Designing a Pattern Collection from Start to Finish: How I Plan a New Pattern Collection

Last week I shared that I was working on a new pattern collection and planned to take you behind the scenes with me as I put it together.

This week, my focus was on planning.

I started by brainstorming a theme for the collection. I haven’t designed a full collection in quite some time, so I decided to start small and revisit the very first collection I ever made and give it a little glow up!

Some of you might remember this Vineyard collection—

After deciding on the theme, I roughly sketched about 20 thumbnails for pattern ideas.

When I say rough, I mean rough. I spend no more than 30 seconds on each—

Then I selected about 15 to play around with. In the end I’m going to narrow the collection down to about 10 patterns, but I like to plan on making a few extra because some of them inevitably don’t turn out so well.

Next week, I plan to create more detailed sketches of my ideas. This is when I start to see all the ideas swirling around in my brain really come to life.

I’ll share more with you next week!

~Rachel