Stitches are long pieces of thread in a needle used in medical practice, in sewing and knitting in everyday life, in surgery to bring body tissues together, in art or embroidery.
Credit instagram
Stitches have been used as a sign of mourning in many civilizations and cultures throughout time. One example is Ancient Rome when death occurred, the corpse was cremated and their ashes placed in a golden urn which was then sewn into clothes that would be put on the dead person.
Another reason for this tattoo design is because being a seamstress or a tailor is a historical profession, especially in prison where there was a heavy need of it. This profession also comes with an extensive use of needle and thread which can symbolize determination, femininity or virility depending on the color used.
In contemporary urban cultures such as hip hop, tattoos such as Stitches can be symbolic of an experience with prison.
A person might get tattoos of the dots used to count off days in prison or specific numbers that were tattooed on prisoners. This is a way of marking themselves as having been through this type of ordeal and surviving it.
Punk and Gothic styles credit some designs which look like stitches but they’re actually barbed wire tattoos: heavy thorns surround one’s skin and trap her inside her own body. The wearer feels trapped in his or her world much like the victims who are caught in barbed wire fences for security reasons, so these tattoos allow them to feel contained within their own surroundings when they feel overwhelmed by the outside environment or their lives.
One can also identify Stitches with safety pins, often used to keep clothing together after it has been torn apart during an intense situation like a fight.
This type of tattoo is worn by those who like to confront danger and want to be prepared for anything that may happen. It’s also symbolic of women’s struggle with domestic abuse since men sometimes use safety pins as weapons against them.
Stitches is commonly associated with queer punk subculture because it represents strength in numbers: knowing you’re not alone even if society tells you otherwise. Everyone’s united so no one feels alone anymore, they feel free. The more people there are, the stronger they become since they have each other’s backs.
-Another reason for getting stitches tattoos is to pay tribute to the style of tattooing coming out of Los Angeles called Trash Polka, sometimes known as Blackwork or Bio-mechanical tattoos.
