A Common Thread is an exploration of the ‘slow clothes movement’ and our relationship to what we wear while examining fundamental concepts from Gandhi’s revolutionary Khadi (homespun) movement as well as traditional First Nations weaving and contemporary urban weaving and spinning practices.
During the Indian Independence Movement in the first half of the 20th century Gandhi spearheaded the Khadi movement that empowered his fellow countrymen and halted India’s dependence of foreign goods thereby severing India’s dependence upon Britain. Khadi fabric is spun by hand then woven on a handloom. The Khadi movement fostered self-reliance primarily through homespun textiles. The concepts from Gandhi’s freedom movement are applicable to societies beyond India and may be an answer to the human condition of excessive consumption that is currently depleting the Earth’s resources at an unprecedented rate.
A spinning wheel in one’s home is like having a method where one can meditate with one’s hands. It requires skills to make your own fabric, skills that we have widely forgotten. Examine why sustainably focused people are seeking to learn and revive these skills. The empowerment one can gain from being more engaged with the process of creating their own materials to then make everyday clothes and textiles is largely unknown to the average westerner.