Before and After: Pastel Coffee Lover Teal by jennifernichols
One of the most common questions we get asked by the artist community is how to create a seamless repeat. If you’re looking to take your surface patterns to the next level with seamlessly repeating designs, you’ll be happy to learn it’s easier than ever thanks to Procreate, the go-to design program for many artists! In this advanced Procreate tutorial, Spoonflower artist Jennifer Nichols shares how to create a seamless repeat using Procreate using design elements you’ve already created.
As such, this is a great resource for artists who already have experience working in Procreate or other design programs. If you’re new to Procreate, we suggest starting with either Anda Corrie’s guide to creating a seamless repeat with Procreate or Jennifer’s Guide to Procreate class on Skillshare (free 7-day trial included!). Want even more Procreate tips? Learn all about Rhianna Wurman’s journey with the app in her post Procreate 101.
Jennifer: The Procreate 5X update has a new Snapping feature that makes repeat patterns in Procreate incredibly easy to do without any outside help from other design programs. I love repeat patterns and Procreate and I’m super excited to show you my technique! Before you jump into the step-by-step instructions, be sure to watch my video instructions below.
How to Create a Seamless Repeat With Procreate’s Snapping Feature
1. Create Your Procreate Canvas
I start my repeats with a canvas size of 3000px by 3000px at 300dpi and sRGB color profile. Sometimes I go up to 3600px by 3600px but this results in fewer layers. After illustrating each design element you would like to use in your pattern, duplicate the entire canvas so you can leave the original intact and then edit the duplicate. Once you are in the duplicated canvas, flatten each design element into a single layer for each item. This will free up many layers for you to work with while making your repeat pattern. Turn on the 2D drawing guide with the size set to Max so you can see the center lines of the canvas.
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Download Jennifer’s Free Procreate Brushes
2. Place Your Design Elements
Begin placing most of your design elements, making sure you do not let anything touch the edges of the canvas AND be sure to place things so the center lines are being overlapped. This is important in this first step of the layout because these lines are essentially turning into the edges of the final design and you won’t be able to place things along those lines in the next step. This is something that takes some practice as you don’t want to leave big gaps along the lines but you also don’t want your design elements to be placed in a way that ends up looking very linear in your final pattern design (or maybe you DO want things to be linear)! You can also turn your grid lines off at this point, we don’t need those any more. During this stage, leaving open spaces in the four corners is ideal. Those corners will merge into one big space in the center and will provide more flexibility when placing your final design elements later.
3. Add Corner Marks to Your Canvas
Now it’s time for the “corner trick”. You will need to add a solid color to opposing corners of your canvas so you have color touching all four sides of the canvas. This is how we trick Procreate into capturing the entire canvas size once we turn the background layer off and copy the canvas. This is a very important step. The corner marks will be removed later so make sure they are not touching any other design elements.
4. Copy Your Design Elements
Now you need to turn off your background layer so you can create a design that is independent of the background which will offer you the ability to change the background color later! With the background layer off, three-finger-swipe down on the canvas to reveal the copy/paste menu and select Copy All. This will capture everything that is visible on the canvas, not including grid lines. I also like to keep things tidy by grouping all of the layers that are currently visible.
5. Create a New Design Layer
At this point, you can turn the background layer on. Create a new layer above all others and three-finger-swipe down again but this time you will select Paste. Now you have everything on one layer. You will need four identical layers. You can continue to Paste each one or you can duplicate the first layer you pasted.
6. Snap Your Design Elements in Place
Here is where the new Snapping tool comes into play (I know, I am way too excited about this feature, it’s a game changer)! Turn all of your layers off except one of the newly pasted layers and Select it with the arrow icon. You need to be careful not to tap anywhere on the screen while something is selected because it will get Nudged in that direction by one pixel which will make your design have gaps along the seams. While you have the layer Selected, go to the bottom left and turn on Snapping. I keep my Distance maxed and my Velocity at 5. Snapping will now stay on until you manually turn it off.
Slide the full-sized image to a corner until it snaps perfectly into place with the outer edge now directly in the center. You will see golden lines to indicate the center (sometimes the golden line that overlaps the dotted border of the selection can be blue but you will still see the golden lines extending past that). Be sure not to change the size of your layer, so don’t grab anywhere near the blue dots.
Now repeat this process for the other identical layers, moving each full-sized image into four corners. Be sure you are seeing the golden lines.
7. Merge Your Layers
Once you have all four layers placed into the corners, you can merge those layers by pinching them together (a fun Procreate shortcut!)
8. Remove the Original Corner Marks
Erase or freehand-select the center marks that once were your “corner trick” marks and remove them entirely. I turn Snapping off at this point, otherwise, it will interfere with placement of the remaining design elements.
9. Complete Your Pattern Design
Add the remaining design elements and fillers (polka dots, in this instance). This is your complete pattern block!
10. Create a Larger Repeat
You have a couple more things to check so now it’s time to repeat your design so you can check for seams (gaps and/or offsets down the horizontal and vertical centers) and decide if you like the layout. Go ahead and group all of the visible layers and turn the background off. Three-finger-swipe down, Copy All, and Paste to a new layer.
You can turn the background on again and continue to paste until you have 5 identical layers (one of these layers will remain untouched as your original pattern block, it can be turned off).
Select a newly pasted layer and turn Snapping on again. This time we ARE shrinking the designs so grab the corner blue dot and slide it to the center. The golden lines and snapping will still happen just like before.
Repeat this process for all four corners. With this grid of four repeating tiles complete, it’s time to check for seams.
11. Check the Repeat of Your Pattern
Zoom in and alternate turning each layer on and off so you can see where the seams are and check for gaps and offsets. You need to check the entire horizontal and vertical center lines. It should be SEAMLESS! If it is, go ahead and merge those four layers. Now you can use either the original design tile or this grid of four tiles to upload to Spoonflower. I usually upload the 2×2 grid of my designs!
12. Adjust the Colors of Your Design (optional)
You have created your pattern in a way that keeps your design elements separated from the background which means you can change the background color and create a variety of options with this single design.
Tip: Sometimes I like to make a grid of 16 tiles just to see what the design looks like at a much smaller scale before deciding whether or not I want to make changes. I don’t save this version as the quality is reduced when you shrink things too much but it’s a great way to view it!
Congratulations! You’ve just created a seamless repeat in Procreate. Remember: Have fun! It takes practice and it gets easier with time. For even more in-depth instructions on creating repeats on Procreate, be sure to check out my Procreate classes on Skillshare.
We’d love to see what seamless repeats you’re creating in Procreate with Jennifer’s tutorial! Be sure to tag @spoonflower and @leila_and_po on social media so we can see.
Jennifer Nichols is an artist on Spoonflower and Skillshare teacher with a passion for teaching art using the Procreate app on the iPad. She loves helping people discover its amazing potential as well as their own potential! Jennifer is also a mother of three tween/teens, a wife, a dog mom, and she loves science and nature (and gnomes)!
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. I think eventually get it. I have been trying to make patterns on Procreate, but have not been too successful. Not just Procreate, but the logic of the flow eventually makes sense. I understand now why my patterns in the challenges get very few votes. Thank you once again.
Thanks Mich!
Glad to hear it helped!
Best,
Betsy
Spoonflower
Thank you for sharing your knowledge! Really easy to follow.
Thank you. This is so helpful. I’m not on Spoonshare yet, but will be this year. I’m getting excited.
Very nice tutorial thank you! Now, what do you have to do differently for a repeat of stripes (repeat from top to bottom)? I have been trying and can’t figure it out 🙁
Hi Charlotte,
The method for repeating stripes should be the same as any repeating pattern. The only difference would be to make sure your stripe colors on the edges do not match. What I mean by this: For example, you have 5 horizontal stripes drawn on your digital canvas, from top to bottom. The colors of the stripes from top to bottom are red, blue, red, blue, red. If you try to repeat this pattern, you’ll have an extra wide red stripe every few regular-sized stripes due to the top and bottom edge of the canvas having the same color of stripe. Instead, add another stripe to this pattern, resulting in 6 total: red, blue, red, blue, red, blue. Now all your stripes should repeat the same, and when uploaded to Spoonflower you should be able to change the scale for smaller/thinner stripes using this base design.
If you need further clarification or have any more questions let me know! I’ve created a few striped patterns myself and found the above was the tricky part but maybe you’re experiencing something different.
Crafty regards,
Anna
Spoonflower
Great tutorial! I’m curious about the actual fabric sizes I see listed on Spoonflower as they are not evenly square in shape. Every tutorial I’ve seen on creating repeat patterns are perfect squares which makes sense. I’m just wondering how this works for the final fabric if it’s not square. For example, your fleece fabric template file is 56 X36. Am I making my final file that big? Or still designing a smaller square shaped repeat pattern? Thank you!
Hi Sheri, great question!
Our templates work best if you’re trying to fit a design exactly to the size of our fabric, like if you need a big banner or specific elements placed in a specific place. If you want something repeating and it doesn’t matter where the pattern sits, like the scattered coffee cups in this tutorial, formatting a repeating pattern as a square size will work great for all of our printing sizes. Once your square design is uploaded, you can then scale it and preview it on any fabric/wallpaper/home decor product to decide how it should look.
For example, I just worked with a customer who wanted to print a sewing pattern they designed onto our Petal Signature Cotton that they could cut from directly. They went into Photoshop and digitally organized the pieces of the sewing pattern to fit exactly the side of 1 yard of Petal. It printed beautifully!
Hope that makes sense, happy to answer any more questions you may have! 🙂
Crafty regards,
Anna
Spoonflower
What a great tutorial! Thank you so much for sharing this. I love spoonflower and procreate! Great combination!
I do have one question…
What canvas size and dpi works best for spoonflower? In the tutorial you mention 10 x 10” and 300 dpi, but the help sections on spoonflower help section only mentions 150 dpi…??…
Thanks for your help!
Hi Heather, great question!
Spoonflower produces a good quality print at a minumum resolution requirement of 150 dpi. Your file’s dpi can of course be larger than 150, like the commonly used 300 dpi used in this tutorial. When you upload your design you’ll have the option to scale it up or down– the more dpi you have to work with, the more you can scale and still keep the good quality, if that makes sense.
Click here to learn more about file sizing requirements.
Happy designing,
Anna
Spoonflower
I’m coming late to the banquet, but may I ask a question? I like to design in Procreate; I often move the final design to Illustrator or Photoshop for tweaks … but no matter how crisp the designs seem, they always end up slightly fuzzy in Spoonflower (even if I export as a PNG or Jpeg in Procreate and move to my computer from my Ipad). Oh dear. What am I missing? Thanks!
Hi Jeanne,
That does sound frustrating, I’m so sorry you’re experiencing this! I would recommend checking out the Spoonflower Help Center for details on how to format your design before uploading. It could be happening due to the wrong file size, file type, DPI, etc.
Best,
Anna
Spoonflower
Thank you so much, a pleasure to watch and listen to.
Curious if Procreate Pocket will work? Is it the same resolution? I want to start creating fabrics with names on it and to do so need a program to try out
Hi Courtney,
Unfortunately we’re not too familiar with Procreate Pocket and what features it offers, but exploring the Procreate Help Forums may help!
Best,
Anna
Spoonflower
Thank you for this excellent tutorial on seamless patterns. Your video plus the written directions were very helpful, and I appreciate your time, planning, talent and sharing it with us. Many thanks!
Love this lesson and I will go to your classes on Skillshare , thank you so much
It’s a great tutorial. I have finally figured out how to repeat my designs and it’s so much fun! I’m addicted to designing on SPOONFLOWER and learning on Skillshare.
Thanks to you guys and Jennifer????
Awesome! Thank you for sharing this 🙂
So helpful! Thank you. I\’m just entertaining the idea of getting an iPad and I think you sold me on it. I\’ll be following your other classes on Skillshare.
Cheers, Colleen
Is there and alternative program for non-iPad owners?
Hi Kathi,
We recommend looking at Autodesk SketchBook or Infinite Painter if you’re using a tablet that’s non-iPad, or check out the below link for other programs available on mobile and desktop!
https://support.spoonflower.com/hc/en-us/articles/204444640-What-design-tools-do-you-recommend-
Best,
Anna
Spoonflower
Loved this! It’s great to see all of the different processes and I think I like yours the best. I’m also a teacher on Skillshare so I will definitely check out your classed, thanks!
This is great, but I don’t get nice smooth lines in procreate. Are you using another vector program? Because my app ON’T make those type of pictures. Where’s that tutorial?
Hi Cahli,
We recommend working with a large canvas size in Procreate to ensure smooth and crisp artwork. Jennifer has her’s at 10 x 10 inches (3,000 X 3,000 pixels) with 300 DPI. You can change your canvas size by going to “crop and resize” under canvas settings within the app. You can also try using more fluid brushes like “Syrup” which can be found in the inking brushes tab.
Best,
Anna
Spoonflower
Thanks for the excellent tutorial! One thing I’m struggling with and I’ve searched everywhere for the answer is which sRGB color profile should I pick in Procreate to follow the hex codes of the spoonflower color map? There are 5 different sRGB color profiles:
sRGB IEC6 1966-2.1
SRGB V4 ICC Preference
sRGB V4 ICC Appearance
sRGB V4 ICC Preference Display Class
sRGB 2014
Thanks for any help!
We’re so glad you are enjoying the tutorial. Spoonflower’s Color Map is set to sRGB IEC6 1966-2.1. I hope that helps, but please let me know if you have any further questions.
Take care,
Amy
Spoonflower
Great tutorial! I have a question: what is the purpose of copy/pasting the element group instead of flattening or duplicating the group to flatten?
Happy to see you here, love your Skillshare tutorials!
Hi Caitlin,
You are correct. Another way to achieve that would be clicking on a layer group and selecting Flatten to flatten what’s in the group after duplicating the original canvas and while working from the copy. Happy creating!
Take care,
Amy
Spoonflower
This is very clear and helpful thank you!
Glad to hear it!
What a fabulous clear, step by step tutorial. Thank you ????
Thanks, Caroline!
So great to see this blog post from Jennifer …. her work is amazing, and her lessons on Skillshare have truly inspired me (and many others for sure) and I have already printed samples of my patterns via Spoonflower, and have made an apron, 3 runners for worktops, am iPhone slip case, 2 coasters and a reversible bag!
Here’s to making more fun patterns ????
Wow, Ali! I missed pictures of some of those things! I really need to get more use out of my sewing machine. Thanks for the ideas!!!
Jen
Ali,
We’re so glad you enjoyed Jennifer’s tutorial. It’s also so very exciting to hear all you have done with your first fabric samples. Best of luck with your future projects!
Take care,
Amy
Spoonflower