First the place mat, then a loose thread on his shirt.

There were a couple of loose threads to tie up.

I was trying to pull together all the loose threads, some of which were plain enough.

These men who make up stories out of whole cloth usually leave a few loose threads somewhere.

He was playing with a loose thread on their blanket.

And there are more loose threads in a $1.52 trillion budget.

There had to be a loose thread, a way out.

"Enough time so no loose threads can be traced to us?"

They were loose threads, and the time had come to snip them.

Even if you live you'd be nothing more than a loose thread that needs cutting.