“Threads of Life: A History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle“ 

by Clare Hunter

5 Wednesday meet-ups, from 11 am – 12 pm:

• January 22: Chapters Beginning, 1 Unknown, 2 Power, and 3 Fertility
  February 5: Chapters 4 Captivity, 5 Identity, 6 Connection, and 7 Protect
  February 19: Chapters 8 Journey, 9 Protest,  and 10 Loss
  March 5: Chapters 11 Community, 12 Place, and 13 Value
  March 19: Chapters 14 Art, 15 Work, 16 Voice, and Endings

in Textile Center’s Library
Facilitator: Cristin McKnight Sethi, Textile Center’s Director of Education

“Threads of Life” is a chronicle of identity, protest, memory, power, and politics told through the stories of needlework. It’s human history told from a new, surprising perspective. This is a globe-spanning history of sewing, embroidery, and the people who have used a needle and thread to make their voices heard. From the political propaganda of the Bayeux Tapestry to the pink pussyhats of the Women’s March, women and men have used the language of sewing to make their voices heard, even in the most desperate of circumstances. This is a thoughtful work of history and craft, full of little-known stories, and an evocative and moving book about the need we have to tell our story.

Learn more + register here!

“The Afghan Amulet: Travels from the Hindu Kush to Razgrad“ 

by Sheila Paine

4 Wednesday meet-ups, from 11 am – 12 pm:

• April 16
• April 30
• May 14
• May 28

in Textile Center’s Library
Facilitator: Cristin McKnight Sethi, Textile Center’s Director of Education

“In 1990, armed with five kilos of luggage, a camera, and a liter of vodka, Sheila Paine set off for the high valleys of the Hindu Kush in northern Pakistan, looking for an interesting amuletic pattern relevant to her work as a textile expert. It remained elusive, always to be found “in the next valley.” Undeterred, she followed traces of it on tribal costumes and in fabric amulets into increasingly dangerous and remote territories. Over two years, her quest took her into Makran, an area split by the Pakistan/Iran border and totally closed to outsiders, then into Iran itself, once she was able to escape the watchful eye of a suspicious government official. She was smuggled into Afghanistan and continued her journey through Iraqi and Turkish Kurdistan before reaching the Black Sea and the last link in the chain, the small town of Razgrad in eastern Bulgaria.”

Learn more + register here!

Save the dates for these upcoming Book Club opportunities. Registration opening soon!

• Summer 2025: “Making Kantha, Making Home: Women at Work in Colonial Bengal” by Pika Ghosh; Wednesdays: June 11, June 25, July 23, August 6, August 20
• Fall 2025: “The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine” by Rozsika Parker; Wednesdays: September 17, October 1, October 15, November 5, November 19, December 3