How to make retro floral patterns in Procreate

The Pattern Trend Series: Part 2

Welcome to the second post in the Pattern Trend Series!

In the last post we looked in detail at how we can replicate a block printing style in our repeating patterns in Procreate.

In today’s post we’re zooming back in time to the 60s and 70s and we’re going to look at the bold and beautiful floral style which has had a resurgence in popularity in recent years.

There is also a brand new freebie later on in this post to help you create some of your own retro art!

I created the retro floral design pictured below for a Spoonflower Design challenge in 2023 and it sells consistently in my shop, particularly on fabric, as I think people seek to replicate the iconic retro style in clothing and home décor.

(As an interesting side note, this pattern just missed the top 100 for this challenge, and yet it has been such a steady seller over the last few years. Just a reminder that lower placed designs can still translate into patterns that sell!!)

What is a retro floral style?

Let’s first get clear on the style we’re going to be looking at.

The retro floral look can actually cover a variety of vintage-inspired aesthetics, from the soft, romantic florals of the 50s to the bold, geometric blooms of the late 70s.

In this post, we’re going to be focusing in on the iconic 60s/70s flower power vibe which includes bold, simplified flowers, bright colour palettes, and playful layouts.

Key features of this style are chunky, simplified flower shapes, simple geometric repeats and a limited colour palette.

Texture is minimal, and shapes are often outlined with a smooth solid line.

Gathering Inspiration

As I did in Part 1 of the series, I have gathered some sources of inspiration for you to take a look at before you set about creating your own retro inspired patterns.

Retro Floral Pinterest Board

In this board, I have curated a whole host of retro patterns which will give you the feel of the style as well as ideas for motifs and colour palettes.

Vintage Sportswear Spoonflower Design Challenge (September 2023)

1970s Spoonflower Design Challenge (August 2025)

These two Spoonflower design challenges showcase some beautiful work and demonstrate that there is a current market for this retro style.

How to create a retro floral design

As you can see from the inspiration section there are so many different layouts and styles you can use to replicate this style in your own voice.

In this section I am going to walk you through the key fundamentals of this style and give you some ideas and resources to help you create some of your own retro floral designs.

Colour Palette

You will only totally nail this style with the correct retro palettes as these are so key to this iconic look.

I have curated three retro colour palettes for you to use if you’d like to and you can access these for free by clicking on the image below. (If you are on my mailing list, you should find this freebie already waiting for you in your inbox!)

Brushes

This style nearly always uses a flat, smooth brush. The built-in Procreate monoline brush will be your best friend for this project!

Outlined Motifs

Often the motifs in this style are outlined. I don’t usually create my motifs with an outline, but for this style I have, and you can see an example of this below.

Top Tip: If you are creating outlines and filling them in with colour, don’t do this all on one layer. I made this mistake at first and it was then really hard (actually impossible) to make colour changes later.

To fill in the colour on a separate layer, make the outline layer a reference layer in the layers panel (see image below) then make a layer underneath and fill in the colour on this layer. I have written a whole post about this if you’d like to know more about this method, and believe me it will make your life a lot easier and mean all your colours are on separate layers.

Flowers

The flowers in this style are often symmetrical, and have big chunky petals. To create these types of flowers in Procreate is very easy with the symmetry tool.

Don’t forget you can move the centre of symmetry, it doesn't have to be in the centre of your canvas!

To do this, go to the wrench icon and select Canvas. Toggle drawing guide on and select the type of symmetry you'd like from the bottom menu. Then you can move the centre of symmetry with the blue dot, and rotate it with the green dot!

Simple geometric repeats

Whilst some retro patterns are complex, others are very simple geometric repeats. I made the one below using a very straightforward method which you can learn how to do in this simple tutorial.

Texture

There are two ways you could approach texture on this project. Either opt for a totally flat pattern with no added texture as I have done in the images above, or alternatively you could add a vintage-style overlay to give it an old, retro feel.

If you have my seamless texture overlays pack, I’d recommend the 'grainy' overlay for this one to achieve a result like in the pattern below. This is a nice way to showcase your patterns and really adds to the 60s/70s vibe!

Other motifs to add

There are a number of other motifs that regularly make an appearance in this type of retro pattern. If you want to incorporate something else in your pattern to add interest or help with your SEO (search engine optimisation - it helps people find your pattern) here are some other elements to add:

Mushrooms

Peace Sign

Hearts

Stars

Wavy lines and swirls

Rainbows

Smiley faces

Leaves

Stylised insects or bugs

A fun project to try

If you're anything like me, you are often looking for ways to make your art go further.

Here's one project you can try to extend the use of your retro pattern if you have created it first with an outline as I have done below.

Make your retro pattern into a colouring page!

Once you have your outlined pattern tile, simply export as a PDF and you have a fun, retro colouring page ready to go!

I’ve made a few of these colouring pages and they are great for:

Giving to friends or kids to colour

Selling as a pack on Etsy

Giving away as a freebie on your website

You could even add numbers and do a ‘colour by number’ with one of the palettes!

My ideas are running away with me now, but I hope this has sparked some ideas for you!

If you're interested in learning the basics of creating repeating patterns in Procreate, take a look at my Procreate Patterns Class where I'll take you through the process step by step.

Let me know in the comments if you’re going to try this retro style or any of the ideas I’ve mentioned and feel free to leave any questions or other comments too.