This blog post is the process I use to generate a pattern. I created a special one-off yellow and blue version of my daisy linocut handmade print to produce a fabric with. This is how I changed the original print into a pattern. I created two versions of this daisy fabric - see them in my Flowers and Plants Fabrics Collection.
The method below is commonly used to create a pattern that matches up. You cut your image into 4, and rearrange the 4 pieces as shown. You can do it on a piece of paper which you cut up - and I frequently do this if I am just creating a simple one-colour pattern as a background for one of my linocuts or fabrics. If it is a more complex pattern, and I want to play around with the layout, I do this using Adobe Photoshop, and the 'Filter' - 'Offset' tool. As you can see, I started with a scanned, clean image of my daisy print, and cut it into 4 as demonstrated.
The process is then to fill the space in the middle to create a pattern. You may need to go back and forth with rearranging your pieces to make sure you do not have any strange gaps into your pattern or a motif which dominates too much.
If you are using Adobe Photoshop, you can check to see how your pattern is looking by going to 'Edit' - 'Define Pattern'. Create a new file which is much bigger than the size of your pattern, and go back to 'Edit' then 'Fill', selecting your pattern. You can see my daisy pattern below. I was pleased with it, as I think I was able to preserve the random, bouncy nature of daisies in the wild. The next stage is to create something with the fabric which is printed up using this pattern- come back in a few weeks to see more!
