Create a Plaid Pattern in Photoshop

Patterns can be extremely useful for quickly creating backgrounds for your work. Having a diverse catalog of Photoshop pattern sets at your disposal will make it easy to try a variety of different patterns. In this tutorial we’ll walk through the process of creating a plaid pattern, which you can then duplicate with other color combinations to compile your own set of plaid patterns.

Here is a look at what we will be creating:

The plaid pattern is rather quick and easy to create, and with some experimentation you can come up with an unlimited number of variations. As a starting point, I like to browse through sites like Adobe Kuler and ColourLovers to find some color palettes to use when creating the plaid pattern.

For this tutorial we’ll be using a palette from Adobe Kuler called County Fair.

Create a new file in Photoshop that is 98 pixels by 98 pixels.

We’ll set several vertical guides to help with creating the pattern. Go to View > New Guide and set vertical guides at 8 pixels, 28 pixels, 36 pixels, 49 pixels, 57 pixels, 70 pixels, and 78 pixels. You should have something that looks like this (image is zoomed in):

Set the foreground color to #bd6e46 and use rectangular marquee tool to select one of the fat 20 pixel wide columns. Then use the paint bucket tool to fill to selection. Repeat the process for the other 20 pixel wide column.

Next, set the foreground color to #294a49. Use the rectangular marquee tool to select one of the 13 pixel wide columns and then use the paint bucket tool to fill the selection. Repeat the process for the other 13 pixel wide column.

Then set the foreground color to #ededa9 and use the rectangular marquee tool and the paint bucket tool to select and fill the remaining columns, all of which are 8 pixels wide.

The next step is to duplicate the layer (up to this point everything you have done should be in one layer). After the layer has been duplicated and with the top layer selected in the layers palette, go to Edit > Transform > Rotate 90 degrees clockwise. This will rotate the top layer but it leaves the bottom layer unrotated.

Double click on the background copy layer in the layers palette to open the layer style options, and change the fill opacity to 50%

With that change you’ll be able to see both the horizontal and vertical rows.

Next, create a new file that is 6 pixels by 6 pixels with a transparent background. We’ll use this to create a pattern to replicate the look of stitching.

Set the foreground color to #d5ae78 and select the pencil tool with a one-pixel square tip. Increase the view on the new 6 pixel by 6 pixel file to 800%, and use the pencil tool to create the stitching.

Next, we’ll turn this stitching into a pattern by going to Edit > Define Pattern.

Now go back to our plaid file and double click on the top layer to open the layer style options. Click on “pattern overlay” and then select the pattern that we just created. This will apply the stitching pattern to the plaid image. Here is how it will look at 100%.

Now all we have to do is define this as a pattern and we will be done. Go to Edit > Define Pattern and save your plaid pattern.

To use the pattern, create a new file of any size. Fill the background layer with any color, then double click on the layer in the layers palette. Select “pattern overlay” and choose the pattern that you just created.

If you would like to use this pattern created in the tutorial, here is the 98 pixel by 98 pixel image used to create the pattern.

At Vandelay Premier we have a set of 30 plaid patterns that is available for purchase if you’d rather not create your own. For readers of the blog we’ve set up a discount on these patterns. To get the discount add the patterns to your shopping cart and then enter the discount code “readerssave2″ to get them for $2 instead of $4.

For more tutorials please see:

• How to Create a Set of Marker Brushes for Illustrator
• Design a Portfolio Site in Photoshop
• Create a Grunge Texture Brush in Photoshop
• How to Create an Adobe Illustrator Brush
• Create a Fun Ink Splatter Vector

Published April 7th, 2011 by Steven Snell