The Downside To Naming Your Pet Something Pathetic Is The Fact That, When Something Serious Happens To

Had a few folks interested in how I made the patches I posted for Solarpunk Aesthetic Week, so I thought I'd give y'all my step-by-step process for making hand-embroidered patches!

First, choose your fabric and draw on your design. You can use basically any fabric for this - for this project I'm using some felt I've had lying around in my stash for ages.

Next, choose your embroidery floss. For my patches I split my embroidery floss into two threads with 3 strands each, as pictured. You can use as many strands in your thread as you prefer, but for the main body of my patches I prefer 3 strands.

Next you're going to start filling your design using a back stitch.

First, put in a single stitch where you want your row to start.

Poke your needle up through the fabric 1 stitch-length away from your first stitch.

Poke your needle back down the same hole your last stitch went into so they line up end-to-end.

Repeat until you have a row of your desired length (usually the length of that colour section from one end to the other). Once you have your first row, you're going to do your next row slightly offset from your first row so that your stitches lay together in a brick pattern like this:

Make sure your rows of stitches are tight together, or you'll get gaps where the fabric shows through.

Rinse and repeat with rows of back stitch to fill in your patch design.

When you're almost to the end of your thread, poke your needle through to the back of the fabric and pull the thread under the back part of the stitching to tuck in the end. Don't worry if it looks messy - no one's gonna see the back anyway.

This next step is fully optional, but I think it makes the patch design really pop. Once your patch is filled in, you can use black embroidery floss to outline your design (or whatever colour you want to outline with - it's your patch, do what you want). I use the full thread (6 strands, not split) of embroidery floss to make a thicker outline.

I use the same back stitch I used to fill the piece to make an outline that adds some separation and detail. You could use most any 'outlining' stitch for this, but I just use back stitch because it's just easier for me to do.

Once you're finished embroidering your patch, it's time to cut it out!

Make sure to leave a little border around the edge to use for sewing your patch on your jacket/bag/blanket/whatever, and be careful not to accidentally cut through the stitches on the back of the patch.

If you have a sturdy enough fabric that isn't going to fray, you can just leave it like this. If not, I recommend using a whip stitch/satin stitch to seal in the exposed edges (I find that splitting your embroidery floss into 3-strand threads works best for this).

And then you're done! At this point you can put on iron-on backing if you want, or just sew it on whatever you wanna put it on. Making patches this way does take a long time, but I feel that the results are worth it.

Thanks for reading this tutorial! I hope it was helpful. If anyone makes patches using this method, I'd love to see them! 😁

what the fuck makes phone apps so cocky as to send me notifications telling me to use it. my grocery list app straight up went "you havent made a list in a while! 🙂" are you out of your fucking mind. you are a program. why are you speaking to me like youre my equal. i could replace you with a pen and the back of a receipt. idiot. i kill you now

"Plus ca change"- Part 1

It is very sad that so many of the facts listed in the blog I posted almost six years ago, on December 5th 2017 (please see it below) are almost entirely as valid today as they were then. 

In fact, with the biggest European war since the Second World War now raging in Ukraine and the increasing polarization of political parties continuing to widen the divide between left and right, we could say that the state of nations is even worse today; in addition, the world has endured a hideous Pandemic that has left multiple scars and the loss of millions of lives in its wake.

Instead of co-operation we are witnessing increasing confrontation; instead of a united front and joint action to roll back and adapt to the reality of the consequences of climate change, Governments are still kicking much of the urgent action required into the long grass.

By and large, there are few countries whose citizens are really happy with either their elected or unelected officials. In the past citizens took matters into their own hands but it is over a hundred years since the Bolsheviks and their followers expressed their anger with revolution and sixty four years since Castro toppled the corrupt Batista’s government in Havana. 

Little has changed in our world since Groucho Marx said:

       “Sir, these are my principles; if they do not suit, I have others”:

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Written December 5th 2017

So said Groucho Marx: he was a comedian- but never was a truer word said!

As we reflect on the past year we bear witness to the highest levels of deception, skullduggery, manipulation and shear disregard for much of what historically has been some of the finer aspirations of mankind .

The US has a President who openly states that he could “go onto Fifth Avenue, shoot people and it would not affect his popularity”. Meanwhile his friend “bunga bunga” Berlusconi who is still under indictment for a myriad of criminal charges is at the forefront of a return to power in the upcoming Italian elections. A dictator who turned Zimbabwe, at one time the breadbasket of Africa, into an economic basket case, reducing its population by literally starving his people to death has finally been forced to step down, but he is unlikely to face charges for his reign of terror and theft of billions from his own people.

The Venezuelan dictator Madura, whose country has the second largest oil reserves in the world has reduced a once prosperous democratic country into a one party state on the verge of Bankruptcy.

Saudi Arabia’s new power Prince arrests other Princes  on charges of corruption and conspicuous waste whilst he himself acquired a $500m yacht in one afternoon whilst partying in the Mediterranean. 

Kim Yung Ung could very well trigger a full blown nuclear war and presides over his starving population of twenty two million desperate souls whilst  holding the mightiest military nation on earth powerless to control what could be the most serious threat to world security.

Ethnic cleansing continues unpunished in Myanmar and once again the world stands by seemingly powerless to prevent mass slaughter; this humanitarian crisis ips no different from the horrors of Ruanda, Uganda  & Armenia one hundred years ago, to name a few;  so even in 2017,  world leaders and the totally ineffective U.N.  stand and do nothing other than issue statements of condemnation.

Whereas many who signed up to the Paris accord make similar noises of support for carbon emission reductions the truth is that they ignore the very treaties and accords that they sign if it does not suit them.

How the electorate and members of the US Senate and other political figures, not to mention the President himself could have even contemplated the election of Roy Moore is testimony to how corrupt and self-seeking so many have become. News concentrated on the allegations of sexual misconduct, but the real menace of the man is captured by his pronouncement that all Amendments in the US constitution after the 10th should be repealed. These include women’s’ right to vote and the abolition of slavery. If such views can gain the support of the electorate as he very nearly did, then what does that say about a country that purports to promote democracy at home and across the world.

Whereas overall our species has made great strides in improving our health, disease control and reducing poverty and extending human life, the basic instincts that have governed man’s behaviour since the beginning of time have not changed. We are selfish self-promoting animals who have learnt through speech manipulation to convey a multitude of promises to fellow human beings, which are more often than not full of deceit and primarily only seek self- promotion."

My first finished digital drawing!

credit

tricks like that don't work on tom, apparently.

robin redesign

I Am Not Your Asian American Doll: a comic for AAPI Heritage Month 2023

I usually spend a lot of time editing and fine-tuning my comics so that they come across as polite and inoffensive. But honestly, I’m really tired of the way Asian cultures and countries are treated / talked about while Asian people themselves are excluded, and thought it was about time I really let my rage out lol.

id in alt