Reconnecting Embroidery with the World Around Us

For centuries, people have turned to needle and thread to express their thoughts and record experiences. The Royal School of Needlework (RSN) brings that impulse into the present through Fragile Threads, a pioneering project that uses embroidery to spark meaningful conversations about the issues shaping our world. Your hands and your help can tell a story.

The current focus of Fragile Threads is on biodiversity. One million species face extinction, threatening the systems that sustain life, our food, water, and health. Fragile Threads transforms scientific facts into acts of care, connecting us emotionally to what is at stake and showing that nature is part of us. Every stitch tells a story of beauty, fragility, and survival. There is hope; Positive change is possible when nature is given the chance to thrive.

Find Out More

What is Fragile Threads?

Fragile Threads aims to grow awareness of embroidery by partnering with organisations, designers, and cultural changemakers. It’s more than stitching, it’s a movement that connects creativity with causes that matter today.

Find Out More

Our Partners

Find Out More

Impact and Legacy Exhibition

Fragile Threads will culminate in an exhibition at Bankside Gallery in London from 23 February to 7 March 2027. Entitled Nature's Fragile Threads, the exhibition will include historical embroideries and designs from the Royal School of Needlework's Collection and Archive alongside contemporary works by embroiderers within and beyond the RSN community and by members of our Fragile Threads partner groups.
Nature’s Fragile Threads will illustrate how embroidery has served as a witness to biodiversity and species loss over the course of centuries, and how embroiderers within the UK and outside of it have used nature to inspire, emote, reflect, and mourn.
Find Out More

How this project has been funded

Using money raised by National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK’s heritage. Fragile Threads is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to support Fragile Threads programme, which includes a number of partnership projects, the Fragile Threads exhibition and symposium.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund is the largest funder for the UK’s heritage. Using money raised by National Lottery players, we support projects that connect people and communities to heritage. Our vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. From historic buildings, our industrial legacy and the natural environment, to collections, traditions, stories and more. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past.

More information can be found at heritagefund.org.uk.

Get in touch

Fragile Threads is more than a project; it is an opportunity to reflect on our relationship with the natural world. Through creativity, conversation, and shared experiences, we aim to highlight both the beauty and fragility of the environments that sustain us.

Together, we can inspire awareness, spark connection, and help weave a new narrative for people and planet. For more information and to keep up with events visit the News and Exhibition section of this website.