The Remnant Project: Sewing Stories of Survival and Hope
The Remnant Project invites us to wrap ourselves in stories of healing to draw the courage we need to help change the story for the next generation.
Thistle Farms is excited to introduce a project that has been four years in the making. The Remnant Project is a textile history created by women survivors around the globe, capturing their journey of resilience.
Inspired after a visit to The Legacy Museum, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and Freedom Monument Sculpture Park in Montgomery, Alabama in 2021, Thistle Farms Founder and President Becca Stevens wanted to explore how the same powerful storytelling used to confront racial injustice could also be used to tell the often unseen stories and scars of women’s trauma through textile artwork.
“I wanted to do something that captured the stories of women who have survived trauma and found healing,” Becca shared. “Something that could travel and speak without words.”
Each story is woven into a powerful quilt that acknowledges the violence women often face and pays tribute to the strength it takes to heal. Accompanied by prose, poetry, and photographs, we honor the experiences of survivors of human trafficking, prostitution, and sexual violence while shining a light on their enduring hope and courage.
Quilting & Community
Quilting has a long, rich history, with women quilters across generations using their craft to tell stories, preserve traditions, and provide comfort.
Throughout history, quilts have carried the weight of untold stories.
During the 1800s in the US, quilts were believed to encode messages of survival and freedom along the Underground Railroad. They also served as a means of creative expression to preserve cultural identity as well as share hope and comfort.
In the 1970s, Chilean women created the Arpillera Tapestries as a powerful piece that served as both artistic expression and political resistance calling for the restoration of human rights while living under the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
In the 1980s and 90s, the AIDS Memorial Quilt became a vast canvas of remembrance. A community-made textile, the AIDS Memorial Quilt was created to honor the lives lost during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s at a time when those impacted were often ignored, stigmatized, dehumanized, and silenced.
The Remnant Project seeks to honor these rich storytelling traditions while sharing the experiences of women survivors healing from sexual violence. Each square has been created by a survivor at Thistle Farms, a sister organization, or a global artisan partner.
As a result of stitching together these personal and powerful stories, the quilt stands as a tribute to the ways women heal and rebuild their lives through resilience and community.
Our hope is that this project will inspire and influence conversations that encourage healing in communities.
One Square at a Time
The very first quilt square was made by Becca Stevens herself, followed by 264 squares sewn to create 11 quilts shared by survivors in Nashville, across the US, and around the world, forming a bridge between each woman to hold space for one another in their shared experiences of violence and overcoming. A team of survivors and volunteers then came together to learn how to sew and create quilts, bringing the shared stories to life in a vibrant, powerful way.
“When you stand before these quilts, knowing each square tells a story of one woman's trauma and healing, and then step back and see the enormity of the contributions, I think you will be filled with awe and compassion,” said Becca Stevens.
By binding these testimonies to fabric, we memorialize how women reclaim stories and weave together a new narrative of healing and community.
If you would like to view The Remnant Project, please feel free to stop by The Center for Contemplative Justice anytime between 10AM and 2PM, Monday through Thursday or email remnant@thistlefarms.org for more information.
