Needle Drop

A collection inspired by vintage American music culture

I’ve been a musician for 45 years. Music has been with me longer than embroidery has, so you might wonder why, in all my years of digitizing, I’ve released only a handful of music designs.

The truth is a little funny. When I was a teenager and a young man, every time a relative found out I played guitar, the gifts started arriving: guitar mugs, guitar shirts, guitar keychains, guitar everything. After a while, the last thing I wanted to see was another guitar. So without really meaning to, I steered clear of music designs for most of my career.

Until now. (And yes, you’ll notice there isn’t a single guitar in this collection.)

Needle Drop is my love letter to the sounds and culture I grew up with. It starts with the one I’ve wanted to make for years: the big 80s boombox, stitched in rich metallics and sized up to a show-stopping 12x12. Next to it is a classic cassette tape with its ribbon of tape spilling loose, just the way we all remember it after the pencil rescue.

From there, the collection opens into a series of vintage-style patches that feel pulled from an old jacket at a flea market. There are headphones, a turntable, a jukebox, a VU meter with the needle in the red, and play and rewind buttons. There are stacked 8-tracks from the Tape Club of the Midwest, a 33⅓ Long Play tab, and Side A. There are badges from places that feel like they should have existed: Hawk’s Bluff Broadcasting, Cold Spring Sound Service, Thistle Down Music Hall, Groove Records, and the Stage Crew and Audio Engineer patches for everyone working behind the scenes.

Each design stands on its own, but they’re meant to be played together. Mix them on a tote, scatter them across a denim jacket, or build a whole project around the boombox. Put them side by side and they make a symphony for any music lover.

Every design comes with a step-by-step color guide and is built as a patch, with the full patch-making tutorial in our Education section. If you’d rather stitch directly onto your project, just skip the first two basting steps.

Turn it up, and let’s stitch.

Stephen