The Thread Project: One World, One Cloth

How to Facilitate a Group to Tie on Threads

Consider one of the following as a focus for gathering threads as a group.

Ø Building Community

Ø Promoting Unity Through Diversity (Good focus for schools)

Ø Symbolically Mending the World

Ø Encouraging Hope

Ø Celebrating a special day such as Earth Day or International Day of Peace

Ø Memorializing a person

Before the Gathering

1. Check the web site www.threadproject.com for more information

II Send or hand out a flyer describing: 1) the intention for the gathering, 2) information about The Thread Project: One World, One Cloth, 3) an invitation to bring a thread with personal meaning, 4) date, time, place and directions ( see A: Sample Invitation in the Appendix)

III Provide several varieties of threads–such as different colors of ribbons, metallic threads, colored twine, or yarn–for people who may not bring a thread. Provide several pairs of scissors as well.

For more details, read the Instructions section on the web site.

IV Set up space on day of gathering. If possible, place chairs in a circle. Provide several sheets of paper and pencils so people can write something about their thread after the program. Place threads, scissors, a candle (optional), and perhaps an object that represents the theme of your gathering. For example, if the focus of the group is to build community, a sculpture or picture of many people holding hands would be appropriate. If the focus of the group is to celebrate Earth Day, an inflatable globe would be appropriate. With the theme of threads, a hand woven shawl or wall hanging would also be appropriate.

Program for the Gathering

I After welcome, start by stating intention of gathering.

Example 1: We are gathered together to build community by tying our threads together into a single thread, which will be called the Unity Thread. After we are finished, the Unity Thread will be sent to The Thread Project: One World, One Cloth to become part of a global weaving.

Example 2: We are gathered together to celebrate Earth Day by symbolically mending the world with our threads, which will then be sent to The Thread Project: One World, One Cloth.

II Talk (or read) something about The Thread Project. (See B: About the Project, in the Appendix.)

III Explain that weaving is a powerful metaphor for building community. It’s a process in which diverse, individual threads become one single cloth. Weaving helps us to find our common ground.

IV Explain that by adding and sharing the story of each thread, and the goodwill it carries–we are joining with thousands of others world wide. Choose several readers to read a few stories of those who have offered their threads to the project. (See C: Story Threads, in the Appendix.)

V Give everyone a few minutes to retrieve their thread. If they didn’t bring one, ask them to cut one from the threads that have been provided.

VI Take turns allowing each person to tell why they chose the fiber they did and/or what it stands for. Example: This is a ribbon from my grandmother’s wedding gown, and I tie it on today honoring the wisdom that age brings with it, and my hope that our world leaders will drink deeply from the wells of wisdom.

VII After everyone has tied threads together, hold them up for all to see and admire. Comment on the interconnectedness.

VIII Play or sing a song that exemplifies the theme of your gathering as you slowly wind the threads into a ball.

IX Close with a poem, prayer or blessing, saying that all of the goodwill that has transpired in the room is now carried in the ball of thread and it will be added to a World Cloth–probably the most diverse cloth ever woven.

X Suggest that if they would like to follow the progress of the World Cloth, they can check the web site every few months for an update.

XI Thank everyone for coming. Suggest that they write a sentence or two about their thread on the sheet of paper you have provided which will be sent along with their threads to be added to a notebook that travels with The Thread Project: One World, One Cloth

After the Gathering

I Send the threads. the papers, and please include a paragraph describing your gathering to: The Thread Project: One World, One Cloth, P. O. Box 488, Isle of Palms, SC 29451

Appendix

A: Sample Invitation

Weaving the world together can be more than a metaphor!

As part of (event, book club, study group, celebration, class, observance of a holiday), you are invited to bring a thread from home to add to an actual world tapestry that is being woven from fibers collected from around the world.

The Thread Project: One World, One Cloth (www.threadproject.com ) is weaving a World Cloth, called “Hope Materializing” from an array of fibers including (but not limited to) twine, yarn, shoe strings, fishing line, lace, metallic threads, ribbons (from stuffed animals, baby booties, wedding pillows), thin strips of special clothing, grasses from Africa, homespun yarn from Chile, and more. Upon completion this cloth will be offered to the United Nations for public display to celebrate the boldness of our cultural diversity and the unity of our human hearts.

Become a part of this amazing cloth by bringing a thread with personal meaning (examples can be found on the web site in the “Story Threads” section), the possibilities are as unique and diverse as the individuals who offer them. The thread fibers should be approximately 12-72 inches long and no more than 1 inch wide. Don’t have a thread with personal meaning? No problem–any piece of string, yarn or braided embroidery floss will do. Threads for tying on will also be available at the gathering.

B: About the Project

Weaving the Planet Together

Thousands of people from around the world are sending pieces of ribbon, material, string, or other fiber to The Thread Project: One World, One Cloth (www.threadproject.com). The collected threads are being woven into a World Cloth–creating a large tapestry–called “Hope Materializing.” The cloth celebrates the boldness of our cultural diversity and the unity of our human hearts.

Over the next several years, many thousands of threads will be collected to weave seven cloths, possibly the most diverse cloths ever woven. Made with deep intention, these cloths will be displayed in public places (and even offered to the United Nations) to inspire hope, healing and peace in all who gaze upon them.

What better way to symbolically mend our world than with a thread? The modest thread, a powerful archetype of creation, resonates deeply within the human psyche. In myth, Grandmother Spider weaves the four directions; in physics, the string theory suggests that the subatomic structure of our universe resembles loops of vibrating strings, and, in human experience, each of us enters the world threaded to our mother.

Founder of the project, Terry Helwig, believes that weaving the world together can be more than a metaphor. She says, “The cloth we are weaving is a visual of what can happen when people around the world come together. We should never underestimate the power of one, plus one, plus one.” She adds, “When people despair and say our world is hanging by a thread, I point to the cloth and say—a thread is all we need.”

C: Story Threads

(Following are just a few samples of stories about the threads people are tying on. More stories can be found on the web site www.threadproject.com under “Story Threads”)

(Three Readers)

Reader 1

Crowded into a dorm room, 22 of my college classmates and I tied blue and white threads together, representing our school colors. We are a diverse group of friends from Kenya, Fiji, Canada, Vietnam, India, China and the United States. We share a common bond and we hope our threads promote connection among other people in the world. (Mandy)

Reader 2

I offer a scrap of orange fabric, unraveled from the blouse of my friend “Quita.” During her lifetime of 95 years, Quita worked for, prayed and believed in peace and world unity. The path of stitches across this orange strip are my footprints bound with Quita’s. Together may we be joined to your weft and woven into the “One Cloth. (Lynne)

Reader 3

I have used these fabrics in my own art quilts and love the clear colors and bold designs. The fabric is designed and screen printed by a group of Zulu women in the heart of Zululand. (Odette)

Reader 1

I am a weaver from Poros, Greece. I give weaving lessons to children. My students and I were excited with your idea to collect threads and weave the “World cloths.” Every student chose a colored thread and wrote down why he or she liked this color. So our thick thread has orange for joy, pink and green for the rainbow, light blue for the sky, and red and white that make us feel fine.” (Eleni)

Reader 2

This fabric strip is from a World War II silk parachute. It belonged to a young man who had no family to return to after the war. (Deb)

Reader 3

This is from the tail of my kite. (Larry)

Reader 1

This is from one of my ties. (Chris)

Reader 2

I removed this ribbon from the neck of a stuffed animal in memory of my son who died. (Milly)

Reader 3

This ribbon is from the Ukraine. It looks a little old and odd but it was my father’s (who died and who was very special in my life); it was tucked inside his copy of BoûHa u Mup (War and Peace) by Leo Tolstoy, given to him by his father in 1945. (Oksana)

Reader 1

This is from my baseball glove. (Sam)

Reader 2

We cut small pieces of cloth from every costume we made for a high school production of “West Side Story.” (Irene)

Reader 3

I cut ribbons from my baby shoes and tied them to ribbons from my daughter’s baby booties. We offer our ribbons, believing in the power of ‘first steps,’ in the beauty of human beings making our wobbly way toward peace, in the notion that small beginnings bring undreamed leaps. (Sue)