I’ve added a new design to my Gum shadows range of fabrics. For this pattern I used a half drop pattern repeat. This is a really useful pattern repeat technique if your initial design appears too regimented in a regular linear design repeat format.
This particular design is based upon gum tree leaf silhouettes.
I began the design process with a black outline drawing of a branch end of gum leaves, then manipulated the design in terms of scale and colour, and created a simple pattern repeat.
Its really important to create swatches and test out the pattern through a number of repeats. What looked really good to me in the single swatch, and even across a couple of repeats, looked very formulaic once i tested it out in a larger image, and also mocked it up in a room setting:
Changing the repeat to a half drop, made the difference i wanted.