The heart of this project lies with the historical tokens preserved at the Foundling Museum in London. The Foundling Hospital was an eighteenth-century London institution created to care for babies and young children whose parents, often through hardship, were unable to look after them.
When the Hospital opened in 1741, parents were required to leave something with their infant that could later be used as an identifier. These objects are known as the Tokens.
A token could be almost anything distinctive enough to describe:
• Hard objects such as coins, medals, buttons, thimbles or small metal tags.
• Everyday items like playing cards, keys, seals or beads.
• Written notes if a parent was able to write.
• Or a small fragment of cloth, sometimes cut from the clothing the mother or the infant was wearing at the moment of parting, sometimes created at home in advance - these are the ones that inspired me most.
These objects were practical identifiers, not gifts or keepsakes. Their purpose was to ensure that, if circumstances improved, a parent could reclaim their child by recognising the object they had left.
Among the many tokens is a quieter group often called the soft tokens. These are the tiny cloth fragments, ribbons and stitched pieces. Although still official markers, they carry a certain tenderness simply because they were fabric, handled by human hands, often close to the body.
Although the original tokens belong to the eighteenth century, families continue to be separated by circumstance today. Around the world, people are parted through long journeys, displacement, conflict, adoption, mother-and-baby homes and many other circumstances beyond their control.
Across these very different experiences runs a common human thread: the need to remain connected to the people and places to which we belong. A small object can carry something much larger than itself – love, identity, memory, home and the reassurance that, despite separation, we still belong to one another.
Red woolen cloth; ribbon of blue paduasoy silk; Diaper or Russia cloth attached to a piece of fine linen. England, 1758. (Courtesy Foundling Museum and The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation)
Textile token. Flowered silver ribbon with a paper note sewn to it. England, 1756. (Courtesy Foundling Museum and The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation)
A strip of patchwork pinned to a billet page. England, 1767. Courtesy The London Archives, John Styles and The Foundling Hospital Museum.
Begin by thinking about someone you love.
If you knew they had to leave tomorrow, what small token could you make for them to carry – something that might remind them of you, of home, or simply that they belong?
Your token does not need to be elaborate. It might contain a scrap of meaningful fabric, a symbol, a name, a date, a place, a few stitches or a word that only the two of you would understand. There is no right or wrong response.
Your token will become part of the growing Tokens of Love Collection and will join the other tokens in a travelling installation.
A few practical things:
Please keep your token no larger than 4 inches (10 cm) square.
Keep it light enough to be attached to the long calico swaddling strips that will form the installation.
It can be stitched, folded, pieced, embroidered or shaped from cloth or other soft materials.
You may include a short word or message if it feels right.
Why your token matters
Each token begins with one person thinking about another.
Gathered together, these small pieces of cloth become an archive of love and belonging – individual responses to separation, connection, memory and home.
Each is different. Each carries something of the person who made it. And together they remind us that even when people are separated, we still belong to one another.
Project Leader: Paula MacGregor MA
To learn more about the history of the Foundling Tokens, the BBC offers a clear introduction: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2k8eg7r16o
Ready to send your token?
Please email: tokensofloveproject@gmail.com
or message us on Facebook: Tokens of Love Project
for the postal address.
a growing collection of small stitched tokens, sent from around the world:
Artist launches Tokens of Love community project
A COLCHESTER artist is leading a community art project to celebrate memories and relationships.
Tokens of Love, led by artist and storyteller Paula MacGregor, reimagines the historic tradition of fabric tokens left with babies at foundling hospitals as a modern symbol of care and connection.
Participants are invited to create small tokens out of cloth, each carrying a story, memory or message of love.
Paula said:
“This is not about perfection or skill. It is about care.
“A token might represent love, absence, survival, remembrance, or simply being seen.
“Each one carries a quiet human story.”
Foundling tokens were used as identifiers by women who left their children at hospitals, often at a time when many could not read or write. A marked or stitched piece of cloth was a practical way to help identify a child should their mother return.
The project invites people to make tokens no larger than four inches square using found or repurposed fabric. Experience with stitching is not required, and there is no right or wrong way to take part.
Since opening the invitation last month, tokens have already begun arriving from across the UK and beyond.
Paula said:
“There is something very grounding about working with cloth.
“It allows space for reflection, especially at times of year when many people are thinking about memory, absence, and love.”
The tokens will be gathered into a large-scale installation planned for 2027, described by Paula as a “garland of grace”.
The project is intentionally slow and inclusive, encouraging people to take part in their own time using materials they already have.
Full details on how to contribute, including guidelines and background information, are available at slowstitchschool.com.
