History Main / ScaryStitches

** In ''Film/BatmanBegins'', the Scarecrow wears a gruesome burlap mask whose stitches broadly resemble a distorted face. Characters dosed with his fear toxin often hallucinate the stitches as [[MessyMaggots writhing maggots.]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Stitches from ''Roleplay/RubyQuest'' is a bear that has been stitched back together.

* ''VideoGame/FearAndHungerTermina'': Stiches is an unique enemy haphazardly stitched together in several parts of her body, and dying against her [[HaveANiceDeath causes her to sew you to a bunch of corpses]] in homage to ''Film/TheHumanCentipede''. The worst part? [[spoiler:This is [[CameBackWrong what has become of Elise von Dutch, Daan's late wife]]]].

* Seam in ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' is a worn and torn stuffed animal with stitches all over his face, a button eye ([[EyeScream with his other one seemingly missing]]), and patches. [[DarkIsNotEvil Despite this, he is friendly, if cynical]].

* {{TheIgor}}s in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' believe in advertising: whilst it is pointed out that they have ointments that can eliminate scar tissue in fifteen minutes, in the main they prefer to advertise their status as surgeons of last resort by wearing ''lots'' of visible scars and stitches with pride. Their distaff side, the Igorinas, are the ones who tend to actually ''use'' the scar cream. However, every Igorina will subtly advertise her Igor nature with a single, subdued and discreet, stitched scar somewhere on her face or visible body. It's like having a discreet membership tattoo.

* The {{Igor}}s in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' believe in advertising: whilst it is pointed out that they have ointments that can eliminate scar tissue in fifteen minutes, in the main they prefer to advertise their status as surgeons of last resort by wearing ''lots'' of visible scars and stitches with pride. Their distaff side, the Igorinas, are the ones who tend to actually ''use'' the scar cream. However, every Igorina will subtly advertise her Igor nature with a single, subdued and discreet, stitched scar somewhere on her face or visible body. It's like having a discreet membership tattoo.

* Any depiction of a cloth VoodooDoll is bound to include visible stitching on the body.
* Occasionally, a WickedWitch will have a shabby, stitched-up outfit to emphasize her outcast status.

* ScaryScarecrows tend to exploit this, as friendly scarecrows often have innocent stitched smiles and patchwork outfits.

* Some of the characters in ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'' have plainly visible stitches on their skin. Junko in particular takes it UpToEleven, having a literal patchwork of skin colors.

* LEGO minifigures of the Batman Scarecrow have all featured these, but his 2016 ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' variant takes it UpToEleven.

This trope is often used in depictions of FrankensteinsMonster, but it's not exclusive.

Compare GoodScarsEvilScars, GlasgowGrin, and MouthStitchedShut, which occasionally overlaps.

* Creator/JunjiIto has featured these in the ''Manga/JunjiItoKyoufuMangaCollection'''s adaptation of ''{{Literature/Frankenstein}}'' for the monsters, and in the one-shot story "Army of One" (printed with ''Manga/{{Remina}}''), about mass murders resulting in stitched-together corpses.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

[[folder: Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' villain The Scarecrow is often shown with a stitched-together outfit, and sometimes his burlap mask is included.
** The Dollmaker, another Batman villain, stitches together human skin in horrifying ways, including a mask and tapestries.
* [[Franchise/TheFlash Flash]] enemy Rag Doll in his modern appearance is made to look like a [[CreepyDoll demented rag doll]], with yarn-like hair, button eyes, and plenty of stitches all around his body.

[[folder: Fan Works]]

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Nine}}'' invokes this, being set in a grim universe populated by rag doll "stitchpunks" and featuring a sewing-themed threat, the Seamstress.

* In ''Film/BatmanReturns'', Catwoman has a costume that is roughly stitched together from random torn pieces of PVC, symbolising the unstable nature of her new persona after her old self was destroyed by trauma... as well as allowing for sexy ClothingDamage when the stitches start to fail.

* ''Film/{{Frankenstein|1931}}'' gives us the most famous and popular example, with its portrayal of the Monster.

[[folder: Theater]]

[[folder: Other]]

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Freakazoid}}'' villain JustForFun/CandleJack has stitches all over his body and h[[spoiler: is mouth]].

In fiction, many creepy things need to have something unnerving about them, without going into outright gore or SceneryGorn. The solution? Stitch it up! Stitches often carry unsettling implications, such as the notion that the being or object stitched together was never meant to be reassembled, or was cobbled together from different sources not meant to be combined; the idea that they resemble or close nasty scars; and that their conspicuous appearance connotes shoddy, off-putting repair, or merely looks out-of place and strange when used stylistically.

* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'': Jigsaw, the closest thing the Punisher has to an ArchNemesis, was originally a handsome mobster named Billy 'The Beaut' Russo until he had a run-in with Frank Castle. Castle left him alive to send a message to organized crime after knocking him through a glass window pane, an act that reduces Russo's face to a jigsaw puzzle-like mess of scars.

* A line of bizarrely cute plush toys called the Animazombs, zombified animals with gruesome body-part separation features, has these on each of the animals, and Samuel the meerkat's largest line of stitches hides a zipper which allows you to remove his intestines.

* Stitches from ''Roleplay/RubyQuest'' is a bear who has been stitched back together.

** The Evil Rag Doll looks like a real doll, but is covered in stitches and scars.

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

* Dr. Franken Stein from ''Anime/SoulEater'' has several visible stitches on his face and on his clothing, an obvious callback to his namesake's creation. He turns out to be CreepyGood, though his first appearance deliberately plays up his creepiness for the protagonists as much as possible.
* ''Franchise/OnePiece'': Baroque Works Saga main villain and one of the 7 Warlords, Crocodile, has a stitched scar going across his face that alludes to a crocodile's teeth.

* Some of the characters in ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'' have plainly visible stitches on their skin. Junko in particular takes it UpToEleven, having a literal patchwork of skin colors.

* Marvel Comics' [[ComicBook/GhostRider Scarecrow]] also has these.
* The Dollmaker, another Batman villain, stitches together human skin in horrifying ways, including a mask and tapestries.

* ComicBook/SimonDark, a heroic FrankensteinsMonster in Franchise/TheDCU, has visible scars on his face, and presumably elsewhere.

[[folder: Films -- Animated]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'', the Other Wybie's mouth is stitched into a forced smile. The sewing thread used for the button eyes of the Other World's denizens also counts.
* It's subtle, but Emily's wedding dress from ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride'' is haphazardly sewn back together.
* Frank from ''WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania'' has stitches all over his body. These apparently don't hold well, as he mails his disassembled parts to the Hotel, and falls apart after an extra-high dive into the pool.
* ''{{WesternAnimation/Nine}}'' invokes this, being set in a grim universe populated by rag doll "stitchpunks" and featuring a sewing-themed threat, the Seamstress.

[[folder: Film -- Live-Action]]

* Sam from ''Film/TrickRTreat'' wears a stitched-up burlap mask with visible seams.
* In ''Film/BatmanReturns'', Catwoman has a costume that is roughly stitched together from random torn pieces of PVC, symbolising the unstable nature of her new persona after her old self was destroyed by trauma... as well as allowing for sexy ClothingDamage when the stitches start to fail.

[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Newspaper Comics]]

[[folder: Toys]]

* Toys/{{Lalaloopsy}} doll Scraps Stitched 'N Sewn has a few on her skirt and skin in reference to the famous Monster.

* The "Once Upon A Zombie" line of zombified fairytale princess dolls features stitching in place of more serious gore.

[[folder: Video Games]]
* ''Videogame/HeroesOfTheStorm'' has the appropriately-named Stitches, a brutish monster who features these all over his body.
* Bubba and Porkpatch in ''Videogame/FiveNightsAtFreddysWorld'', Frankenstein's Monster-like bosses that resemble Freddy Fazbear and a pig, respectively, are stitched together from multiple pieces of cloth.
* While Scarecrow initially goes with his usual burlap mask in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'', by the time he returns in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'' he has ''stitched his mask into his face'', causing him to look like a zombie.

* Slurpers in ''Videogame/SilentHill3'' are stitched and laced together on their limbs and outfits.

* The Nightmare in ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' wears a mask/helmet designed to look like the mouth is [[http://static.wixstatic.com/media/41f220_57b27ff971814b4abc5efe5bca49f83e~mv2.gif stitched shut]] and generally the scariest boss in the game barring the [[RunOrDie SA-X]].

* The titular antagonists, the Hoodlums, of VideoGame/Rayman3HoodlumHavoc.

[[folder: Web Animation]]

[[folder: Web Original]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]