What is a recurring motif in the novel, The Face in the Cloth?

One recurring motif in the novel is the sewing motif: Needles and scissors, Scissors and pins, Where one life ends, Another begins.

This refrain, repeated through most of the story, captures nicely the notion of death and birth: the Mother's death—the daughter's birth; and it is echoed in the daughter's journey to the forest hut: life at court ends— life at the hut begins; and it is echoed again at the story's ending: the life carrying the image is over—a new life for the Princess begins. It also indicates a unifying factor in the story, the stitching of lives together.