Fish Pattern

Make a seamless fish pattern from 10 motifs of our own: a round fish, a long slim fish, a tall-finned fish, a spotted fish, a striped fish, a puffed-up round fish with little spines, a fish seen from the front, bubbles, seaweed and a scallop shell. The fish are generic shapes, not named species. Scatter them in a half-drop, brick, grid or tossed repeat, put them on checks, a diamond lattice or with little shells at the corners, or run them in a border strip between rows of bubbles, shells or seaweed. Pick a ground, a fish colour, a detail colour and a ground-pattern 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.

100% private — everything runs in your browser. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.

How to make a fish pattern

1. Choose a preset, or pick a motif set and a repeat (half-drop, brick, grid, tossed or border strip).
2. For a grid, choose a ground (none, little shells at the corners, a diamond lattice or checks) and its line width; for a border strip, choose the edges (bubbles, shells, seaweed or rules).
3. Set the columns, rows, spacing, motif size, smallest gap, seed and (for tossed) the largest turn.
4. Pick the ground, fish, detail and ground-pattern colours.
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, cushion and wallpaper mock-ups for a bathroom, nursery or beach house (real-size tile)
• Wrapping paper, cards and party bags
• Border strips for shelf edges, classroom boards and scrapbook pages
• Phone, desktop and slide backgrounds (PNG at exact sizes)
• Stickers, labels and stamp planning
• Sea and pond lesson themes in your own colours

The 14 presets

#	Preset	Motif set	Repeat	Ground or edges	Tile
1	Fish, bubbles and shells on pale blue, half-drop	All 10 motifs	Half-drop	None	5 × 5 in
2	Round fish with little shells at the corners, grid	Round fish only	Grid	Little shells at the cell corners	5 × 5 in
3	Striped fish on a diamond lattice, sea blue	Striped fish only	Grid	Diamond lattice	5 × 5 in
4	Spotted fish on checks, grid	Spotted fish only	Grid	Checks	5 × 5 in
5	Navy on white, every motif, grid	All 10 motifs	Grid	None	5 × 5 in
6	Fish in a brick repeat, coral on cream	Fish	Brick	None	5 × 5 in
7	Pastel sea: every motif, tossed	All 10 motifs	Tossed	None	5 × 5 in
8	Reef: tall-finned and striped fish, seaweed and shells, half-drop	Reef	Half-drop	None	5 × 5 in
9	Bright fish on navy, grid	Fish	Grid	None	5 × 5 in
10	Border strip: round fish between rows of bubbles	Round fish only	Border strip	Row of bubbles edges	6 × 1.7 in
11	Border strip: fish seen from the front between rows of shells	Fish seen from the front only	Border strip	Row of shells edges	6 × 1.7 in
12	Border strip: long slim fish between rows of seaweed	Long slim fish only	Border strip	Row of seaweed edges	6 × 1.7 in
13	Tiny fish and bubbles, ditsy print	Little fish and bubbles	Tossed	None	3.6 × 3.6 in
14	Fabric scale: 20 cm repeat, diamond lattice	Fish	Grid	Diamond lattice	20 × 20 cm

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

The 10 fish and sea motifs

Motif	Shapes	Symmetry (tested on every point)
Round fish	4 main + 3 detail shapes	one-sided
Long slim fish	4 main + 2 detail shapes	one-sided
Tall-finned fish	4 main + 3 detail shapes	one-sided
Spotted fish	3 main + 7 detail shapes	one-sided
Striped fish	3 main + 4 detail shapes	one-sided
Puffed-up round fish with little spines	14 main + 3 detail shapes	one-sided
Fish seen from the front	6 main + 3 detail shapes	mirrored left to right
Bubbles	5 main + 5 detail shapes	one-sided
Seaweed	2 main + 3 detail shapes	one-sided
Scallop shell	2 main + 6 detail shapes	mirrored left to right

All motifs are our own drawings. Page 2 of the PDF draws each motif used, large, in the pattern colours.

The mixed motif sets

Set	Motifs
All 10 motifs	round fish, long slim fish, tall-finned fish, spotted fish, striped fish, puffed-up round fish with little spines, fish seen from the front, bubbles, seaweed, scallop shell
Fish	round fish, long slim fish, tall-finned fish, spotted fish, striped fish, puffed-up round fish with little spines, fish seen from the front
Sea fillers	bubbles, seaweed, scallop shell
Reef	tall-finned fish, striped fish, seaweed, scallop shell
Fun fish and bubbles	puffed-up round fish with little spines, fish seen from the front, bubbles
Little fish and bubbles	round fish, bubbles

Grounds and border edges

Ground or edge	What is drawn	Used with
Little shells at the cell corners	Little shells at the cell corners	Grid repeat
Diamond lattice	diagonal lines, a dot at every corner	Grid repeat
Checks	every second cell filled	Grid repeat
Row of bubbles	Along the top and bottom of the strip	Border strip
Row of shells	Along the top and bottom of the strip	Border strip
Row of seaweed	Along the top and bottom of the strip	Border strip
Rules and dots	Along the top and bottom of the strip	Border strip

Background sizes (first preset)

Background	Pixels	Repeats across × down
Phone	1170 × 2532 px	2.44 × 5.28
Phone	1080 × 1920 px	2.25 × 4
Desktop	1920 × 1080 px	4 × 2.25
Large screen	2560 × 1440 px	5.33 × 3
Square post	1080 × 1080 px	2.25 × 2.25

Which tool to use

You want	Use
Fish, bubbles, seaweed and shells as a seamless repeat or border strip	Fish Pattern (this page)
Birds, nests and feathers as a repeat	Bird Pattern
A shape of your own as a repeat	SVG Pattern Generator
A fish cut as a stencil	Stencil Maker
Plain dots in a grid	Polka Dot Pattern Generator

To repeat a shape of your own, try the SVG Pattern Generator; to cut a shape as a stencil, the Stencil Maker; for plain dots, the Polka Dot Pattern Generator.

Frequently asked questions

Which fish motifs are there?

10: a round fish, a long slim fish, a tall-finned fish, a spotted fish, a striped fish, a puffed-up round fish with little spines, a fish seen from the front, bubbles, seaweed and a scallop shell. Each can be used on its own, or in the mixed sets.

Are these a real kind of fish?

No. They are simple, generic fish drawn from circles, ellipses, triangles and strokes, not any named species and not a cartoon character. Pick any colours you like: orange on pale blue, navy on white, or bright fish on navy.

Can I make a fish border?

Yes. Choose Border strip as the repeat: one row of fish runs between two edge bands of bubbles, shells, seaweed or plain rules, and the strip repeats left to right with no seam.

Is this a fish scale pattern?

No. This page repeats whole fish and sea shapes. For overlapping scallop scales, use the Fish Scale Pattern maker.

What is the difference between half-drop, brick, grid, tossed and border?

In a grid, the motifs sit in straight rows and columns. In a half-drop, every second column is moved down exactly half a cell; in a brick repeat, every second row is moved across exactly half a cell. Tossed is a half-drop where each motif is also turned by a seeded angle up to the largest turn you set. Border makes one row of motifs between two edge bands, as a strip for hems, ribbons and page edges. A half-drop or tossed repeat needs an even number of columns and a brick repeat an even number of rows; the maker says so if they do not.

Can the motifs overlap?

No. Each motif sits in the middle of its own square cell, and the maker refuses a size that would come closer than the smallest gap you set to the edge of its cell (or to the ground); it tells you the spacing needed. Our tests check every point of every motif against its cell and the ground.

Will the pattern repeat without a seam?

Yes. A motif or edge shape 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 check this two ways for every preset: each shape cut by an edge has its exact partner one repeat over in the same tile, and sampled colours match one repeat over.

Is the tile the exact size I set?

Yes. The SVG tile is written in inches or centimetres (the first preset is 5 in square: 4 cells of 1.25 in), and the PDF prints the pattern at full size with a 1 in test square.

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.