Creating a repeat pattern, the old fashioned way

After some unsuccessful trial and error and a lot of wasted time, I did a search for repeat patterns, and one of the first hits I came across, is a tutorial by Julia Rothman on Design Sponge (which is a site that is not only beautifully designed, but has a wealth of great tips and information). The article is called welcome julia and how to make a repeat pattern. Julia takes you through a step by step approach of how to create a repeat the old fashioned way, with a drawing on pager that she cuts in half and in half again and arranges the pieces to create the basis of the repeat (don't take my word for it—check out her tutorial).

Could it really be that simple? I sat down right away with an existing illustration, and following her method (but in Illustrator instead of on a piece of paper), I managed to create my first repeat pattern quite quickly. If you read Julia’s tutorial, you will see that there is a bit of work filling in the centre which takes some time if you really want the repeat to be cohesively designed, but this opens up a whole world of possibilities. Happy repeats! (all images copyright Julia Rothman)