking in with every single table.

It seems like all who attended are really experienced sewists. Would you say an adventurous beginner could attend without frustrating the rest of the class?

Yes yes yes! Our jacket making class was full of people with all different skill levels and the teachers did such an amazing job to make sure that everyone got the attention they needed.

When do you sign up for camp?

I was on the WRS newsletter which opens up for registration after alumni registration. If you want to go next year, make sure to sign up for their newsletter. I think I registered in February.

Got anymore questions? Leave them below and I’ll answer them in Friday’s post!