Creating Basic Repeats in Illustrator for Divan Quality Fabric

Requirements Image

Requirements: Adobe Illustrator

Difficulty Image

Difficulty: Easy

Time Image

Time: 15 Minutes

Step 1.

Open a new document in Illustrator and input the file specifications of your chosen WOVNS quality.

In the below example, we use specifications for the Divan Quality: 13.5 inches wide by 36 inches high.

Step 1 Image

Step 2.

Load the WOVNS color palette of your choice. See Designing with WOVNS Color Palettes in Illustrator for more information on how to load a WOVNS color palette into the Swatches menu.

Loading WOVNS swatches in Illustrator.

Step 3.

With any of the tools available in Illustrator, create a vector image that you wish to create your pattern out of. It can be simple, like the artwork shown here, or more complicated. Just make sure that you only use the colors in the WOVNS swatch palette you chose.

Make a design.

Step 4.

Once you have completed your design, you should test your design as a repeat covering the entire area of your artboard. Select all of your artwork with the selection tool and drag it to the swatches palette. This will create a pattern swatch that you can use to fill the entire artboard.

Select pattern area.

Step 5.

Delete the artwork from your file. Then with the square marquee tool, select the entire area of your artboard. Turn off both the stroke and fill color so the square is invisible. Then click on the pattern swatch you created, and your artboard will fill with a seamless pattern of your design. Add in a colored background of your choice if you have not yet made one.

Select pattern area.

Step 6.

This is the finished pattern. This pattern will be repeated four times across the width of one yard of Divan fabric. If you are unhappy with the size of the repeats, go back to your original artwork (step 3) and resize it, then create a new pattern swatch and repeat steps 4 and 5.

Make sure your file adheres to the WOVNS File Specifications, and uses only the colors in your chosen WOVNS color palette. Save your file as an Indexed PNG in Photoshop: You can follow the instructions in the Designing with WOVNS Color Palettes in Illustrator tutorial for this step. Once saved as an Indexed PNG, you are ready to upload to WOVNS.

Go to Submit Design on the WOVNS website, specify the quality and palette used, yardage amount, name it and submit!

Save and Submit.