Come to Bali with Me in 2027
There is the Bali you can find in a guidebook or on Instagram. And then there is the Bali I have come to know over more than 40 years of travelling here.
I first came in the 1980's with my parents and my brother Hugh, and nearly a decade ago, Hugh and I headed over with a different purpose: to find people who could print the linen I had in my head for Bright Threads. That trip introduced me to team I still work with today. They have shown me places I would never have found on my own, and the days I spend exploring between work visits have given me plenty of favourites of my own.
The retreats are my chance to bring you into all of it. This is my Bali, and I would love to show it to you.
Come and see where Bright Threads is made
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We will go to the printing factory, meet the people behind my linen and watch the process from start to finish. You will choose a screen and a colour for your own piece of linen, then see it printed.
Another day, we head into Denpasar with Sandi for fabric shopping. We will visit the wholesalers, the haberdashery stores and the fabric market, looking through shelves and rolls of fabrics for the ones you just cannot leave behind. Bring a pattern or a garment you would love to have made, and my sewing team will help you work out what is possible. I came home from the first retreat with clothes I hadn’t even planned to make, all because I fell in love with the fabric.
And there is so much more to the week: ceramics, cooking, exploring shops and markets, long meals and time to enjoy Sanur. You’ll get to see how things are made, try things for yourself and meet the people I am always so pleased to see when I come back.
You can come on your own
I know booking a trip with people you haven’t met can feel like a leap, but the group is small and we spend the week doing things together. There will be someone to ask for a second opinion on a fabric, sit beside at dinner or laugh with when your suitcase starts looking a little ambitious.
You don’t need to know how to sew or have any experience with printing. Come because you are curious, because you love colour and making things, or because a week away doing something just for yourself sounds rather good.
Our first Bright Threads retreat in 2026 was everything I’d hoped it would be. I loved watching guests meet the people who make Bright Threads what it is, find their way around the fabric shops and come together as a group. It made me want to do it all again and again, and again.
We are going back to Sanur in May and to Ubud in October 2027, with up to 16 guests on each retreat. If you would like to see the Bali I love, I would be delighted to have you join me - more details via the link below.
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