Get Started with Textile Design – 45 Essential Resources & Tools
If you’re interested in learning about textile and pattern design, this guide has plenty to help you get started! We’ve pulled together 45 resources, from tools and tips to inspiring websites and companies you can work with. Whether you’re just learning the basics, trying out new techniques, or looking to sell your designs, you’ll find something helpful here.
This guide covers everything from design software and mockup tools to printing ideas and selling your patterns. It’s perfect for anyone who wants to learn more about textile design and see what’s possible.
This guide contains some affiliate links that will earn Creativehowl a small commission if making any purchase via them.
Illustration by Linn Warme
Learn Textile Design & Pattern Design
56 Free & Premium Surface Pattern Design Courses (Creativehowl)
If you’re looking to learn textile and pattern design this resource of ours is a great start. Here we collected some of the best courses, YouTube videos, and tutorials available online on learning pattern designs.
Skillshare
Skillshare is such a wonderful place for learning, and its selection of pattern and textile design courses is great. Skillshare has a monthly fee will give you access to every course on the platform. If you don’t know if Skillshare is the right choice for you, you can first try it for free for 7 days.
(affiliate link)
Domestika
Domestika is another fantastic platform for learning online. Here you can find courses by some of my favorite creatives, designers, and illustrators. Explore their courses on textile design and start your learning journey.
(affiliate link)
Surface Pattern Design Reference Guide
In this guide Australian surface pattern designer Rachelle Holowko will walk you through comment phrases, techniques, and terms common in the textile design industry. Perfect for designers new to the textile and design space.
Textile Design Resources
Pattern Observer: Textile & Surface Pattern Design Directory
The Pattern Observer Directory helps designers, agents, and buyers to connect by having everything textile design-related in one spot. Here you can explore and find talented pattern and textile designers, art licensing agents, fabric printers, and much more. It’s a one-stop hub for everything textile and surface pattern design.
Michelle Fifis, Founder of Pattern Observer
Interview with Michelle Fifis from Pattern Observer
What inspired the creation of the Pattern Observer Textile & Surface Pattern Design Directory?
It became apparent that designers, brands, and clients weren’t exactly in sync – there was a gap that needed bridging. There was a clear need for a streamlined way to link designers with the right brands and pattern buyers based on specific markets, regions, and skill sets. Whether it’s finding designers with particular artistic styles or in a specific city, the directory was created to simplify this process and make these connections more accessible and efficient.
And on the flip side, designers know the drill: they are often scrambling to find decent suppliers, printers, and services that deliver, only to hit dead end after dead end. We envision a virtual gathering spot where designers can display their latest collections, connect with ideal clients for their business, and team up with fellow creatives to discover and review the industry’s most trusted service providers.
Can you explain how designers can best utilize the directory to promote their work and gain industry insight?
At Pattern Observer and within the Textile Design Lab, we empower designers to maintain control over their careers. One of our core philosophies is that designers should be independent of any single platform or revenue stream, so we encourage this directory to be used in addition to their portfolio or agency.
For designers with a website, the directory can serve as a powerful secondary platform to drive traffic, just like social media. Think of it as an extension of your online presence—a place where new potential clients and collaborators can discover your work. It’s a way to gain exposure in new markets and connect with buyers who may not be familiar with your portfolio yet.
For those who may still need their own website, that’s completely fine! The directory can act as your digital portfolio and networking hub. This allows you to put your work out there while you work toward establishing a more comprehensive online presence. Whether you have an established website or are just getting started, the directory gives you a platform to showcase your designs, build connections, and stay up to date with industry trends and opportunities.
For a designer considering submitting their work to the directory, what advice would you give to ensure their submission stands out?
When it comes to submitting to the directory, completeness is key. Take the time to fully fill out your profile, making sure to include all relevant information about your design specialties, experience, and artistic style. A well-thought-out profile not only improves your chances of standing out but also helps potential clients and collaborators get a clear picture of what you do.
A surprisingly impactful thing designers can do is add a photo—whether a professional headshot or an engaging avatar. People are much more likely to connect with a face than a blank profile, especially in the freelance world where trust and personal connection are crucial.
Be sure to highlight your unique strengths, your design approach, and any standout skills or specialties you bring to the table. Don’t be afraid to include a few testimonials or links to your previous work if possible. The more information you provide, the more chances you’ll have to attract the right opportunities.
How do you see the directory evolving in the future? Are there any upcoming features or updates that designers should be excited about?
Looking ahead, we’re excited to see the directory continue to evolve alongside the needs of the design community. Our goal is to create an even more dynamic space where designers, buyers, and service providers can seamlessly interact. We plan to continue adding new features that make it easier for designers to gain visibility and for buyers to find exactly what they’re looking for.
Ultimately, we want the directory to be a thriving, interactive space supporting designers in their business growth while offering a wealth of recommendations and opportunities.
128+ Essential Tools & Resources for Surface Pattern Designers (Creativehowl)
Another resource from us at Creativehowl. Explore every resource you could need as a surface pattern designer. Everything from marketing, and making a portfolio to useful tools and software for creating patterns.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Open Access
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a vast library of open images from their extensive art collection. Their textile department is a goldmine for inspiration with over 33,000 textile art pieces for different historical periods and parts of the world.
Wikipedia (Textile Design)
I’m always impressed with Wikipedia and how much useful and free information on almost every topic you can imagine. The Wiki page for textile design is no exception. Here you can read up on the history of textile design, different techniques, and use cases.
Textile Design & Pattern Inspiration
Textile Design Blogs
Pattern Observer
Pattern Observer is an industry-leading blog about textile design. Read up on useful insight for designers with topics like how to market and sell your designs, industry news, textile trends and inspiration from the world of textile design.
Pitter Pattern
Pitter Pattern is a blog dedicated to pattern design by designer Veronica Galbraith. Here you can find inspiration, news from the pattern world, and guides for pattern designers.
Mel Armstrong Blog
Surface pattern designer Mel Armstrong has a blog where she shares her insight as a designer with guides, resources and inspiration for other creatives.
Print & Pattern
Since its start in 2006, the blog Print & Pattern has been a marvelous source of inspiration for designers online. Sharing inspiration and news from the textile and pattern design world.
Color Inspiration
Design Seeds
Design Seeds is a great website for color ideas, created by Jessica Colaluca. On their blog, they regularly share pictures with color palettes and color codes taken from each image.
Color Hunt
On Color Hunt you can create limited color palettes or search the many community-created color combinations for inspiration.
Textile Trends
Trend Bible
Trend Bible is a helpful website for spotting upcoming trends, focused on design for home & interior and kids. On their blog, they share insights and visuals that highlight the latest styles and designs.
Trendstop
Trendstop is a great resource for exploring the latest in fashion trends. On their blog you can find inspiration for styles, color directions, and other industry insights.
Marketing for Textile Designers
Here on Creativehowl, we have a Pattern Designer directory where we feature amazing designers available for freelance and licensing work. We have almost 200 designers featured already. It’s an amazing opportunity to get seen by potential clients.
Getting listed is free. It’s invite-only but you can send an application to join the directory.
Behance
Behance is like a social media community for creatives like designers, illustrators, and artists. Setting up a profile and creating a portfolio on Behance is a great way of marketing your work, and potentially getting the right client’s eyeballs on your designs.
Pinterest is another great spot to show off your designs and marketing yourself as a textile designer. The platform can feel quite saturated with textile and pattern designs but it’s still worth getting your work on the platform.
Marketing Opportunities for Textile Designers
Creatsy – Creative Collabs
Creatsy is a company that sells high-quality mockup designs. They’re always open to working with designers. For example, you can use their mockups with your own pattern designs and send them in for a chance to be featured on their website.
The Greats
The Greats is a free collection of visual content focused on social change, available for anyone to use non-commercially. It offers well-designed materials like posters and social media images on important human rights issues. For designers, being featured on The Greats is a great marketing opportunity, as it helps your work reach activists and organizations worldwide, giving your designs more visibility.
Textile Design Tools & Software
Seamless 2 – Pattern Utility Plugin
Seamless is a Photoshop plugin that will help you create better pattern designs. Packed with 9 different tools it will aid you in every aspect of making repeats for your pattern designs. Highly recommended if you’re using Photoshop.
(affiliate link)
Pantone Connect
The Pantone color system is widely used in many industries, and the textile industry is no exception. Pantone Connect gives you access to the whole Pantone color catalog with over 15,000 Pantone colors. Available as a mobile app, web, and as plugins for Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.
Notion
Notion is a powerful tool to stay organized as a textile designer. Notion can be used for notetaking, organizing ideas, organizing and categorizing your designs in databases, keeping track of your goals, making to-do lists and so much more. The use cases for Notion are endless really.
(affiliate link)
NedGraphics
NedGraphics is a design software for textile designers to create fabric designs for clothes, home décor, or flooring. NedGraphics can help you recolor your designs, make repeats, and streamline your design process for making knit and woven designs. NedGraphics also offers plugins for Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
Procreate
If you’re drawing on an iPad Procreate is such a fantastic app to get. Unlike Adobe apps Procreate doesn’t have a subscription, and you only need to buy it once. Procreate is packed with all the features you could expect from a drawing app.
Photopea
Photopea is an editing and designing software with similar capabilities to Photoshop. But Photopea is completely free and web-based, making it a fantastic alternative for anyone who designs on a budget.
Pattern Design & Textile Mockups
Creatsy
Creatsy is the place for premium textile mockup designs, no other company does it better and has as many designs to choose from. The mockups can be quite expensive but I would look at their textile and fabric mockup packages. These packages will provide you with all the mockups you’ll ever need for a fair price.
(affiliate link)
Pixpine Free Mockups
Pixpine has a great selection of free quality fabric and apparel mockup designs.
Mr.Mockups
Mr.Mockup is another lovely place to find free quality mockups for your next presentation or portfolio. The selection is huge and plenty to choose from in the apparel apartment.
60 Free & Premium Mockup Designs for Surface Pattern Designers (Creativehowl)
If you don’t feel like browsing through 100s of mockup designs online to find the best ones, we have done the job for you already and collected the best free and premium mockup designs found online.
Selling Textile Designs
Spoonflower
Spoonflower is a fabric marketplace where you can start selling your textile designs right away. Just upload your designs and start earning, and you’ll get 10% of every sale.
Pattern Bank
On Pattern Bank you can sell and license print and pattern designs. It’s a convenient way to start selling textile designs. Pattern Bank gives you a 50% commission on each sale.
Society6
Society6 is a print-on-demand marketplace where you can sell your designs on a range of different products. Setting up is easy and free. Society6 pays a 10% commission on each sale.
Etsy
If you have textile products you’d like to sell, opening an online shop on Etsy could be a great choice for you. Setting up your own Etsy shop is simple, and once you list your products, they’ll become part of Etsy’s large marketplace, where lots of customers can discover them.
(referral link, get 40 free listings)
List of Textile Companies to work with
Cloud9 Fabrics
USA-based fabric company Cloud9 Fabrics produces cotton fabrics for the quilt and home sewing community.
FIGO Fabrics
Canada-based FIGO Fabrics are colorful and imaginative fabrics for sewists and crafters.
Hawthorne Supply Co
Hawthorne Supply Co. is a fabric store that also has its own line of fabrics. They’re working with talented textile designers to make lovely fabrics.
P&B Textiles
P&B Textiles based in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, USA is a wholesale fabric company that specializes in cotton fabrics for quilting.
RJR Fabrics
RJR Fabrics is a fabric wholesaler located in California, USA. Established in 1978 RJR Fabrics has a long list of textile designers they’re working with to produce beautiful fabrics.
Birch Fabrics
Birch Fabrics is a manufacturer and wholesaler of organic fabrics that regularly collaborates with textile designers.
Print your own Fabric Designs
Get started with hand-lettering and calligraphy using Procreate with the help of the best online courses around on the topic.
House of U
House of U is a fabric printing company located in the Netherlands. They offer fabric printing using sublimation printing on polyester or other synthetic fabrics.
Spoonflower
The USA-based textile marketplace Spoonflower is well-known online among textile designers, and many use Spoonflower to sell their designs on fabric. It can also be used for printing your designs on fabric.
Fabric Printing Prinfab
UK-based Printfab commercial quality fabric printing on a large range of different fabric types, with no minimum orders.
Carriage House Printery
Fabric printing company Carriage House Printery is located in the USA and lets you do custom-printed fabrics on different types of fabric.
Also check out,
128+ Essential Tools & Resources for Surface Pattern Designers
In this guide we’ll list every possible tool and resource a surface pattern designer could need to manage and grow their business. A true goldmine for every pattern designer.
