Tag: surface pattern design

08/11/2025

My Journey Into Surface Pattern Design and the Courses I’ve Taken

It’s circa 2010, and I’m doodling in Corel Xara X, trying to figure out how to make repeat patterns. I had the idea of selling digital papers I had seen on Etsy. I could create simple repeats, but I grew frustrated when trying to figure out how to do a half-drop repeat. I soon concluded that I needed to find a course or someone who could teach me.

There was a Surface Design and Textiles course in the North East region, but I couldn’t afford to undertake a second Bachelor’s degree then (or now). However, I did stumble across the first iteration of the now-defunct Make It In Design courses, established by surface pattern designer Rachael Taylor. With some trepidation, I enrolled in the first Module… and froze.

The course highlighted what I couldn’t articulate at the time: despite being for beginners, I found many people who already had their own artistic style. At the time, this made me feel inadequate, and I struggled to complete the course as I felt like I wasn’t up to scratch.

Truth was, I wasn’t.

Over 12 years later, looking back on those first patterns I made with Xara X and that first online learning experience, I was discouraged by the lack of skills in industry-used software and in my own design skills.

Knowing what I know now, I can see these experiences as stepping stones to becoming the emerging surface pattern designer I am today.

Picking Up Surface Pattern Design… again

Circa 2020/21, a couple of short courses helped me build my confidence. I also started to invest in the technology and software the industry uses for surface pattern design. An iMac and a subscription to Adobe Illustrator – after years of battling with InkScape and GIMP (the free versions of Illustrator and Photoshop, respectively).

These courses were great at getting me started again in designing pretty patterns. Being able to follow along at my own pace, and it was exciting to see my designs come to life on the screen.

For a while, I stumbled from short course to short course through Skillshare and Domestika. Then I took a deep breath and enrolled in Oksancia (Oksana Pasishnychenk’s) Magical Layout Patterns course. It was during a difficult period for our family, so I wasn’t able to dedicate as much time as I would have liked to learning.

Skip forward another few years, and I signed up for Polina Oshu’s Pattern Camp in 2024, which I loved. The short course really helped me to focus on the drawing side of things. Importantly, it was a lovely gateway into the surface pattern design community and what was possible.

Yet, I was beginning to feel that familiar frustration, which I now take as a sign that I am ready for the next step. It was great doing all the Skillshare and Domestika classes, but I couldn’t help feeling I was stabbing in the dark of the surface pattern industry and had no clue where to look. I was also frustrated with my limited skills in Adobe Illustrator.

Making the biggest investment in my surface pattern journey To Date

Fast-forward to the beginning of 2025, Bonnie Christine’s Immersion course was launching once again. I had stumbled across Bonnie Christine’s Immersion course many years before, but it was too much of an outlay at the time. After a difficult few years, I wanted to do something for myself. It was a scary moment hovering the mouse over the Buy Now button, even scarier when debating with myself whether to add the small-group element to the overall cost.

Thank goodness, I did. Yes, it was a massive financial investment, but goodness, it consolidated the 12 years of my own attempts at surface pattern design. Immersion takes you right from scratch – or whichever part of the surface pattern design journey you find yourself on. The classes were easily digestible and a masterclass in breaking down complex topics and concepts. On top of this, the course really strengthened my Illustrator skills and built my confidence in using the software.

The icing on the cake? That small group element? I met four other fabulous ladies who love and appreciate pattern design too. It was a brilliant way to stay accountable and cheerlead each other throughout the course (imagine lots of positive “ooooohhs” as we each shared our work!). The best bit: we still meet weekly to talk about patterns and encourage each other on this journey.

As we reach the end of 2025

Life gets busy, pattern design creation has gone down the list of priorities, and I haven’t been able to dedicate as much time as I would like to my design practice due to other professional, family and health commitments. However, I am proud of myself for where I am today with my surface pattern skills, even if I’m not where I hope to be yet!

2025 Surface Pattern Design Achievements

Reflecting on my achievements in 2025 – I’m proud that I have:

…completed the Immersion course.
…redesigned and set up this website for my surface pattern design brand.
…picked up my Dity Diva Instagram account again – and started to promote my work.
…had one of my prints added to a tote bag from a print-on-demand website – the thrill of seeing my own designs on fabric was brilliant and made the possibility of being able ot see my patterns on things feel more real.

Surface Pattern Design Courses I Have Taken

It’s taken quite a bit of investment – money and time – to get to this point. Below is a list of surface pattern design courses over the years that have helped me gain the skills needed to be a surface pattern designer:

Domestika Surface Pattern Courses

Skillshare Surface Pattern Design Courses

- Pattern Recipes: How to Create Pattern Templates You Can Reuse – Shannon McNab
- Stronger Patterns Made Easy – Shannon McNab
- Create a Modern Trailing Floral Pattern in Adobe Illustrator – Mel Armstrong
- Surface Pattern Design by Hand: Create a Repeat Pattern on Paper – Di Ujdi
- Anyone Can Start a Sketchbook! How to Draw Happy Florals & Botanicals – Kristina Hultkrantz
- 10 Ways to Make Better Patterns – Liz Kohler Brown
- Design Your Own Washi Tape in Adobe Illustrator – Rebecca Woolbright
- Make Simple Geometric Shapes in Adobe Illustrator CC – Esther Nariyoshi
- Intro to Surface Pattern Design: Learn Adobe Illustrator – Bonnie Christine

Further Courses

Make It In Design – now defunct.
Oksancia – Oksana Pasishnychenko’s – Magical Pattern Layouts and Pattern Up! courses in the Oksancia Textile Design Studio and School.
Pattern Power – Laura Coyle
Polina Oshu – Pattern Camp – Polina’s classes can now be found over on Patreon.
Immersion – Bonnie’s Christine’s legendary surface pattern design course.
One Motif, Endless Patterns – The Pattern Social

What’s Next For My Surface Pattern Design Journey?

One of the big lessons I’ve learnt on my surface design journey is that it takes time. Time to learn the software and technical skills to design and create the patterns. Time to develop your signature style. Time to become confident in your designs and figure out where you want your patterns to be seen.

It’s taken me over 12 years to get where I am today as a surface pattern designer. I’ve navigated getting married, starting a family and overcoming health crises. In 2025, I am a parent/carer, and it’s more important than ever to me to build a career around the responsibilities I now have. Surface pattern design provides much-needed respite from the day-to-day tasks of caring for a child with a chronic condition. Being able to take time for myself to design something pretty that brings me and others joy is priceless.

It’s the beginning of November 2025 as I write this post, and I am eyeing the steps I would like to take as I continue my path as a surface pattern designer.

In 2026, I would like to:

Make pattern creation a daily practice — it could be doodling, painting, or cracking open Illustrator.
Learn more about colour theory and put this into practice. I would love to figure out the colours and patterns for Ditty Diva.
When I started Immersion, I set a goal to open my own online stationery shop. I want to create a collection that I could apply and sell, particularly washi tape and notebooks.
Sell my colouring pages – and launch Pretty Pattern Colouring Club properly. It’s an idea I’ve had in my head for a long while now. It’s time to make it happen.
Learn how to draw more shapes and figures. I’ve been frustrated with my lack of skills in this area and feel it would widen the types of patterns I could design.
Work on my mindset around my work being good enough. I’m still working on this, over 12 years after taking that first paid course.
Save up the money to join the next enrollment of Bärbel Dressler’s ‘Repertoire’ course, which studies pattern design more in-depth.

What’s your journey looked like?

One of the things I’ve learnt from meeting other surface pattern designers is that we all have our own journeys into this profession. Mine has felt like it’s taken ages at times. Yet when I reflect on this journey, I realise it has walked alongside me in the different seasons of my life. I can’t wait to see where it takes me next.

How about you? Where are you on your surface pattern journey? What advice would you give aspiring surface pattern designers starting? Share your thoughts in the comments.

12/05/2025

I made a pretty pattern and had it printed on a tote bag!

Spring Joy

I made a pretty pattern and had it printed on a tote bag.

This was one of the patterns I made as part of my Immersion coursework.

The course consolidated my knowledge and improved my skills to become a surface pattern designer. The opportunity has given me the confidence to follow my dream of seeing my patterns on products.

It’s been a long road from that first daisy tile pattern in Corel Xara X in 2010 to 2025, but I am beaming not just with how the pattern looks on the tote bag but also that I had the courage to take action and make it happen.

I can see where I could improve on the colourway. I also learned a good lesson about reading the product description size properly, as I thought the bag would be bigger than it is. It’s certainly Steph-size! The cost was eye-watering for the size of the bag, too, but I guess that’s print on demand for you.

I posted it on my Facebook account, and it received a lot of positive feedback. One friend said that they would buy it, which was another confidence boost.

Now I need to think about the next steps and how I can go about setting up shop. Suggestions on services to use are welcome.

19/06/2022

Surface Pattern Design – Drawing a Repeat Pattern without cutting paper

The Journey Begins… Again

Over the past 12 months, I’ve picked up the interest in surface pattern design again. Buying an ebook here and there, a couple of online courses, and with the help of Skillshare, my skills have developed for the better. It was trying to complete one of these courses that I realised that I needed to go back to basics. To learn not only the fundamentals of surface pattern design but also how to draw, the art of composition and how to work in Illustrator.

Life has been very busy, and I haven’t been able to dedicate as much time to this practice as I would like. Yet, I’m convinced that there is a joy (and a great way to develop your confidence) in taking things at a slower place and letting your passion develop over time.

Drawing a repeat pattern – the cutting paper way

One of the things that has certainly taken its time is figuring out how to draw a repeating pattern on paper. This process has eluded me for many years. For some reason, I just could not see how it worked visually. I’ve bought surface pattern textile books, read websites with examples – and nope, I could not make repeatable patterns. For the longest time, I have been unable to figure out where I was going wrong.

It was watching an Instagram video one Sunday afternoon that changed this. The surface pattern designer, Sanna Jonsson, numbered their paper into quarters and briefly showed how to repeat a pattern by cutting the paper into four and moving the pieces around. Remembering that I had a Skillshare subscription – I was able to watch Sanna’s full video on creating a manual repeat pattern. Check it out here if you get the chance.

Figuring out how to create a manual repeat has been a confidence booster. At last, I felt like I finally understood one of the founding principles of surface pattern design. Yet I find it fiddly. Trying to match up the paper once your moving it around gives me a certain level of anxiety.

Drawing a repeat pattern – no cutting paper method

Well, another Sunday, another day scrolling Instagram, and I came across an I hadn’t seen for a while. I adore the bold and vibrant work of Polina Oshu, from Riga. Clicking through her links, I stumbled across her YouTube channel and how to draw a repeat without cutting paper. Once I had a spare couple of hours to myself, I decided to follow Polina’s video tutorial and have a go.

It was a much easier way to create a manual repeat pattern. Granted, I still had the lining up the paper type of anxiety, yet it felt a more natural process for me.

How to draw a manual surface pattern design without cutting paper

You need the following materials to create a manual surface pattern design without cutting paper:

Paper or card of your choice, colour and size.
Paper cutter or a pair of scissors
Ruler
Mark making materials that you enjoy using – such as colouring pens, pencils, pastels, paint pens
Your creativity!

My materials

I used the following to create this pattern:

Derwent Line Maker 0.5 Black
Derwent Academy Twin Tip (Brush) Markers
A3 recycled white cartridge paper (140gsm) from eBay
Ruler
Paper Trimmer

Step 1

For this example, I cut a piece of A3 recycled white cartridge paper (140gsm) that I found on eBay into a 28cm² square. This paper is quite stiff and created a challenge when folding over later. I folded the paper diagonally to mark where the square of the paper was and then cut along the straight line at the top.

Step 2

Start to draw the elements of your pattern in the middle of the paper, leaving space around all of the sides, a bit like a blank border.

Step 3

This is where the process of this pattern creation becomes interesting. Turn your paper or card so that the pattern faces the desk (so you see the back of the paper facing you). Fold the paper in half and then open this out again. Next, fold over each side of the horizontal into the centre of the paper, which will look like a double fold-out (or doors). I imagine adding some washi tape between the two sides will help keep it in place.

Step 4

Continue to draw your pattern over the folds, again making sure you don’t draw in the blank border at the top and bottom of the paper.

Step 5

Once you have drawn the elements for the last step, unfold the paper out to the full square once again. Repeat step 3, but this time, half the paper square the other way, open it back out and then fold outwards and then fold back inwards towards the centre line you have just created. Again, you’ll have what looks like two doors you can open.

Step 6

Now draw the remaining pattern in the other part of the blank border. Once you have completed this step, open your paper or card back out to a full square. And there you go… you have a repeating pattern square.

If you are a visual person like me, I recommend you check out Polina’s YouTube video on how to do this exercise.

The End Result

Here’s my first attempt:

I am quite happy with the outcome of the final piece. The struggle was real in attempting to get the edges of the paper to line up straight when folding over. I think this is more about my own technique that needs to be improved (tips welcomed!) on rather than this particular way of making a repeat. The next step is to digitise it and see if it aligns well in Illustrator. Another lesson for me to learn.

How about you? Do you create hand-drawn pattern designs this way, or prefer the cutting and quartering method? Any tips you would like to share? Comment below!

01/12/2021

Starting the surface pattern design path… again

Looking back, I have always had a love for a pretty pattern – whether on a notebook, a Cath Kidston bag or clothing. It’s taken me quite a while to get to the point of starting to make surface patterns after a few false starts.

10 Years in the wilderness

About 10 years ago I set up a website in my own name selling digital patterns, it didn’t work out, unfortunately. This was because I had no idea how to market my little business and Facebook or Instagram weren’t the marketing beasts they are today. It was also because, I lost my pattern making software Corel Xara X, once I switched over from Windows to Mac platform. In the years that followed, I tried in vain to learn design skills in the free software, Inkscape, but I never could get a proper hang of it.

Starting again at the beginning of a new decade

A whole lot of life has happened in the past decade meaning I had neither the time nor financial resources to invest in the tools or education to learn about surface pattern design, fully. Fast forward to the end of 2021, and I found myself in the position to be able to afford an Adobe Illustrator subscription. Some savings also enabled me to invest in a couple of pattern courses and I’m steadily developing the skills needed to make the beautiful patterns I wish to bring to fruition.

Below are a few of the creations I have come up with so far. I can’t wait to see where this journey of surface pattern design will take me in the next 10 years – and I have a few ideas up my sleeve!