Designing a Pattern Collection from Start to Finish: Assembling the Pattern Repeats

Studio Spotlight

Here’s another collection update!

Things got exciting this week. My focus was to assemble the bits and pieces of my inked designs and motifs into their final pattern repeats!

Now they will repeat seamlessly across a surface. I also threw some temporary colors on them to get an idea of how many colors I want to use. I don’t overthink this. Just toss a little color on so I can see them all together and I will finalize the colors later.

Here’s a peek at two of the patterns—

Sometimes after inking, I’m not entirely sure if I’ll like the final design, but once I’ve assembled them and tossed the color on, I start to feel differently.

Now I have all the designs of the collection and a pretty good idea of how they’ll fit together.

Next week my focus will be on COLOR.

Coming up with a cohesive color story is the part I tend to struggle with the most. The process is simple, but it can be really challenging to design a color palette for 10+ designs that work for each individual pattern and also together as a full collection.

I’ll be sharing more about how that process goes next week!

Product Spotlight

I wanted to highlight a product made by a lovely sewist, SewMuchTreats. Beth used fabric with one of my Halloween designs and created these adorable candy corns!

If you’re looking for some cute & cottage-y handmade Halloween decor for your home, check out her Etsy shop!

~Rachel

P.S., Have you completed any fun projects with my designs? Send me an email (rachel@showherwork.com) with some pictures and I’d love to shout you out in a future newsletter!