The following group of pictures are my first venture into designing repeating patterns.
Although I do really like these pieces, and as you can see below, they do look nice with coloured pencil. I could see that they were not going to translate well into a repeating design.
In the images below, I took a single image and then learnt how to lay it out as a repeat.
The process was fun but time consuming. With the Hibiscus flower at the top, I did not have a light box to aid with the repeat tracing. So I had to tape it to the window in full sunlight to aid the process and get an accurate copy. With the Kowhai flower, a native to my home in New Zealand, I had bought a light box, this made the process much easier. I can see the advantage of the light box, especially for a more complex design.
I used the following YouTube video to help me learn the process.
There are many YouTube videos for this and I found Holly to be the easiest to follow. All you need for this tutorial is a pen, a piece of paper, some tape, and a pair of scissors. It is quick, easy and very satisfying as you can quickly create a repeating pattern.
Give it a watch and create something beautiful, have fun!