Tag: pride crafts

Pride Cross Stitch: Allo-Aro Dragon

Handdrawn illustration of a green meadow foreground with green pine trees growing against various green-hued mountain ridgelines. Scene is overlaid with the dark green/light green/white/grey/black stripes of the aromantic pride flag. The text Aro Worlds Crafts sits across the image in a black, antique handdrawn type, separated by two ornate Victorian-style black dividers.
~ K. A. ~ Leave a comment

As I’m deep in the middle of last-minute proofreading, today’s Aro Week post is something small, cheerful and slightly goofy: a little allo-aro dragon.

A cross-stitched patch sitting atop a blue microfibre blanket. The patch features a green dragon with darker green wings, undersized compared to the dragon's body, and a belly striped in yellow and gold. White splotches dapple the dragon's back and yellow spikes trim its spine and tail. The patch is stitched on white aida and edged with a double row of white blanket stitch, resembling a lace trim.

Because I wanted to keep to pride colours, the darker green stitches for eyes, nostril and lips don’t stand out against the lighter green. I should have stitched them in black as per the chart. I do like how boxing in the stitches with squareish outlining adds to the goofiness, though; this little guy belongs in a vintage video game!

This design is by Durene Jones and was published in issue 321 of the UK magazine The World of Cross Stitching. This issue includes a 41-pattern set of fantasy and mythology-themed motif patterns (great for patches) with a colour palette making heavy use of greens, yellows, white, grey and black. Perfect for aros who like fairy tales!

I stitched this piece in the Sullivans equivalent to DMC 401, 403, white/blanc, 727 and 725. Rather than edge in buttonhole stitch as usual, I finished this patch with a blanket stitch through each hole along the edge of the design, followed by a second row of blanket stitch worked through the stitches of the first row. This gives the aida edges a lace-like trim … and it’s a lot quicker than buttonhole stitch. So much quicker!

This issue (released last year) also has a watermelon tag pattern that’s begging for an aroflux or abro makeover. I may be planning to stitch the unicorn and pegasus designs onto a green cotton tote to make another aro-themed bag, because who doesn’t need more than one?

Pride Bead Tutorial: Aro Stars

Handdrawn illustration of a green meadow foreground with green pine trees growing against various green-hued mountain ridgelines. Scene is overlaid with the dark green/light green/white/grey/black stripes of the aromantic pride flag. The text Aro Worlds Crafts sits across the image in a black, antique handdrawn type, separated by two ornate Victorian-style black dividers.
~ K. A. ~ Leave a comment

This tutorial transforms kandi bead stars into pride-coloured ornaments, charms, keychains, zipper-pulls and necklace pendants. They’re simple and quick to make–plus most materials are readily available at dollar shops and craft stores. Flags with four or more stripes (horizontal or vertical) can be transformed into pride-themed stars using this technique, meaning your pride display is limited only by your bead collection!

Seven beaded stars sitting on a blue microfibre blanket. Three stars are made from pony beads, attached to a small piece of ribbon or cord as a dangling decoration, and four are made from seed beads and are attached to a necklace cord via a jump or split ring. One pony bead and one seed bead star is made in the colours of the five-stripe aromantic flag; one pony bead star is made in the colours of the seven-stripe nebularomantic flag; one pony bead star is made from the colours of a four-stripe cupioromantic flag; one seed bead star is made from the colours of the five-stripe allo-aro flag; one seed bead star is made from the colours of the four-stripe quoiromantic flag; and one seed bead star is made from the colours of the six-stripe aro-ace flag.
Continue reading “Pride Bead Tutorial: Aro Stars” →

Pride Embroidery: Subtle Allo Arrows

Handdrawn illustration of a green meadow foreground with green pine trees growing against various green-hued mountain ridgelines. Scene is overlaid with the dark green/light green/white/grey/black stripes of the aromantic pride flag. The text Aro Worlds Crafts sits across the image in a black, antique handdrawn type, separated by two ornate Victorian-style black dividers.
~ K. A. ~ Leave a comment

To finish @aggressivelyarospec‘s Aggressively Arospectacular 2022 event, I have a final embroidery piece to share with you all.

(I live in Australia, so for me the week is complete. What’s the good of living in the future, however, if you can’t indulge in a little time trickery … as long as it’s still Saturday somewhere?)

In contrast to the Aro Bag, this one’s so subtle folks can be forgiven for not recognising it as pride-themed:

A freehand embroidery piece on cream calico, set into a bamboo embroidery hoop. The piece consists of a repeating pattern of arrows--created from simple dashed lines--in green and gold thread. The hoop sits atop a blue microfibre blanket.
Continue reading “Pride Embroidery: Subtle Allo Arrows” →

Embroidery Kit Makeover: Allo-Aro Unicorn

Handdrawn illustration of a green meadow foreground with green pine trees growing against various green-hued mountain ridgelines. Scene is overlaid with the dark green/light green/white/grey/black stripes of the aromantic pride flag. The text Aro Worlds Crafts sits across the image in a black, antique handdrawn type, separated by two ornate Victorian-style black dividers.
~ K. A. ~ Leave a comment

For @aggressivelyarospec‘s Aggressively Arospectacular 2022 week-long event, I have again undertaken a quest of daily creative offerings.

Today’s piece awakens my slumbering make-over series with an allosexual aromantic version of a K-Mart unicorn embroidery kit:

A freehand embroidery piece on cream drill or canvas, set into a bamboo embroidery hoop. The piece consists of a unicorn outline stitched in white with strands of light and dark green hair and a yellow and gold horn. Beneath the unicorn sits a row of daisy-type flowers, leaves and coloured dots in the aforementioned colours. All stitching is done in backstitch; only the centres of the flowers and the unicorn's horn have been filled in with tight backstitched swirls. The hoop sits atop a blue microfibre blanket.

I bought this kit for $3 AUD from K-Mart’s toy (not craft) section. I stress that because this kit is of far better quality than K-Mart’s adult embroidery kits! If you want a design that celebrates sweetness or cuteness, or you just like unicorns, this kit is almost perfect for a pride makeover.

Continue reading “Embroidery Kit Makeover: Allo-Aro Unicorn” →

Pride Cross Stitch: The Aro Bag

Handdrawn illustration of a green meadow foreground with green pine trees growing against various green-hued mountain ridgelines. Scene is overlaid with the dark green/light green/white/grey/black stripes of the aromantic pride flag. The text Aro Worlds Crafts sits across the image in a black, antique handdrawn type, separated by two ornate Victorian-style black dividers.
~ K. A. ~ Leave a comment

For @aggressivelyarospec‘s Aggressively Arospectacular 2022 week-long event, I have again undertaken a quest of daily creative offerings.

Today’s piece is the most obnoxiously aromantic of all! The Aro Bag is a wildly unsubtle expression of aromantic pride, useful for special events and gaming alike–thanks to a removable, adjustable ribbon strap.

A drawstring bag made of white aida sitting atop a blue microfibre blanket. The word "aro" has been cross stitched eight times, in a two-by-four pattern, on the front of the bag in pride-stripe colours. Black eyelet lace, threaded with light grey ribbon, decorates the top; black edging lace finishes the bottom. The ends of the grey ribbon are finished with five perler/hama beads in pride-stripe colours. The bag has been pulled shut via the eyelet lace; the grey ribbon is tied in a loose bow at the front of the bag.

You think that’s a lot of aro? Wait until you see the other side!

Continue reading “Pride Cross Stitch: The Aro Bag” →

Pride Cross Stitch: Beutron Fruit Kits

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. ~ Leave a comment

For @aggressivelyarospec‘s Aggressively Arospectacular 2022 week-long event, I have again undertaken a quest of daily creative offerings.

I’m kicking off proceedings with patches from kits that are so close to being pride-themed I didn’t make them over: Beutron’s watermelon and pineapple cross-stitch mini kits.

Photo of two patches formed from the Beutron mini cross stitch kits. Left: a pink watermelon slice with green rind, stitched in green, light green, cream, light pink and pink. Right: a pineapple topped with green leaves, stitched in gold, yellow, cream, light green and green. Both patches are edged in buttonhole stitch using a cream floss slightly darker than that included in the kit. Both patches sit atop a blue microfibre blanket.

I may have squealed upon sighting these. Can a pre-existing kit be any more allo-aro?

Continue reading “Pride Cross Stitch: Beutron Fruit Kits” →

Pride Month Patch Patterns: Aro Queer Text

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. ~ Leave a comment

If you follow me here or elsewhere, you probably know that I posted a collection including pixel-style “queer” text patterns for three, four and six-stripe pride flags. If you’re really invested in my creative output, you may remember that last year’s Pride Month patch patterns included lower and upper-case pixel-style “queer” patterns for five-stripe flags. On Patreon and Tumblr, meanwhile, I’ve been posting pixel-style “queer” header images in aromantic spectrum pride colours–headers based upon my original patterns.

Given that I also made a-spectrum variants of last year’s “pride” text patterns, I don’t know why I didn’t think to create a-spectrum “queer” text patterns before the end of June. I can and will, however, hurriedly finish Pride Month with patterns celebrating apothi, aego, caed, caligo, demi, jump, spike and vague folks!

Three cross stitch text pieces sitting on a blue microfibre blanket. All pieces show the word "queer" in a pixel-style capitalised lower-case lettering. The topmost piece, a finished patch, shows the word sewn in the colours of the demiromantic flag on a yellow background, outlined with yellow cord and sewn onto a dark green felt. The felt is trimmed with a lighter green blanket stitch. The left-hand piece, also a finished patch, has every letter stitched in a different five-stripe pride flag: aro for q, abro for u, butch for e, trans for e and allo-aro for r. Each leter is set against a different pastel background: green, pink, purple, blue and orange. The patch is trimmed in blanket stitch worked in a cotton-candy-coloured pink/cyan/cream/mint floss. The right hand piece shows the word stitched in the colours of the aromantic flag, outlined in dark green. The cream coloured felt has been trimmed but is otherwise left unfinished.

Some patterns will require fractional stitches to sew as shown. Folks who need help with materials, stitching, finishing or attaching patches should check out my pride text tutorial and my tutorial master page.

Continue reading “Pride Month Patch Patterns: Aro Queer Text” →

Pride Month Patch Patterns: More (Not Aro) Queer Text

Text reading "pride patch patterns" against a grey grid background. The words pride and pattern are written in a black handdrawn/script font and outlined with white. The word patch is drawn pixel-style like a cross stitch pattern and filled in with the green/light green/white/grey/black stripes of the aromantic flag.
~ K. A. ~ Leave a comment

Last year, I expanded my library of pride patch patterns to encompass non-aromantic identities. This year, I thought to continue this adventure in queered cross-stitch! Alas, this still isn’t a fully-inclusive collection … but I’ve now expanded my range of gender-related identities plus a few more variants for many-flag identities like “gay” and “lesbian”.

Nine cross stitch text patches sitting on a blue microfibre blanket. From top to bottom: "apl" in aplatonic colours on a blue-purple background; "Q" in rainbow colours on a black background; "trans" in trans colours with a light blue felt backing; "queer" in rainbow colours on a black background; "pride" in trans colours on a black-navy background; "aromantic" in aromantic colours on a yellow background; "quoi" in quoiromantic colours on a teal background; "pan" in pansexual colours on a black packground; and "pride" in nebularomantic colours on a mint background. Words are a mix of capitals in a blockish style of text with rounded corners or lower-case letters in a pixel-style text. Each is outlined in backstitch. Most patches are finished with a buttonhole stitch edging in colours similar to (lighter or darker than) their background colour, with exceptions being the pride patch in trans colours (mottled pink, white and blue) and the queer patch (mottled maroon and mahogany).

Additional ace, agender, aplatonic, bi, butch, pride, queer and trans text patch patterns are available at my patch pattern gallery. Folks wishing custom text patches for flags with three, four, five, six, ten or twelve horizontal stripes can use my five/ten-stripe block letter, five/ten-stripe pixel letter and three/four/six-stripe pixel letter alphabets to create their own patterns. I also have a wide range of aromantic spectrum text patterns which may be combined and adapted for many more a-spectrum flags.

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

Continue reading “Pride Month Patch Patterns: More (Not Aro) Queer Text” →

Pride Patch Collection: Rainbows

Handdrawn illustration of a green meadow foreground with green pine trees growing against various green-hued mountain ridgelines. Scene is overlaid with the dark green/light green/white/grey/black stripes of the aromantic pride flag. The text Aro Worlds Crafts sits across the image in a black, antique handdrawn type, separated by two ornate Victorian-style black dividers.
~ K. A. ~ Leave a comment

As chronic pain plagued me during January, thus derailing my plains, I’m starting Aro Week with something easy: my small collection of rainbow-shaped pride patches.

Three five-stripe rainbow cross stitch patches sitting on a blue microfibre blanket. All patches show a striped arch/rainbow shape with a buttonhole stitch edging and a centre filling cross stitched in the same colour as the edging. From top to bottom, clockwise: aromantic (green/light green/white/grey/black), edged in light mint-blue; alloaro (green/light green/white/yellow/gold), edged in light pink-purple; and abrosexual/abroromantic (mint-green/light mint-green/white/pastel pink/pink) edged in light purple-blue.

These patches were made using a five-stripe pattern available in K-Mart’s 22 Piece Cross Stitch Kit, albeit adjusted to better suit my taste in terms of shape and symmetry. (It can be stitched as is: I just have the compulsive need to tweak, change and modify every cross stitch or embroidery pattern I work!) As I’ve long wanted to make a rainbow pride patch but disliked my own attempts, finding this pattern in a kit I bought for the plastic hoop was a delightful bonus. I mean … what queer doesn’t want rainbows sewn onto their pride patch jacket?

Continue reading “Pride Patch Collection: Rainbows” →

Pride Patch / Pendant Tutorial: A is for Aro

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. ~ Leave a comment

This freehand embroidery design can be worked in multiple ways: as a pendant suspended from a necklace or keychain, a small fabric patch, or a motif sewn directly onto bags and clothing. You can even hang it on the wall inside a small embroidery hoop or frame!

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.

This tiny piece is great for using up scraps and suits a variety of embroidery stitches. Even better, it only takes a few hours to stitch up!

Continue reading “Pride Patch / Pendant Tutorial: A is for Aro” →