Are you an aromantic or otherwise queer person wanting more text patch designs for three, four, six and twelve-stripe pride flags? Do you crave patches depicting longer words like “aromantic asexual”? I now have a complete alphabet, with wide letters great for larger objects, to accompany my many four-stripe block text patterns. Plus patterns for the words “aromantic”, “asexual”, “alterous” and “nope” … and even “wtf” for my fellow quoi folks!
You’ll need familiarity with cross stitch (full crosses and fractional stitches) and backstitch to make unedged patches, along with buttonhole stitch to make the edged patches shown above. The first instalment of this patch tutorial series demonstrates cross and blanket/buttonhole stitch, while the second covers backstitch. While these patterns use fractional stitches to round off most letters, they can be omitted for a more pixellated look.
Folks after patterns suitable for five and ten-stripe pride flags should check out my other Aro Alphabet posts!
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.
Letter Patterns: Alphabet
All letters are twelve blocks/stitches high, comprising four horizontal stripes formed by three rows of stitches.
All letters save “I”, “M” and “W” are nine blocks/stitches wide:
The letter “I” is three stitches wide, while “M” and “W” are twelve stitches wide.
These patterns show two blocks/stitches’ space between each letter, as this is the tracking I use for the majority of my text designs. This can be increased or decreased as preferred.
This chart shows how to convert the four-stripe alphabet patterns for three, six and twelve-stripe flags:
A three-stripe flag (far left) requires four rows of stitches per stripe, while a six-stripe flag (centre right) requires two rows of stitches per stripe. While these letters can be divided into twelve stripes (far right), or sewn in various combinations of wider and narrower stripes that fit a twelve-block base, they aren’t suitable for other flag styles if you wish accurately-even stripes.
Text Patterns: A-Spec
While I create these alphabets so you can make any pride-themed text, I’ve expanded my twelve-block pattern collection with more ready-to-stitch identity terms!
Alterous
The four-stripe “alterous” pattern fits a rectangle 88 stitches wide and 16 stitches high. Assuming a three stitch border, as for my other patches, this means you’ll want a 91 x 19 block swatch plus any excess (if used unmodified).
Aromantic
The four-stripe “aromantic” pattern fits a rectangle 98 stitches wide and 16 stitches high. Assuming a three stitch border, as for my other patches, this means you’ll want a 101 x 19 block swatch plus any excess (if used unmodified).
Asexual
The four-stripe “asexual” pattern fits a rectangle 79 stitches wide and 16 stitches high. Assuming a three stitch border, as for my other patches, this means you’ll want a 82 x 19 block swatch plus any excess (if used unmodified).
Nope
The six-stripe “nope” pattern fits a rectangle 46 stitches wide and 16 stitches high. Assuming a three stitch border, as for my other patches, this means you’ll want a 49 x 19 block swatch plus any excess (if used unmodified).
WTF
The four-stripe “wtf” pattern fits a rectangle 38 stitches wide and 16 stitches high. Assuming a three stitch border, as for my other patches, this means you’ll want a 41 x 19 block swatch plus any excess (if used unmodified).
All patterns use a two-block tracking between letters as well as two rows/columns of background stitching spaced above, below and beside the text. (Due to letter shape, however, there is no space between the “l” and the “t” in “alterous”.) You may like to decrease or increase either, especially between certain letters, but consistent tracking and/or spacing aids in estimating swatch size and creating new patterns from existing ones.
Please see my first alphabet tutorial for more information on tracking and spacing. Additionally, my pattern gallery has more patterns to use for estimating fabric swatches or as a base for custom patterns.
Combining and Customising Patterns
The four-stripe “aromantic”, “asexual” and “alterous” patterns–along with my older “aplatonic“, “aroace” and “acearo” patterns–can be combined with shorter patterns to create complete a-spec terms. (I created the four-stripe “aromantic” pattern largely for specific aromantic-spectrum identity flags, as four-stripe general aromantic flags aren’t commonly used.) As every pattern has a two block background column preceding the first letter and following the last, remember to delete one when merging patterns to preserve the two-block tracking between letters. You may need to delete the first “a” (another nine blocks) in “aromantic”, “asexual”, “aplatonic” and “alterous” when creating single-word patches for terms like “cupioromantic” or “quoiplatonic”.
If making custom patterns for identities comprising two or more separated words–like “oriented aroace”–you may like to use my “no police at pride” pattern as a spacing guide.
A-spec identities with twelve-block patterns suitable for combining include:
Demi, caligo and aego folks may find my pride text patterns useful when adding diamonds and triangles. Most queer or LGBTQIA+ terms with a horizontal three, four, six or twelve-stripe flag, however, can be created using the latin alphabet above.
As words like “platoniromantic” occupy significant fabric real estate, you may want to check out my guide to stitching longer text patches. 10-count and 11-count aida is best avoided if you’re planning to attach your patch to smaller bags or garments. Don’t forget to check that your aida swatch fits in your desired location before stitching!
That’s it for this post … but keep an eye out for my forthcoming seven-stripe alphabet post, perfect for nebularomantics and many combined aro-ace flags!
Aro Worlds 