Chameleon Pride Patches

This project began with a creative slump. In May I quit my craft store cashier job, no longer feeling joy from it. For a majority of May I created very little, lots of sketches, but none that I wanted to bring into existence. Nothing was “speaking” to me. I was mentally, creatively, and emotionally burnt-out. After taking the better part of a month off, taking the first real break I could since October, a change was needed.

The main thing I make are patches. I purchase clothes from thrift stores, then up-cycle them with felt patches that I design, cut, and paint myself. It started as a way to practice my sewing then, once the pandemic started and I was forced to take a year off from my schooling, it started to blossom into a business. I needed to put my designs somewhere and selling them was an obvious choice. One of the goals I had in quitting my job was to focus on my fashion design work, and I had not fulfilled that goal yet.

I knew I needed to make something, it didn’t really matter what, I just needed to get back into a routine of making. I went searching for fabric, hoping to feel inspired and eventually stumbled upon this army green fabric with white lizard designs all over it. “Perfect!” I thought, these will make really cute and comfy shorts. The shorts I was designing had back pockets and I planned on creating lizard patches to hand sew onto those pockets. My goal is to always make my work look like mine, so cute fabric wouldn’t be enough; it needed my special brand of pizazz. I started sketching, but something happened when I began messing with the coloring of my lizards. First, I began with a traditional rainbow coloring, effectively turning my lizards into colorful chameleons. Upon seeing the rainbow, I was reminded that June is Pride Month. I had previously wanted to produce something to celebrate, being a proud member of the bisexual community, but I was not liking the ideas I had come up with. None of them seemed original or interesting enough. However, now, I had the perfect vessel.

After some research and minor alterations-to create a more chameleon shape, as opposed to a lizard one-I cut my design into a make-shift pattern, traced that pattern onto white felt, and began cutting my chameleons out with fabric scissors. I actually had two designs, but I couldn’t choose between them (I just thought they were both so cute,) so I cut out eight of each design.

Next, I began the painting process. I use acrylic paint, since it can be washed without losing color, and painted gradients of the pride flag colors I decided on. For this first batch I chose the bisexual, pansexual, transgender, Philadelphia, lesbian, and non-binary pride flags, each design painted onto both of the chameleon types. I also created four regular rainbow chameleons to use for the shorts (the ones with the infamous lizard fabric,) two chameleons for each pair of shorts. Once the gradient layers of paint were dry, I painted faces and other little details onto each chameleon. They all have smiling faces with colorful eyes, but I also outlined the tail and extended the leg lines, so they made more anatomical sense.

Last, I cut out another paper pattern for the background for each chameleon. I wanted to create a continuous shaped background so the patches are as easy to sew on, using hands or a machine, as possible. In the designs I cut out from the white felt, I had cut little holes to separate the legs from each other and to separate the body from the tail. I knew those little holes would be a pain-in-the-butt for someone with not much sewing experience to sew on, which is why it was important for me to create that background that was all one shape.

After I traced the patterns, I cut out 16 of those as well, eight in each design, in varying colors. Most used a black background to match the black paint I painted details on with, but the Philadelphia and non-binary chameleons used different colors. Since the Philadelphia flag has black in it, I painted details with white and cut the background out of white felt. While, the non-binary flag uses black and white I painted details with both colors and mounted it onto a light pink felt. Then, I machine-sewed them onto the painted chameleons using a 1.5 inch stitch length. I did manage to break one needle and some of the sections of orange paint put up a fight, forcing me to pull the patch through the machine, but besides that, the sewing went swimmingly.

And here we are! I don’t think I will ever stop gushing about how much I love these little chameleons. I truly believe these are my favorite items I’ve ever created, from the little scale details, to the curly tails, and to the big ‘ol heads. To be able to release something like this in Pride Month, and to receive so much support for cutting, sewing, and painting these patches, means so much to me. Usually my pieces are one-of-a-kind, but I already know I will be making more chameleon friends. I hope to expand into more flags in hopes of having everyone in the community feel welcome and loved. A happy Pride Month to everyone celebrating!