How to Create a Versatile Plaid Pattern with Twill Weave Flannel Texture in Procreate

1. Introduction and Class Project: Plat patterns are timeless and versatile defined by intersecting horizontal and vertical lines in varying colors and widths. Flat patterns come in many variations, each with its own charm. These divers styles make plat endlessly versatile for design collections. Hi, everyone. I'm Gitanjl an artist, illustrator, surface pattern designer, and Tanka painter, based in the beautiful coastal state of Goa, India. Over the last eight years, I have designed various patterns for clients, licensed them to brands, fabric companies, and sold my design online on print on demand sites like Spoonflower. Today, I'm excited to share this short class where I show you how to create a plat pattern entirely in Procreate. This class is suitable for both beginner and intermediate levels, but I will guide you through step by step process so you can easily follow along. In this short class, I'll walk you through the process of designing a plat pattern with a towel weave texture. Plus, we will add a few extra effects to give it a cozy flannel like appearance. For the class project, follow along and design one or more patterns with a twill weave effect in Procreate. Once ready, export your artwork as a JPEG or PNG five and share your patterns in the students project gallery. I can't wait to see your beautiful creations. So without further ado, let's dive in. 2. How to Create a Plaid Pattern in Procreate: We'll begin by opening Procreate and creating a new Canvas. I will select a custom size. So tap the plus sign, then tap it again to create a new Canvas. Enter your custom Canvas settings. I will set mine to 1,800 by 1,800 pixels with a DPI of 300. Here you can see the maximum number of layers available based on these settings. Next, tap on the color profile. I will choose RGB, but feel free to pick whatever works best for you. Then click Preate. The first step is to create the twel weave pattern. We will be making a two by two twill where the pattern uses two warp strings and two weft yarns, resulting in a diagonal stripe defect. Start by selecting a dark color and drag it to fill the canvas. Then tap the arrow to open the transform settings. Choose the uniform option and enable magnetic and snapping features. Set the distance and velocity to maximum. Next, scale the square down to half its size until the orange guidelines appear, aligning the edges to the center. Once aligned, tap the arrow to deselect. Next, open the layers panel and swipe on the layer and click on Duplicate. Select the duplicated layer and drag it to the bottom right corner, forming a checkered shape. To merge the two layers, pinch them together with two fingers or alternatively, select the top layer and tap the merge down in the options that appear when you tap the layer thumbnail. Now duplicate this merged layer and select both layers. Scale them down to half their size again. Move one layer to the right by one square, merge the layers. Now duplicate this merged layer, then move the combined layer to the right and down by two squares. Next, make another copy and move it to the bottom left corner so that one square is positioned at the corner. This is how your tile should look. Finally, merge all the layers together and you will have the basic tile for your 12 wave pattern. Next, we need to scale the pattern down. To do this, simply hold and drag to resize it by half. Then make a copy of the layer and move it to the right. Merge the two layers together and make another copy. Move this copy to the bottom and merge the layers again. Repeat these steps a few times to adjust the 12 weave texture to a more realistic size. You only need to do this once and you can save this file as a template for future use. I'm satisfied with the scale now, let's merge the layers and rename this one as twill weave texture. To change the direction of the twill, select a layer and flip it horizontally. Now hide this layer for the moment as we move on to the next step, creating the stripes. I will be using a reference image that I downloaded from Freepik. We will only use the striped patterns from it and adjust the colors to match our palette. To insert the reference image, tap on the wrench icon, and then click on the plus sign and select Insert a photo. Choose the file and then change the transform settings to freeform, reduce the distance to 20 or lower. Now move the image around and crop it to isolate one tile from the repeat. It to fit the canvas, then lock this layer. Create a new layer and fill it with a color that covers most of the design. Then hide this layer. Next, create another layer. Select the first stripe color from the vertical stripes and apply it to fill the canvas. Select the arrow tool, hold the side, and drag it to adjust the stripe width. Duplicate this layer and move it to position it for the next stripe. Merge each stripe color into its own layer. This way, it will be easier to recolor the stripes. Repeat these steps to create the rest of the stripes. Once done, make sure to turn the base layer back on. Adjust the striped colors using your palette. And make sure the stripes are perfectly aligned without any gaps at the top or bottom. To fix this, select all the layers and fine tune its position by dragging up and down, extending the stripes beyond the canvas as any excess will be cut off automatically. Finally, group all the stripe layer along with the base layer and rename this layer as vertical stripes. Next, duplicate the stripes group and rotate 90 degree clockwise by dragging the small green circle at the top to create horizontal stripes. Then select the stripes group, tap its thumbnail and choose flatten. Now position the 12 weave texture layer beneath it, tap the horizontal stripes layer thumbnail and select clipping mask to apply that texture. At this stage, the pattern already looks great and can be used as is. However, to add more depth, you can take an extra step. Duplicate the top layer, tap the N icon, and change its blending mode to soft light. This subtle adjustment adds texture to the solid colors where the same stripes overlap, preventing the intersecting areas from looking flat. These next steps are completely optional, but they will help give your pattern the cozy look of flannel, a soft, medium weight cotton fabric with a fuzzy napped finish. To achieve this effect, we will start by adding a noise texture to the design. Create a new layer and fill it with black. Once that's done, select the layer, go to the adjustment menu and choose noise. Slide your finger across the screen to adjust the noise value. Personally, I like to go up to around 300% for a nice textured effect. For an even softer, more natural look, add a touch of Gagen blur. About two to three person works well to create that wooly fabric like texture. Change the blending mode of this layer to soft light. To preview how your design looks as a repeat, swipe down with three fingers to open the pop up menu and select copy all. Next, create a new layer, go to the wrench icon and choose paste. Use the arrow tool to scale down the tile to half its size. Duplicate this layer and move the copy to the right. Merge these two layers and then duplicate the merged layer and move it to the bottom. This will give you a clear view of how the pattern looks when repeated. Once you're happy with the result, go ahead and save your file as a JPEG or PNG. Save the file and to rename the file, tap here and type plat pattern template. Whenever you want to create a new plat variation, simply replace the vertical and horizontal stri players with new ones. This way, you can create endless plaid variation with different colors in just a few minutes. Thank you so much for joining me. I hope you enjoyed this class and can't wait to see the beautiful plats you create. If you enjoyed this class, check out my other class on creating plats using Adobe Illustrator. If you have any questions, feel free to drop them on the discussion page. I will be happy to assist you. Please consider leaving a review and sharing it with your friends. And don't forget to follow me here on Skill Share to stay updated on my upcoming classes. Until then, happy creating.