Pride Patch Patterns: Aro Arrows, Part Two

Six digitally-created versions of cross stitch pride patches, arranged in two rows of three, against a background of a textured partially-translucent aromantic pride flag. Text between the two rows reads Aro Pride Patches in black type. Patches include a rectangular patch in aroflux zigzag stripes, an idemromantic heart, an aro flag text patch reading "aro", a square in quoiromantic stripes, an arrow design in allo-aro colours and a second arrow in nebularomantic colours.
~ K. A.

My second Aro Week arrow pattern post features patterns for aromantic-spectrum flags with uneven stripe counts or non-stripe elements like crosses, spikes and triangles. Most of these patterns aren’t exact representations of their respective flags, as I am constrained by cross stitch’s pixellated nature as well as the width and angled slope of the arrow fletching. I hope, however, that these patterns come close enough that aegoromantic, apothiromantic and demiromantic folks feel included in this series.

Four cross stitch patches sitting on a blue microfibre blanket. Two of them are arrows stitched on a single-colour rectangular background, edged with buttonhole stitch; two of them are arrows with the buttonhole edging shaped around the arrow itself. All arrows have a tan and light tan shaft, grey arrowhead and fletching in the colours of various horizontal-striped pride flags. From top to bottom: rectangle allo-aro arrow on light green background with green edging, shaped allo-aro arrow with white edging, loveless aromantic arrow on dark green background with yellow/green multicoloured edging, and shaped quoiromantic arrow with mint edging.

Folks who need help with materials, stitching, finishing or attaching patches should check out my tutorial master page.

Previous patterns are available at part one and my pattern gallery.

Notes on Pattern Structure

Full coloured blocks indicate a full cross stitch. Letter outlines indicate backstitch.

Blocks divided on the diagonal by a line of backstitch, each half a different colour, indicate quarter stitches. Please see my first text tutorial and my pride text tutorial for more information on backstitching outlines and placing quarter/fractional stitches.

Space for edging your patch is not shown in the patterns below. You’ll need to allow additional blocks for this when cutting your swatch, depending on how narrow or thick you like your edges.

Dimensions and Modifications

All arrow patterns fit a rectangle 63 stitches wide and 17 stitches high. Assuming a three stitch border, as for my other patches, this means you’ll want a 66 x 20 block swatch plus any excess (if used unmodified).

If you’d like to omit the background and stitch your edging directly around the arrow to make a shaped patch, you’ll need a rectangle 63 stitches wide and 16 stitches high plus excess (presuming the same border width). My pride hearts patch tutorial contains a photographic breakdown on buttonhole stitching around a curved or irregular shape!

Please see my original arrow patch tutorial for a guide to background modifications and the stitching process.

Patterns: Uneven Stripes and Other Flag Elements

I have two arrows available: one with a plain shaft, the other with a binding that matches the fletching. Please note that while these patterns depict the aromantic-spectrum variant of their respective identity category (like aegoromantic), they can be used for other a-spectrum identities (like aegosexual or aegoplatonic) by swapping the colours.

Aego

A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, aegoromantic pride flag fletching and a light grey-green background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and dark green stitches outline the fletching.
A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, aegoromantic pride flag fletching, aegoromantic binding where shaft meets arrowhead, and a light grey-green background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and dark green stitches outline the fletching.

Apothi

A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, apothiromantic pride flag fletching and a light grey-pink background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and dark green stitches outline the fletching.
A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, apothiromantic pride flag fletching, apothiromantic binding where shaft meets arrowhead, and a light grey-pink background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and dark green stitches outline the fletching.

Ay or Greyromantic

A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, ay pride flag fletching and a pale blue background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and navy stitches outline the fletching.
A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, ay pride flag fletching, ay binding where shaft meets arrowhead, and a pale blue background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and navy stitches outline the fletching.

Caed

A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, caedromantic pride flag fletching and a pale green background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and green stitches outline the fletching.
A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, caedromantic pride flag fletching, caedromantic binding where shaft meets arrowhead, and a pale green background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and green stitches outline the fletching.

Caligo

A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, caligoromantic pride flag fletching and a light grey-purple background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and dark green stitches outline the fletching.
A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, caligoromantic pride flag fletching, caligoromantic binding where shaft meets arrowhead, and a light grey-purple background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and dark green stitches outline the fletching.

Demi or Dello (Triangle)

A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, demiromantic pride flag fletching and a pale green background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and green stitches outline the fletching.
A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, demiromantic pride flag fletching, demiromantic binding where shaft meets arrowhead, and a pale green background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and green stitches outline the fletching.

Demi (Diamond/Rhombus)

A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, demiromantic pride flag fletching and a pale green background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and green stitches outline the fletching.
A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, demiromantic pride flag fletching, demiromantic binding where shaft meets arrowhead, and a pale green background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and green stitches outline the fletching.

Jump

A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, arojump pride flag fletching and a dark green background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and light green stitches outline the fletching.
A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, arojump pride flag fletching, arojump binding where shaft meets arrowhead, and a dark green background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and light green stitches outline the fletching.

Priori Aro

A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, priori aro pride flag fletching and a pale peach background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and green stitches outline the fletching.
A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, priori aro pride flag fletching, priori aro binding where shaft meets arrowhead, and a pale peach background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and green stitches outline the fletching.

Spike (Stripe)

A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, arospike pride flag fletching and a dark mint/teal background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and light green stitches outline the fletching.
A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, arospike pride flag fletching, arospike binding where shaft meets arrowhead, and a dark mint/teal background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and light green stitches outline the fletching.

Spike (Spike)

A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, arospike pride flag fletching and a light pink background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and light green stitches outline the fletching.
A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, arospike pride flag fletching, arospike binding where shaft meets arrowhead, and a light pink background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and light green stitches outline the fletching.

Vague

A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, arovague pride flag fletching and a pale green background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and green stitches outline the fletching.
A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, arovague pride flag fletching, arovague binding where shaft meets arrowhead, and a pale green background. Outline stitching in a dark grey frames the arrowhead, with lighter grey lines of back stitching running down the head; the tan shaft is framed in a darker tan; and green stitches outline the fletching and binding.

Multi-Flag Modifications

These arrows can also be made in the dual-fletching style. For aego, apothi, caed, caligo, jump and spike patterns, however, this means omitting half the flag. This may impact your flag’s ability to be recognised.

The fletching can be swapped with the horizontal stripe patterns as follows:

  • Aego: four or eight stripes
  • Apothi: three or five stripes
  • Ay/Greyro: three or five stripes
  • Caed: three or five stripes
  • Caligo: four or eight stripes
  • Demi/Dello (Triangle): three or five stripes
  • Demi (Diamond/Rhombus): four or eight stripes
  • Jump: three or five stripes
  • Priori Aro: three or five stripes
  • Spike (Stripe): four or eight stripes
  • Spike (Spike): three or five stripes
  • Vague: four or eight stripes

The bindings can be swapped between all arrow patterns, irrespective of stripe count.

And that’s it for this series! I’m glad to have expanded upon my original patterns, but not all aromantic-spectrum flags are encompassed by even these additions. I’ll be adding missing flags to my list of patterns to make for weekly posting on Patreon, so please check out my monthly pattern collection posts or my patch pattern gallery for future aro arrows!

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.