Firstly, thank you for being here! This is my second blog post and because it's Pride month, I want to dig into some of my favorite Pride patterns. I'm a fan of rainbows and everything, but sometimes you want something a little more subtle, something that still shows your spirit, but isn't blasting rainbow dust in your face.
Stonewall Garden - TheCraftXperimentalist
The first Pride was literally a riot and I found this pattern called Stonewall Garden by TheCraftXperimentalist (she/he/they) very moving. This is their fourth year designing a sampler for Pride and love that it's modern, yet has a historical feel to it.
I asked them about this design and they responded:
"Stonewall Garden is inspired by the "Adam and Eve" samplers of early America. I really dove into the symbolism of not only the individual motifs themselves, but the colors and number of times the motifs appear. You'll notice many of the motifs are repeated twice; two being the number representative of diversity. The four pansies are for good wishes and power/solidity, while the colorful butterflies represent transformation, liberation, dignity, justice, hope, and sincerity. The grasshopper in a field of corn is not only the acknowledgement of the old age/timelessness of our existence as queer people, but also my wish that we each live to old age and experience so much growth and life. I have included a list of the sampler elements and their meanings in the pattern file for those curious, but the overall message is one of endurance, friendship, love, hope, and the strength we can find when we embrace our diversity as members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community."
You can find this design here:
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Violets - SproutingLupine
Kat of Sprouting Lupine (she/her) also released a new, yet subtle pattern this year called Violets. I love that the colorways are interchangeable to everyone's preferred flag.
When asked about her inspiration for this design, Kat replied,
"As far as design thought process goes, I knew I wanted to do something more subtle related to bisexuality. I decided to design something around violets, one of the flowers Sappho included in her poems and a queer symbol used by various groups and media, especially by sapphics. As the queer community is so vibrant and colorful, I also wanted a design where colors could be easily swapped to suit any pride flag!"
You can find this design here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1466375861/violets-bi-pride-floral-cross-stitch
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Aro and Ace Pride Froggy - Ansitru
I noticed Astrid of Ansitru (she/her) several years ago with their insanely beautiful pixel art. They created homescapes with the coziest cottagecore vibes and also animals in solidarity with Pride. I love frogs so much, so I'm drawn to these two patterns representing Aromantics (Aro) and Asexual (Ace) themes. Astrid explains the inspiration behind these designs called Aro and Ace Pride Froggy:
"So, the idea actually started with the bi possum as the very first design, with me wanting to try and find animals that "fit" the pride flags they're holding. For the aro and ace pieces, I wanted to make them fit together (as they are represented by the same letter in the LGBTQIA+ acronym), while also not making them entirely identical. As for why I chose the frogs for the aro and ace flags, it boils down to a very simple reason: I am ace myself and I love frogs, haha"
You can find these designs here as a bundle:
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Not Gay As in Happy - ScreamingHeartXStitch
Teresa of ScreamingHeartXstitch (she/her) has been a pillar in the stitching community for as long as I can remember. A couple years ago, she released this molotov cocktail pattern. I feel like this represents the fight and struggle that people are still working through for equity and equality.
"As a queer designer, Pride Month is always a mix of joy and anger to me. While there is so much to celebrate, I was inspired to make this pattern because Pride had its beginnings in protest and I think this is important to carry with us as we continue onwards. "
Find this design here:
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Love Deeply - PixelPixieXstitch
Kristi of PixelPixieXstitch (she/her) released this design of two anglerfish in love and I love it especially because of the colorings, and the message being clear: Love Deeply. The origin story of this design is also a story of self-discovery! Kristi shared with me these thoughts:
"Really the way I designed it is I thought about what was an “unloveable” creature to most humans. Something we typically think is ugly or scary. For a fun dichotomy. I always do research on plants and particularly animals before designing because I have a brain that strives for accuracy and would be kicking myself if I designed something and found an error later.
I learned the sad facts of the male angler fish: smaller, no lantern, and it just attaches itself to the top of the female, and basically ceases to be much of anything other than a pair of gonads!
I realized the design would have to be two females. Being any ally at the time (I hadn’t self-identified as queer yet), I thought that was pretty cool!!
In retrospect, as well, it made me think about what kind of female dominant matrilineal society that would lead to and my brain went down that thought rabbit hole. I prefer the term angler fish, but I also love alliteration so you could say it’s a little Lady Lanternfish Love."
You can find this design here:
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Pride 2024 Child of the Rainbow - MarroomyCrafts
I know I said at the beginning of this article that I didn't want super obvious Pride patterns, but I'm letting this one in because it's so gorgeous! There's something so cathartic about stitching repeating patterns and when you mix in rainbow, that's a bonus.
Maryam of MarroomyCrafts (she/her/hers) designed this band sampler with Persian motifs and the word Queer in Persian/Arabic. She gave me a little insight on this design journey:
"It all started with the fact that I have become known for my borders amongst my stitchy friends. So I had this idea of leaning into that and design a pattern that is mainly borders. That idea was saved in the back of my mind. I knew I was going to design a pattern for pride. I wanted my pride pattern to be personal. How in the journey of embracing your identity your it claims you back, embraces you and helps you grow later after layer until you become whole. In the process that identity becomes your shield, your protection as well. In my search to connect with other queer Iranians I came across the term that translates directly to children of the rainbow. A more positive term to describe the LGBTQIA+ community in Persian. I loved it. If we were all children of the rainbow then we were all siblings and connected to each other. So I decided to put the two together but use the singular Child of the Rainbow instead. I decided to go with the original pride flag colors to as an acknowledgment of the history of the community."
You can find this design here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1740628709/pride-2024-child-of-the-rainbow-original
❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 What do you think?
There are so many amazing Pride patterns out there by LGBTIA+ folk and it's so hard to keep up with them all! Do you have a favorite Pride pattern that I didn't showcase? What rainbows are you stitching this month! I'd love to see, please share in the comments! If you like what I do, I'd love some validation!! Drop your email here to subscribe to blog updates!
Until next time, Happy Pride!
Amanda
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Great article! Thanks for highlighting these creative interpretations of pride!
Thank you for sharing all these-it’s easy to get lost in all the rainbows. It’s nice to see some different designs for Pride.