Batik Pattern

Make a batik-style pattern: 10 motifs of our own (a four-oval flower, an eight-petal flower, a six-point star, a leaf with veins, a five-petal blossom, a hooked scroll, nested diamonds, a seed pod, a dot rosette and a wave scroll) with fine crackle lines over them in the ground colour. The V&A explains that batik is “the name given in Indonesia to the process of applying wax resist-dyed patterns to cloth” (sarong, 20th century, V&A record O96364); this maker draws the look as flat shapes, it does not dye cloth. Every crackle line is a thin stroke of constant width whose bend follows two stated sine waves; the seed fixes the lines, so the same seed always gives the same crackle, and changing the number of lines never moves a motif. Set the motifs as an all-over grid, a half-drop, between diagonal bands or as a border stripe, pick the ground, the main colour and a second colour, then download a seamless SVG tile at real size, a full-size PDF with a motif key, a 300 DPI PNG or a background PNG at an exact screen size. Nothing is uploaded.

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How to make a batik-style pattern

1. Choose a preset, or pick a motif set and a layout.
2. Set the columns, rows and spacing, and the band or bar width for diagonal bands or a border.
3. Set the motif size, the smallest gap and the number of crackle lines (0 for clean lines); change the seed for new crackle.
4. Pick three colours: the ground (also the crackle colour), the main colour and a second colour.
5. Download the SVG tile, a background PNG, or the PDF; print at 100% and check the 1 in test square.

What you can use it for

• Fabric, sarong and scarf mock-ups (real-size tile)
• Cushions, table runners and bag panels
• Gift wrap, tags and scrapbook paper
• Wall art and posters
• Screen-print and vinyl planning (SVG tile)
• Phone, desktop and slide backgrounds (PNG at exact sizes)

The 13 presets

#	Preset	Motifs	Layout	Motifs per repeat	Crackle lines	Repeat
1	Cream on indigo, four-oval flowers, crackle	Four-oval flower	All-over grid	4 × 4	40	4.8 × 4.8 in
2	Diagonal bands with flowers, brown and cream	Flowers	Diagonal bands	4 × 4	32	4.8 × 4.8 in
3	Brown and cream, all motifs, half-drop	All 10 batik-style motifs	Half-drop	4 × 4	40	4.8 × 4.8 in
4	Red and cream, blossoms, half-drop	Five-petal blossom	Half-drop	4 × 4	32	4.4 × 4.4 in
5	Stars, diamonds and dots, indigo and cream	Geometric	All-over grid	4 × 4	40	4.4 × 4.4 in
6	Leaves and scrolls, green and cream	Leaves and scrolls	Half-drop	4 × 4	32	4.8 × 4.8 in
7	Diagonal bands with stars, red and indigo	Geometric	Diagonal bands	4 × 4	20	4.8 × 4.8 in
8	Flower border, cream on indigo	Flowers	Border stripe	6 in a row	16	6 × 1.28 in
9	Clean lines: four-oval flowers, no crackle	Four-oval flower	All-over grid	4 × 4	0	4.8 × 4.8 in
10	Heavy crackle, eight-petal flowers	Eight-petal flower	All-over grid	4 × 4	70	4.8 × 4.8 in
11	Soft blue on sand, blossoms and leaves	Flowers	Half-drop	4 × 4	20	4.8 × 4.8 in
12	All motifs, indigo and cream	All 10 batik-style motifs	All-over grid	4 × 4	40	4.8 × 4.8 in
13	Fabric scale: 15 cm four-oval flowers on indigo	Four-oval flower	All-over grid	5 × 5	40	15 × 15 cm

Each preset only fills in the fields; change any setting afterwards.

The 10 batik-style motifs

Motif	Symmetry and stroke (tested on every point)
Four-oval flower	same after a 1/4 turn; mirrored left to right
Eight-petal flower	same after a 1/8 turn; mirrored left to right
Six-point star	same after a 1/6 turn; mirrored left to right
Leaf with veins	mirrored left to right
Five-petal blossom	same after a 1/5 turn; mirrored left to right
Hooked scroll with dots	stroke 5.62 % of the size, constant
Nested diamonds	same after a 1/4 turn; mirrored left to right
Seed pod	same after a 1/2 turn; mirrored left to right
Dot rosette	same after a 1/6 turn; mirrored left to right
Wave scroll	same after a 1/2 turn; stroke 6.16 % of the size, constant

All motifs are our own drawings. Page 2 of the PDF draws each motif used, large, and says how many crackle lines the repeat has.

Background sizes (first preset)

Background	Pixels	Repeats across × down
Phone	1170 × 2532 px	2.54 × 5.49
Phone	1080 × 1920 px	2.34 × 4.17
Desktop	1920 × 1080 px	4.17 × 2.34
Large screen	2560 × 1440 px	5.56 × 3.13
Square post	1080 × 1080 px	2.34 × 2.34

Which tool to use

You want	Use
Flowers and stars with fine crackle lines, a wax-resist look	Batik Pattern (this page)
Spiral and crumple dye looks	Tie-Dye Pattern Generator
Even dots in a grid or half-drop	Polka Dot Pattern Generator
A motif cut as a stencil	Stencil Maker

For a spiral or crumple dye look, try the Tie-Dye Pattern Generator; to cut a motif as a stencil for fabric paint, the Stencil Maker.

Frequently asked questions

How are the crackle lines made?

Each line is a stroke 1.5 % of the spacing wide whose bend along its length is the sum of two sine waves, from a seeded start point, direction and length (a quarter to seven tenths of the spacing). The lines are drawn in the ground colour over the motifs, so they show as fine cracks. Our tests measure every line against its formula and check its width edge to edge.

Will the same seed give the same crackle?

Yes. The seed fixes every line, so the same settings always give the same file, byte for byte. The crackle uses its own seed stream, so changing the number of lines (0 to 120) never moves a motif: fewer lines are just the first ones of the longer list.

Is this tie-dye?

No. This maker draws sharp motifs with fine crackle lines for a wax-resist look. For spiral and crumple dye looks, use our tie-dye pattern maker.

How do the diagonal bands work?

The bands run at 45° through the corners between cells, and each motif sits in the middle of its cell, between two bands. The maker keeps every motif at least the gap from every band (the diagonal preset uses 0.1 in bands and a 0.05 in gap on a 1.2 in spacing) and says how large the spacing must be if they do not fit.

Are the motifs symmetrical?

The four-oval flower and nested diamonds are the same after a quarter turn, the eight-petal flower after an eighth, the star and dot rosette after a sixth and the blossom after a fifth; all of these, the leaf and the seed pod are also mirror-symmetric. The hooked scroll has no symmetry and the wave scroll only a half turn. Our tests check every point of every motif.

Will the pattern repeat without a seam?

Yes. A motif or line that runs over an edge of the repeat carries on from the opposite edge, so copies placed edge to edge join with no seam. Our tests compare the pattern one repeat over by sampled colour, for every preset.

Is it free?

Yes. There is no sign-up, no watermark and no limit.

Is anything uploaded?

No. Everything is drawn by JavaScript in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere.