The Plaid Studio / Free tools / Seamless pattern maker
Seamless pattern maker
Drop a photo, a scan or a drawing and get back a tile that repeats without a visible join. The edges are blended into each other, or the image is mirrored into a 2 × 2 tile, and the result is checked join by join before you download it. It runs in your browser — the image never leaves your computer.
Two ways to make an image seamless
- Blend the edgesThe image is shifted by half its width and height, so its edges meet in the middle, and a soft mask fades from the shifted copy at the borders to the original in the centre. The border of the result is the inside of the original, which already continues across the join. Best for textures, watercolour washes, fabric photos and anything without hard shapes at the edges. Raise the blend width if a seam still shows; lower it to keep more of the original untouched.
- Mirror into 2 × 2The image is placed four times, flipped across and down, so every edge meets its own reflection. It is always seamless, at twice the size, and it gives the kaleidoscope symmetry of a mirrored repeat — lovely for geometric and ornamental work, less so for a photo with writing in it.
A tile that is seamless by construction needs neither: plaid, tartan and gingham woven from a thread count, and the floral and geometric engines, repeat exactly because the repeat is part of the design. Check any tile with the seamless pattern checker, and size it for print with the DPI calculator.
Questions
How do I make an image seamless?
Shift it by half its width and height so the edges meet in the middle, then hide the cross that appears there — by blending, painting or cloning. The maker above does the shift and a soft blend for you, or mirrors the image into a 2 × 2 tile, which is always seamless.
Will the result be exactly my image?
With edge blending the centre of the tile is your original and the border is blended, so details near the edges soften a little. With mirroring nothing is changed, but the tile becomes a mirrored 2 × 2 at twice the size.
What size will the tile be?
The same pixel size as your image with edge blending, and twice the width and height with mirroring. The page shows how wide it prints at 150 DPI; for print-on-demand use the DPI calculator to check it is large enough.
Is my image uploaded?
No. It is processed on a canvas in your browser and the PNG is made on your computer.