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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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:
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!
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:
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
Aro Worlds 