Cloth of Kindness: Finding Light in Darkness

Norwich Theatre is working with Cloth of Kindness as part of the Creative Community Recovery Programme. Cloth of Kindness use the soothing process of the hand-sewn words to show the many acts of kindness and compassion that have been experienced through 2020/2021, as we battle the impact and effects on us all, by COVID-19.

The Cloth of Kindness is a community led health and well-being textile arts project. We will be working with Connecting Bowthorpe and The Bowthorpe Arts Festival to make a Cloth of Kindness called Finding Light In Darkness which will be displayed at the Bowthorpe Arts Festival on the 26 & 27 June 2021.

A Cloth of Kindness is made up of small patches of cloth, embroidered with words of love and kindness. The project is targeted towards older adults who have found themselves particularly isolated because of COVID-19. No previous skills are needed, just willingness to hand-sew your thoughts and experiences of kindness on individual patches, which are then sewn together to make a Cloth of Kindness.

Help & Support

Please don’t worry if you have never sewn before, you won’t be working alone! Individuals can be guided from the comfort of their own home by heading to the Cloth of Kindness website with a series of helpful tutorial videos in ‘Sewers Corner’.

Each patch tells its own story and collectively we can make something beautiful. Our vision for the future is to continue to stitch together vulnerable communities so that everyone is enfolded in a Cloth of Kindness.

You can also share pictures of your work, which will be published on the Cloth of Kindness Instagram account and the Bowthorpe Arts Festival Facebook group.

The Cloth of Kindness has made a number of beautiful Cloths working with different community groups. You can find previous examples via their website.