Add Some More Bats to Nike-Inspired Halloween Machine Embroidery Design

Are you ready to listen to a story behind this Halloween machine embroidery design?

This time, I sat at my desk with the iPad pencil in my hand, trying to think about Halloween. It was a quiet summer evening — yes, embroidery files are coming in advance, like many other products. I have to think about Halloween when the kids are on summer break and rushing around the backyard with our dog.

I didn’t want something too classic, but still wanted a recognizable connection to the Halloween theme. Then yesterday evening came to mind, when a bat was flying over the stadium lights during the game.

Bat! Here it is,  my new machine embroidery design topic.

I started with one bat.

Usually, when I create a new design, I test it on the people closest to me. Not because they are professional embroidery critics — they definitely aren’t — but because they have no reason to be polite. And they might be the ones who represent the real owners of embroidered items.

I asked my younger one to take a look and see if he connected the design with Halloween.

The answer came almost immediately:

“Nice Batman, Mom!”

Well. If the facepalm were an option, it would be here…

That wasn’t exactly what I was going for, darling.

The design looked nice, but there was a problem. One bat, especially in a strong graphic silhouette, can very easily start looking less like Halloween and more like Batman. I needed something that said Halloween, not Gotham City.

So I went back to the iPad.

What If There Were Two?

I added another bat. And honestly, it already looked better.

If one bat looked like a symbol, two bats started to look like something was happening. They were no longer just sitting there. They looked as if they were flying together.

So I added one more, and one more….

I showed it to my son again.

“Should I add one more?”

“Yes.”

So I added one more.

Then I looked at it.

Actually… yes.

One more.

Adding one more and more reminded me of the potato chip invention story.

According to the popular story, in 1853, a customer at a restaurant in New York kept complaining that his fried potatoes were too thick. The cook supposedly sliced them thinner and thinner — eventually making them so thin and crisp that they became what we now know as potato chips.

I asked my son, “Aren’t there too many bats now?”

“No, Mum, now it’s cool — they are flying over you! Real Halloween vibe.”

So here is my take:

One bat can look mysterious. Two look interesting. A few bats flying together start to create movement. And when you have enough of them, you suddenly get that unmistakable Halloween feeling — the feeling of looking up at the evening sky and seeing something moving overhead.

That’s also why bats work so well as a Halloween symbol in the first place.

Their connection with Halloween goes back much further than modern Halloween merchandise. One explanation links bats to ancient Samhain celebrations, where bonfires attracted insects, which in turn attracted bats. So people gathered around the fires could actually have seen bats flying around them.

I honestly can’t imagine how I would feel if a whole bunch of bats suddenly started flying over me. I suspect I would have a very different reaction in real life! But on an embroidery design, somehow it feels completely different — a little mysterious, a little spooky, and actually a pretty nice Halloween feeling.

Right, same as in this machine embroidery design.

So tell me — are you ready to stitch some bats?