Help & FAQ

Everything below applies to the current version of Clipart Pattern Maker. If your question is not answered here, message us on Etsy — the link is at the bottom of this page.

What this tool does

You add your own artwork — flowers, leaves, icons, whatever you draw — and the tool arranges it into a tile that repeats seamlessly in every direction. You save that tile as an image file and use it for digital paper, print-on-demand products, or anything else you sell.

It is a layout tool, not a drawing tool. It does not generate artwork for you, and it does not use AI. What comes out is your own artwork, arranged.

What it exports

Files you can add	PNG, JPEG, WebP and SVG.
Files you get out	PNG or JPEG only. There is no SVG export — see below.
Size	3,600 px (12 × 12 in), 4,500 px (15 × 15 in) or 6,000 px (20 × 20 in) at 300 DPI, or any custom size up to 7,200 px (24 in). A custom size can be typed in either pixels or inches, and the size is always shown both ways.
Print resolution	Files are tagged as 300 DPI, so they drop into a print layout at the stated size.
Tiles per file	One tile, or a sheet of 2 × 2, 2 × 3, 3 × 3 or 3 × 4 tiles. For a sheet, the size you pick is the whole sheet, measured on its longest side — so a 3,600 px sheet is never more than 12 inches either way.
Transparency	PNG can be saved with a transparent background. JPEG cannot — it always includes the background. If you add a background image, it is always saved into the file; turn its opacity down if you want the result to stay partly transparent.

Can I use SVG elements?

Yes — and they give you the sharpest result. An SVG is drawn at the exact size you are exporting, so the edges stay crisp no matter how large the file is. A raster element, by contrast, softens as it is enlarged: at a 7,000 px export, a 1200 px PNG element is noticeably blurrier than the same artwork as SVG.

Adding SVG elements does not give you an SVG file back. Whatever you put in, the pattern is saved as PNG or JPEG. Your SVG elements simply make that image sharper.

One requirement: the SVG needs a viewBox, or a width and a height. Without either, there is no way to know its proportions and the artwork would come out stretched, so the file is skipped and you are told which one it was. Any drawing program's normal SVG export includes this.

Why is there no SVG export?

Because a pattern made of raster elements cannot become vector artwork. Your elements are drawn onto a canvas, so the result is made of pixels. Wrapping pixels in an SVG file would not make the pattern scalable — it would be the same image in a different container.

Building a true vector pattern from SVG elements is a different job, and one we may add later. It is not in this version.

Making a pattern

What artwork works best?

Files with a transparent background. If an element has a solid white background, that rectangle stays visible when it is tiled, and you will see a grid of boxes rather than a pattern. Transparency is what makes the result look like a pattern.

PNG, JPEG, WebP and SVG can be added. Other formats — including GIF and BMP — are turned away, because they either lose transparency or behave in ways that would surprise you (only the first frame of an animation is ever used, for instance). If a file cannot be added, you are told which one and why rather than having it dropped quietly.

You can use up to 36 elements in one pattern.

What are the repeat types?

Grid — elements line up in even rows and columns.
Half-drop — every other column is shifted down by half a step.
Brick — every other row is shifted sideways, like brickwork.
Mirror — alternating elements are flipped.
Rotation — alternating elements are turned.
Stripe — elements run in bands.

Half-drop and brick are the ones most surface patterns use, because the offset breaks up the grid and stops the eye from finding rows. Scatter, Density and Size loosen things further if the result still looks too regular.

Can I place elements exactly where I want?

Yes. Switch Placement to Manual and drag, resize and rotate each element yourself. Anything you drag over the edge of the tile reappears on the opposite side, so the repeat stays seamless while you work. Press Ctrl+Z (or Cmd+Z on a Mac) to undo a move, resize, rotation, flip, duplicate or deletion, and Ctrl+Shift+Z to redo. Undo only covers your manual placement — adding or removing an element starts a fresh undo history.

My pattern has visible rows or gaps

Try half-drop or brick instead of grid, turn on Scatter, or vary the size of individual elements by hovering one in the preview. Regular gaps usually mean the elements are all the same size and sitting on the same grid.

Saving your work

Drafts are cleared when you reload the page. The tool keeps up to eight drafts so you can try a variation and come back — but they live in memory only, for as long as the tab stays open.

This is deliberate. Storing your artwork in the browser would mean keeping copies of your files where you cannot see them. If you want to keep a version, download it.

Requirements

A computer or a tablet. Phones are not supported, and you will be told so if you open it on one. The tool is built around dragging elements and adjusting sliders, and on a phone screen both the elements and the handles are too small to work with.

Any current version of Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox will run it. Nothing to install, and no account to create.

Signing in

The tool opens with a password, which is printed in the PDF you downloaded with it. There is no account, no email address and no username — just the password.

Use it on as many of your own browsers as you like. A desktop, a laptop and a tablet all work, and so does a second browser on the same machine. Nothing is capped for you personally.

Please keep the password to yourself. It is the same one for every buyer, so it only stays useful while it stays private. If it turns up somewhere public it has to be changed, and that is disruptive for everyone.

Sign out in the menu clears it from the browser you are on — worth doing on a shared or borrowed computer. If anything stops you getting in, get in touch and we will sort it out.

Your images stay on your computer

Clipart Pattern Maker runs entirely inside your browser. Your artwork is opened, arranged and saved on your own machine, and is never uploaded anywhere.

There is no server that receives your files. Your images are never sent anywhere, in any form — not the files, not a copy, not a preview. Once you are signed in and the page has loaded, you can switch your connection off and carry on working.

Two things are sent, and neither involves your images. Your password, once, when you sign in — that check confirms it and counts how many browsers are using it. And, if the tool hits an error, a short description of that error, so it can be fixed. You are told on screen whenever a report is sent.

Two things are kept between visits. A sign-in cookie, so you do not have to type the password every time — you can clear it from Sign out in the menu. And a single marker recording that you have already been shown the welcome guide and the sample elements, so they do not appear again. Neither holds anything about you or your artwork, and clearing your browser data removes both. Drafts and anything on the canvas are held in memory only.

An error report contains the error message, where in the code it happened, and which version of the tool you are running. File names are removed before it is sent, because a file name can say something about you. There is nothing in it that identifies you, and never any part of an image.

Licence

Patterns you make are yours. You can sell them and use them commercially.
The tool itself may not be resold, shared or redistributed, and neither may your access link or password.
The sample elements included with the tool are for trying it out. They are not licensed for you to sell.
Clipart Pattern Maker is a one-time purchase, and updates to it are free.

Still stuck?

Message us through Etsy and we will get back to you. A screenshot of what you are seeing helps a lot — and if you are reporting something that went wrong, tell us which browser you are using.