Pride Patch Tutorials

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.

As a disabled creative on a limited income, I can’t do a Rowan Ross and order pride-flag mugs online. Nor is pride merch widely available for many of my identities. The only way for me to display my aromantic pride is to make it myself–so I experimented with my own aro cross-stitch patches, given that cross stitch is an easy form of hand embroidery and I owned most of the needed supplies.

An assortment of cross stitch patches with wide hand-embroidered borders in rectangluar and square shapes. Patches include various aromantic-spectrum flags in straight and zigzag lines, text patches "aro", "abro", "alloaro" and "aroace", arrow patches, patches with pan/ply hearts atop the allo-aro flag, heart-shaped patches and the A in aro, abro and allo-aro colours.

These patches are (mostly) quick to sew, involve materials that can be found at some dollar shops and most craft stores, and can be attached to your bags, coats and hats. With the addition of a safety pin at the back, they can even become badges!

All patterns are also available organised by type: flag/symbol, arrows, ten block text, twelve block text, fourteen block text and fifteen block text.

(Folks interested in beaded pendants and charms might prefer this pride star tutorial!)

Tutorial One: Basic Stripes

In which I cover my preferred materials and sources, working out the size of your patch, sewing stripes and edging your patch.

Three square four-stripe 16 x 16 block cross stitch pride flag patterns, set on a grey grid. Flags from left to right: horizontal grey/lime/white/coral idemromantic flag; vertical black/green/white/grey demiromantic flag with black rhombus/diamond; horizontal grey/lime/cyan/light grey demiquoi flag with black triangle.

Tutorial Two: Zigzag Stripes

In which I cover the steps for cross stitching a horizontal zigzag stripe as well as attaching your patch to a bag and sewing a safety pin to the back of your patch.

Two rectangular cross stitch pride flag patterns with zigzag stripes, striped in the colours of the dark green/light green/white/yellow/gold allo-aro flag and the dark green/light green/white/grey/black aromantic flag. The allo-aro flag patch has a simple wide stripe with no repetitions; the aromantic flag patch has many narrow stripes repeated down the patch.

Tutorial Three: Aro Text, Part One

In which I provide the pattern for the words “aro” and “alloaro” worked in a five-stripe flag design.

Cross stitch pattern with the text alloaro in block lettering, striped in the colours of the dark green/light gren/white/yellow/gold allo-aro flag, on a purple background.

Tutorial Four: Aro Text, Part Two

In which I provide the pattern for the word “aroace” worked in a four-stripe and five-stripe flag design.

Cross stitch pattern with the text aroace in block lettering, striped in the colours of the orange/yellow/white/blue/navy aroace flag, on a light blue-grey background.

Tutorial Five: Aro Arrows

In which I provide four stripe and seven-stripe arrow patch patterns, along with guides for various ways to modify or customise said patterns.

A cross stitch pattern for an arrow design with an elongated triangle arrowhead in grey, a tan shaft, nebularomantic pride flag fletching, nebularomantic binding where shaft meets arrowhead, and a 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 purple stitches outline the fletching and binding.

I also have updated arrow patterns for a much wider rage of striped and aromantic spectrum flags, as well as guides for further modification and flag combinations.

Tutorial Six: Pride Hearts

In which I provide heart-shaped patch patterns for horizontal three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten stripe flags, sewn both upside up (for those wishing to emphasise love) and upside down (for loveless aros and those wishing to de-centre love in their pride).

Cross stitch patch patterns for three heart patches. The left-hand patch, with fractional stitches to make an angled border, has four stripes in the colours of the asexual flag and is framed in a darker purple outline. The middle patch, in a pixel style with no fractional stitches, has five stripes in the colours of the allo-aro flag and is framed in a darker gold outline. The right-hand patch, with fractional stitches to make an angled border, has ten stripes in the colours of an a-spec flag and is framed in a green outline.

Tutorial Seven: Aro Text, Part Three

In which I provide the patterns for the word “aro” and two variations on the letter “a”, all worked in a five-stripe flag design.

Two square cross stitch patterns with the letter "a" in lower-case and upper-case lettering. The lower-case design has a square border around it; the upper case has none. Both letters, and the border, are striped in the colours of the dark mint/light mint/white/light pink/dark pink abro flag, on a dark black-purple background. Both letters are outlined in violet.

Tutorial Eight: Pride Patch Jacket, Part One

In which I attach patches made with the prior tutorials to a denim jacket, discussing materials, layout, techniques and tips.

A light wash, blue, cropped denim jacket sitting on a blue, white, yellow, green, navy and cyan striped quilt cover. The front of the jacket is covered in an assortment of handsewn cross stitch patches, including the letters "A" in pride flag stripes, two arrow designs, hearts in various flag stripes, a frog, two dragons, a hot air balloon, the word "abro" and the words "aro" in upper and lower case type.

Tutorial Nine: Aro Alphabet (Aro Text, Part Four)

In which I provide a complete A-Z alphabet of lower-case pixel letters designed for five-stripe pride flags, plus tips on creating your own text patches.

An alphabet cross stitch patch pattern striped in the colours of the green/light green/white/yellow/gold pride flag, with a black background. Pattern is set on a light grey grid. Letters are outlined, indicating backstitch, in light grey. Letters shown include lower-case a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, and j, with an uppercase I.

Tutorial Ten: Ace of Spades

In which I take my heart pattern, turn it upside down and create an ace of spades design for flags with three, four, five and seven horizontal stripes:

A cross stitch pattern for two different ace of spades patches on a grey grid background. The left-hand patch has five stripes, in the colours of the gold/yellow/lemon/ecru/brown angled aro-ace flag, and is framed in a darker gold outline. The right-hand patch has four stripes, in the colours of the navy/blue-grey/white/aqua oriented aro-ace flag, and is framed in a light aqua outline.

Tutorial Eleven: Aro Text, Part Five

In which I provide a series of text patterns for flags with three, four and six horizontal stripes, including designs for aego, cupio, fray, recip and quoi folks!

Quoiromantic cross stitch patch pattern with the text quoi in upper-case block lettering, striped in the colours of the black/green/cyan/light grey quoiromantic flag, with a teal-blue background. Pattern is set on a light grey grid. Letters are outlined, indicating backstitch, in mint.

Tutorial Twelve: Inset Rhombus

In which I provide a pattern for a five-stripe rhombus set against the background of a second five-stripe flag:

A cross stitch pattern for three different square patches on a grey grid background. Each patch shows two different five-stripe pride flags--one as a square, the other as a rhrombus set into the centre of the square. Both flags in each patch share a white centre stripe. From left to right: allo-aro (green/light green/white/yellow/gold) with an inset lesbian flag (dark orange/orange/white/pink/dark pink); queerplatonic (yellow/pink/white/grey/black) with an inset abro flag (mint/light mint/white/light pink/pink); and nebularomantic (maroon/coral/white/teal-blue/dark teal-blue) with an inset nebulasexual flag (pine green/light olive/white/tan/brown).

Tutorial Thirteen: Pride Text (Aro Text, Part Six)

In which I provide “pride” text patterns for horizontal three, four, five, six, seven and ten-stripe pride flags, as well as specific designs for aego, apothi, demi, intersex, jump and spike flags.

Cross stitch patch pattern with the text pride in upper-case block lettering, striped in the colours of the dark green/green/white/grey/black aromantic pride flag, with a dark violet background. Pattern is set on a light grey grid. Letters are outlined, indicating backstitch, in white-grey.

Tutorial Fourteen: Aro Text, Part Seven

In which I provide a series of text patterns for flags with seven horizontal stripes, including designs for aro, ace, allo-aro, aro-ace, nebula, agender and queer folks!

Aro-Ace Agender cross stitch patch pattern with the text Triple A in upper-case block lettering, striped in the colours of the black/green/white/lime/white/violet/black aro-ace agender pride flag, with a dark green background. Pattern is set on a light grey grid. Letters are outlined, indicating backstitch, in grey.

Tutorial Fifteen: Aro Alphabet, Part Two (Aro Text, Part Eight)

In which I provide a complete A-Z alphabet of lower-case pixel letters designed for three, four, six and twelve-stripe pride flags, plus icon patterns and tips on creating your own text patches.

An alphabet cross stitch patch pattern striped in the colours of the mint/white/purple/navy aro-ace pride flag. Pattern is set on a light grey grid. Letters are outlined, indicating backstitch, in light purple. Letters shown include lower-case a, b, c, d, e, f, g and h, with an uppercase I.

Tutorial Sixteen: A is for Aro Patch, Necklace and Keychain

In which I provide a small freehand embroidery design designed for five-stripe flags plus tutorials for turning this into a patch, a necklace and a keychain–using miniature embroidery frames!

Two finished pendant frames and a patch sit atop a blue microfibre blanket. Right/middle: a balsa wood pendant frame with the abro-coloured letter A and flowers design embroidered on green fabric and mounted so as to protrude above the edge of the frame. A hand-twisted pink cord is attached to the frame's hardware via a gold jump ring. Centre/top: the allo-aro-coloured letter A and flowers design embroidered on green fabric and cut to form an oval patch, finished with light green blanket stitch. Left/bottom: a frame with the aro-coloured letter A and flowers design embroidered on cream fabric, also mounted so as to protrude outwards. A hand-twisted aro-coloured cord is attached via a gold jump ring.

Tutorial Seventeen: Aro Alphabet, Part Three (Aro Text, Part Nine)

In which I provide a complete A-Z alphabet of upper-case block letters designed for five and ten-stripe pride flags, plus icon patterns and tips for sewing long text patterns.

A block alphabet cross stitch patch pattern striped in the colours of the green/light green/white/grey/black aromantic pride flag. Pattern is set on a light grey grid. Letters are outlined, indicating backstitch, in dark green. Letters shown include upper-case a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m and n.

Tutorial Seventeen: Aro Alphabet, Part Four (Aro Text, Part Ten)

In which I provide a complete A-Z alphabet of upper-case block letters designed for three, four, six and twelve-stripe pride flags, plus several a-spectrum text patterns.

An alphabet cross stitch patch pattern striped in the colours of the navy/blue-grey/white/aqua oriented aro-ace pride flag. Pattern is set on a light grey grid. Letters are outlined, indicating backstitch, in dark teal. Letters shown include upper-case a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h and i.

Tutorial Eighteen: Aro Alphabet, Part Five (Aro Text, Part Eleven)

In which I provide a complete A-Z alphabet of upper-case block letters designed for seven and fourteen-stripe pride flags, plus several a-spectrum text patterns.

An alphabet cross stitch patch pattern striped in the colours of the maroon/coral/pink/white/cyan/blue/navy nebularomantic flag. Pattern is set on a light grey grid. Letters are outlined, indicating backstitch, in light purple. Letters shown include upper-case a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h and i.

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