Creating a Woven Textile Pattern in Illustrator
In this lesson, we’ll review warp and weft layouts as well as pattern construction for woven textile pattern creation inside of Illustrator. We’ll learn what a single repeat is and how to find it within an existing pattern. We’ll then create our own version of the plaid by drawing out a warp and a weft, all while learning or reviewing key features to finish the process and using Illustrator to its fullest potential. To finish this design we will create a pattern swatch and present a larger region of the pattern to see the final design.
Note: You will need access to Adobe Illustrator software in order to do this lesson.
Downloadables:
| Module | Description | Step |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | What is a woven pattern? | 1-3 |
| 2 | Creating a woven pattern | 1-5 |
MODULE 1 • What is a woven pattern?
| Step | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | In this lesson, you’ll learn what a woven pattern is and how to create one yourself. Start by opening the file Plaid.ai, which you’ll find in the included files. In the file, you’ll see this plaid. I’ve called out the warp and the weft. To create a woven pattern, you need both of these elements to create the final design. The warp, which is the vertical set of stripes that make up the pattern and the weft, which are the horizontal stripes that make up the pattern, come together and cross to create any woven design. |
| 2 | Any woven pattern has a construction or a setup that dictates what the warp and the weft are made of a typical construction could look something like this 100 by 80 and 120 by 120. So what does this mean? The pattern construction dictates a few different things to the manufacturer as far as how to set up the loom, which is how a weave is created, and what the setup of both the warp and the weft threads mean for this pattern. Now each pattern can be slightly different depending on what the effect or the final outcome of the fabric is that you’re looking to achieve. In this example, what I’ve called out is 100 as my warp and 80 as my weft in these numbers. The first number always represents a warp and the second always the weft. So 100 by 80 means in the warp you have 100 threads per inch in the weft, you only have 80 threads per inch. The first set of numbers here are dictating just the warp and weft layout of how many threads per inch exist. Now the second part of the numbers are called the density while the first are called the thread counts, the density dictates the thickness of each yarn, and the thickness can change warp and weft many times it is the same when you want a nice even construction. But sometimes it’s also dependent on the thread count and again, the overall look that you’re trying to achieve in the end. So in this example, I’m using 120 by 121 20 is the thickness or the gauge of that yarn that is going to be used. And in this example, I’ve just used the same thing both warp and weft. Though you will notice that even though my density is the same, my thread counts are not, which means that it might be just a little less compact in my weft than it is in my warp because I’m going to have 20 Less threads in my weft. Understanding the construction is really based on seeing the output of these fabrics. If you’re designing the plaid, and you don’t correspond with the manufacturer, that construction may or may not matter to you, if you are sending it off to the mill and you’re dealing with a manufacturer, you may want to reach out to them if you don’t know already, as to what their options are with the final fabrics that they can achieve. Some Mills may have restrictions, while others might be able to achieve some more intricate or complicated combinations. |
To see the full transcript and complete video lesson, subscribe to the University of Fashion!
© 2008-2022 University of Fashion® – - Transcript for use with University of Fashion lessons only and not authorized for download or distribution