If you follow my Instagram or Twitter, you’ve been exposed to my love of embroidery and progress pictures of my latest needlepoint projects. Just last night I started this new one, inspired by the quote “Nevertheless, she persisted“. If you’ve been following American politics, you know what that’s about ;)

As soon as I heard that phrase, I knew I had to commit it to stitches– but the words by themselves, though powerful, looked a bit empty floating in space all alone. So then I thinks to myself, I thinks “What do I love to embroider? FLOWERS, motherfucker!” After considering a few different species known for their hardiness (Or should I say… their persistence?) I decided on the noble thistle. She’s tough as nails, has a plan, and will draw blood if you try to grab her with your bare hands. Yeah. The thistle is my flower of choice for this project.

I was super flattered to get several requests to share my design with my fellow embroidery enthusiasts! So yeah! I’mma do that! But first, I ask that you follow these instructions:

Instructions

1. Before downloading this pattern, you must donate at least $5 to International Women’s Health Coalition.
2. You will use this design for personal use only, not for profit or commercial use.

Ok! Once you’ve made your donation to IWHC, heeeeeere’s the PDF of the design!

I’m afraid I currently don’t have time to come up with a step-by-step guide for how to embroider this (I’m sorry! I’ve got a lot of dick comics to draw!), but here is a really basic suggested stitches model:

Resources

-How to transfer the design to your fabric.
-Stitches Used: Colonial Knot, Split stitch, Satin Stitch, and Long and Short stitch.

Good luck, all you persistent stitchers! I’ll be sharing my progress of this over on Twitter and Instagram :)