How to create plaid in Procreate

The simple way to create textured, repeating plaid in Procreate!

Plaids, checks and tartans are wonderful patterns to be able to use as blenders in fabric collections, or even just on their own!

They have such an iconic look and will never be out of fashion.

Although plaids look complicated, they are actually extremely easy to make in Procreate and once you know how, the possibilities are endless.

I can guarantee you won’t be able to stop!

It’s best if you have a colour palette ready for this project, it only needs to be 3-5 colours. (If you need some help with choosing colours, check out this post)

How to make Plaid in Procreate

Create a square canvas in Procreate (I always create at 12x12 inches at 300DPI).

If you’re using a background colour drop this into the first layer. I’ve used a light cream for my background to give some warmth.

Create a new layer above your background layer and drop your first plaid colour onto the layer.

Turn snapping and magnetics on.

Move the layer of colour to the side, to whatever point you want. I’ve moved mine so it takes up about a quarter of the canvas.

Now create a new layer and drop on your second colour.

Resize it so it becomes a vertical stripe of any thickness and move it along to whatever position you’d like.

Just make sure that when you resize and move the top and bottom of the stripe are still touching the edge of the canvas. This is why it’s a good idea to do this with snapping and magnetics on!

Now take a third colour and do exactly the same. It's totally up to you how thick the line is and where you place it.

You can see on my canvas below that the background colour is on the first layer, and then each stripe is on its own separate layer so it can be positioned wherever you'd like it.

When you’re happy with how it looks merge the striped layers together onto one layer.

Then duplicate that layer by swiping left in the layers panel and tapping duplicate.

**Ensure you keep the background layer separate!**

Now rotate the duplicated layer by tapping the ‘rotate 45’ button twice.

It should look something like the image above.

The next stage is where the magic happens.

Go back to the layers panel and for the top layer change the blend mode to Multiply. (Just hit the N and scroll down to find multiply.)

This should make the colours interact with each other where they intersect and create the plaid look.

You can now scale it down by merging the two layers together, duplicating so you have 4 identical layers and scaling each one down to a corner.

Repeat this step if you want an even smaller print.

Well done for finishing your plaid!

Adding Texture

If you want to go the extra mile you can add a seamless texture on the top to give the plaid a textured authentic look.

The best way to do this is to add a seamless texture overlay. Below I have used the 'woven 2' texture from my Texture Overlays Pack over the background and again as a clipping mask over the plaid to achieve a really great textured effect.

As the overlay is already in repeat, all I need to do is import it from my camera roll, change the colour and reduce the opacity until I’m happy with how it looks!

If you want to check these out click the image below. Instructions on how to use them are all included!

Now this is all finished and ready to add to a collection or put up in your Spoonflower shop!

Let me know how you get on, and if you have any questions you can leave them in the comments section below!