The Unicode Consortium approved 🧵THREAD,🧶 YARN, 🧷SAFETY PIN for the 2018 emoji characterset release. You can use them on Twitter and iOS now. No telling when Android phones will catch up. 😿
The SEWING NEEDLE was set aside in 2018 because the emoji sub-committee felt that it duplicated THREAD and that it wasn't visually distinctive. We worked with an illustrator to revise the image and I expanded the NEEDLE proposal to articulate clearly why it belongs in the character set. That proposal was accepted and the needle and thread will be part of Unicode 13 which will start appearing on devices in late 2020. The final proposal lives at:
https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2019/19088-needle-emoji.pdf
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rG1l-F6qbvpx1e3B9hNZlVTdL757nAuxKSkSMC9oHrY/edit#
I was frustrated that I couldn't represent anything about the production or repair of clothing in emoji. I made a list of possible fiber arts emoji that started out something like this:
- sewing needle
- 🧵 spool of thread
- knitting needles *are too specific, and yarn captures enough of the concept.
- 🧶 ball of yarn
- crochet hook is probably too specific and doesn't have enough other uses to be a widely used emoji. Yarn captures enough of the concept.
- 🧷 safety pin
- measuring tape is still a good idea, tbh.
- button is still a good idea, tbh.
- zipper is still a good idea, tbh.
- thimble is still a good idea, tbh.
These also seemed relevant and universal but I couldn't really picture any of them as emoji:
- loom
- sewing machine
- spinning wheel
- something that reflects dye?
- fabric (a bolt of fabric?)
I can update this with more detail about the process, but someone, somewhere has to tell me they're actually interested. You can listen to Amberley and I talk about the process though, on The Frontside.