Bringing Patterns to Life with Textile Prints

Delving into pattern making often involves visualizing the final garment. But what if you could see exactly how it would look with the intended fabric print? Our guide takes you through the process of adding textile prints to basic blocks, transforming a plain pattern into a vibrant preview of the finished piece.

First Steps with Digital Prints: We start by showing you how to bring a fashion print into Adobe Illustrator and how to pair it with a full-scale digital sewing pattern. This isn’t just about making patterns look pretty; it’s a crucial step in understanding how your final garment will appear.

Finding the Perfect Scale: The scale of a print can dramatically change the look of a dress or shirt. We walk you through how to adjust the size of the print, finding just the right dimension that suits your pattern. It’s like fitting the pieces of a puzzle together so everything looks just right.

Prep and Print: Once you’ve nailed the scale, we’ll help you adjust the original artwork to match your pattern. Then, it’s all set to be sent off for digital printing. Imagine holding a fabric in your hand that looks exactly like your on-screen design.

Advanced Techniques for Precision: The second part of our tutorial tackles the more advanced topic of engineered prints. These are designs specifically created to fit exact pattern pieces, and they’re a key aspect of digital textile printing.

New to pattern making in Adobe Illustrator? Learn the fundamental pattern making techniques with our comprehensive online course. Read more…

What You’ll Need to Follow Along

Before we start, you’ll need a finished pattern and a full-repeat print to begin. Luckily, we’ve produced a download pack that features both. Download your print and finished pattern to trial adding your printed textile designs to your basic blocks and finished patterns.

This tutorial will work with also work with any of our standardised basic blocks

What’s Next?

You’re not done there though! If you want to share it online or print it off at home, you’ll need to add seam allowance and transform it into a PDF sewing pattern. Check out the projects below to find out how.