Last Updated on: June 27, 2026 / 1 minute of reading

How to Make a Repeating Pattern In Illustrator

Step 1: Create Your Artwork

Draw or place the elements you want in your pattern (flowers, animals, geometric shapes, etc.).

Step one to create a repeating pattern in illustrator is to make and arrange the elements you want to repeat

Step 2: Make Sure All Elements are Selected

Select all the elements. To be extra sure they don’t move, group them by right-clicking and choosing the option group.

Step two to create a repeating pattern in illustrator is to group the elements together so they dont move

Step 3: Open the Pattern Tool

With your artwork selected:

Go to Object → Pattern → Make
Click OK when Illustrator prompts you to confirm that a new pattern swatch will be added.

How to open the pattern tool in Illustrator

Step 4: Adjust Pattern Settings

The Pattern Options panel will appear.

Common settings:

Tile Type

Grid (most common)
Brick by Row
Brick by Column
Hex by Row
Hex by Column

Width & Height – Controls spacing between repeats.

Overlap – Determines which objects appear on top when overlapping.

Copies – Set to 5×5 or higher to preview the repeat.

Step 5: Refine the Repeat

Move motifs around until the repeat looks balanced.

Things to check:

No obvious gaps.
No unintended clusters.
Good visual flow across tile edges.
Even distribution of colors and large elements.

When satisfied, click Done at the top of the workspace. Illustrator automatically saves the pattern to the Swatches Panel.

Step 6: See the Pattern

Create a large rectangle and fill it with your new pattern swatch.

Create a rectangle before placing the new pattern

Placing the pattern repeat