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 In this roundup, Print breaks down the elite group of typographers who have made
lasting contributions to American type. Enter your email to download the full article
from PRINT Magazine.
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Designing Fabric: 9 Common Patterns,

Deconstructed
By: Natalie Boyd | November 4, 2015

As creatives, we love working with print and patternsand designing patterns for use in
fashion and home decor fabrics offers glorious opportunity for expanding your marketable
skillset and establishing a new creative hobby.

Print and digital designers can utilize the same tools, such as Photoshop and Illustrator, to
produce dynamic patterns for fabric that will eventually turn into a beloved, tangible item.
To get ideas flowing on the possibilities of patterns, heres an excerpt from the HOW Design
University course, Create Your Own Fabric Design with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, that
showcases some of the popular pattern repeats.

Types of Fabric Patterns:

Block Repeat
The block repeat is the simplest style of repeat. It is simply formed by stacking the original
repeat in a basic grid:
The block repeat can have an amateur look if used in the wrong situation, but it can look
great with simpler, more geometric motifs.

Brick/Half-Brick Repeat
Next up, we have the brick/half-brick repeat. Youll notice that the motifs are arranged like
bricks on a house they are in a horizontal row, and then the next row is offset to create a
staggered look. The terms half-brick and brick can be used interchangeably unless the
offset of the later rows is not exactly half of the preceding rows motifs. In that case, you
would just use brick.

Heres a simple example of a half-brick repeat:

Brick/half-brick repeats are used very often in fabric design. The motifs can be exclusive of
each other (as shown above) or have some overlap when they are organized. An overlap can
be achieved in Photoshop or Illustrator.

Drop/Half-Drop Repeat
The drop or half-drop repeat is very similar to the brick/half-brick, but the motifs are offset
vertically instead of horizontally, like so:
As with the brick/half-brick, the terms drop and half-drop can be used interchangeably
unless the offset isnt 50% of the original motif. You will most often see 50% offsets, but
smaller or larger ones certainly arent unheard of.

Drop/half-drop repeats are another very common type of repeat in fabric and surface
design.

Diamond Repeat
The diamond repeat is also used quite frequently in fabric and surface design. It is exactly
as it sounds a repeat of diamond shapes. The motifs can be as simple as one diamond put
into half-drop or half-brick repeat (with some overlap), or each diamond can be a
combination of smaller motifs, as shown here:
Ogee Repeat:
The ogee repeat is similar to the diamond repeat in shape but the ogee is more rounded
on two sides with the other two sides coming to points. As with the diamond repeat, it can
be a simple repeat of ogee shapes in a half-drop or half-brick arrangement, or it can be
more complex with overlaps and combinations of smaller motifs.

Here is a very simple version of an ogee repeat (half-brick with overlap):

Patterns in design is a riveting study. Enthrall yourself with how common symbols resonate
at a gut level with the book, Decoding Design eBook: Understanding and Using Symbols in
Visual Communication. Readers will find deconstructions of famous logos and examples of
a variety of different designs that effectively use symbols, patterns and shapes to convey
greater meaning.

Toss/Random Repeat:
The toss/random repeat utilizes a random arrangement of various motifs to create a very
organic, non-linear design. It is very popular for floral patterns and more. Elements of the
design are tossed onto the fabric, like so:
Stripe Repeat:
The next few repeats arent usually listed in a discussion of repeat types, but I want to give
you a sort of mental checklist to go through when youre brainstorming the different types
of patterns you might want to incorporate into a collection.

The stripe repeat is a simple idea that can have a more complex and interesting execution.
It could be simple stripes in a single color or a palette, but it can also be single motifs that
create stripes for a totally different look, as shown here:
In other words, dont let a term like stripe limit your imagination. A stripe repeat doesnt
have to be simple lines!

Dot Repeat:
Similar in its simplicity to the stripe repeat, the dot repeat is as it sounds an arrangement
of dots! BUT, dots dont have to be dots. They can be other small motifs arranged with a bit
of space between them to emulate dots, like this:
(In fact, Michael Miller has a fabric line that includes a dot repeat made up ofwait for
itpug poop!)

Plaid/Check Repeat
Really just a variation of a stripe repeat, plaid/check/gingham repeats can be used to beef
up a collection and provide variety to your designs. Here is a very simple example of a
plaid/check pattern:
Read about the history of checkerboard pattern here. In this article, Judy Stewart dives into
the history and the significance behind the pattern. Its a fascinating read.

Combination Repeats
A quick perusal of any fabric manufacturers portfolio will show you that pattern types are
often not so clean cut. Most pattern designers use combinations of two or more of the
repeat types shown above to create single designs. Or, they might layer a toss layout over a
plaid for a more interesting and complex look.

I encourage you to play around with all the repeats and create your own combinations!

Other Repeats

There are probably an infinite number of repeat typesyou could argue there are triangle
repeats and hexagon repeats (like diamond/ogee repeats) and many others. Essentially,
however, all repeats are iterations of the brick, block or drop repeats.