Leaf Pattern

Make a leaf pattern from 8 leaf shapes of our own: an oval leaf with a midrib, a narrow leaf, a lobed leaf, a palmate leaf with five broad lobes, a frond with paired leaflets, a round leaf, a heart-shaped leaf and a short vine stem with four leaves. Every leaf has veins drawn inside its outline. Lay them out as a trailing vine (wavy stems that run on across the tile with leaves on alternate sides), a tossed print, a grid or a half-drop. Set the leaf size and the repeat in inches or centimetres; tossed layouts come from a seed number, so the same seed always gives the same pattern, and no two leaves touch, even across the edges of the tile. Choose 2 to 5 colours (ground, up to three leaf colours and a vein colour) and download a seamless SVG tile at real size, a background PNG, a 300 DPI PNG or a full-size PDF with a leaf key. Nothing is uploaded.

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

How to make a leaf pattern

1. Choose a preset, or pick a layout and a leaf shape.
2. Add a second leaf shape (every other leaf) and set the size; for a vine, set the stems, waves, leaves per wave and wave height.
3. Set the repeat size (or the grid spacing) and a seed (change the seed for a new arrangement).
4. Pick 2 to 5 colours: ground, leaf colours and veins.
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 curtain mock-ups (real-size tile)
• Gift wrap, scrapbook paper and cards
• Phone, desktop and tablet backgrounds
• Website and slide backgrounds (SVG tile)
• Autumn, garden and wedding stationery
• Painted borders, stencils and wall layouts (full-size PDF)

The 14 presets

#	Preset	Layout	Leaves	Leaf size	Repeat	Leaves in a repeat	Colours
1	Tossed oval leaves, greens	Tossed	Oval leaf with a midrib, Narrow leaf	1 in	6 × 6 in	22	4
2	Autumn mix: lobed, palmate and round	Tossed	Palmate leaf (5 broad lobes from one point), Lobed leaf (3 lobes each side), Round leaf (filler)	1.2 in	7 × 7 in	24	5
3	Trailing vine, heart leaves	Trailing vine	Heart-shaped leaf	0.7 in	6 × 6 in	24	3
4	Half-drop fronds	Half-drop	Frond with paired leaflets	1.4 in	3 × 3 in	4	5
5	Palmate grid, black on white	Grid	Palmate leaf (5 broad lobes from one point)	1.1 in	2.5 × 2.5 in	4	2
6	Narrow leaves on navy	Tossed	Narrow leaf, Oval leaf with a midrib	1 in	6 × 6 in	24	4
7	Trailing vine, autumn ovals	Trailing vine	Oval leaf with a midrib, Round leaf	0.65 in	6 × 6 in	24	4
8	Tossed heart leaves, pastel	Tossed	Heart-shaped leaf	0.9 in	6 × 6 in	24	4
9	Round leaves in a grid, mint	Grid	Round leaf	0.9 in	2 × 2 in	4	5
10	Half-drop narrow leaves	Half-drop	Narrow leaf	1 in	2.2 × 2.2 in	4	3
11	Fabric scale: 3 cm tossed leaves	Tossed	Oval leaf with a midrib, Narrow leaf	3 cm	18 × 18 cm	22	4
12	Tossed vine stems	Tossed	Vine stem with four leaves, Oval leaf with a midrib (filler)	1.4 in	6 × 6 in	19	3
13	Black fronds on white	Tossed	Frond with paired leaflets	1.3 in	6 × 6 in	10	2
14	Lobed leaves, sage and cream	Tossed	Lobed leaf (3 lobes each side), Oval leaf with a midrib	1.1 in	6 × 6 in	16	5

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

The 8 leaf shapes

Leaf	Symmetry	Blades	Veins
Oval leaf with a midrib	Left to right	1	9
Narrow leaf	Left to right	1	10
Lobed leaf (3 lobes each side)	Left to right	1	7
Palmate leaf (5 broad lobes from one point)	Left to right	1	5
Frond with paired leaflets	Left to right	11	11
Round leaf	Left to right	1	5
Heart-shaped leaf	Left to right	1	5
Vine stem with four leaves	Not mirrored; looks the same after a half turn	4	4

Blades counts the leaf outlines in the motif (a frond has one per leaflet). Every vein is checked to lie inside its own blade.

Layouts

Layout	How leaves are placed	Repeat
Trailing vine	Wavy stems with a whole number of waves; leaves on alternate sides	Repeat size
Tossed	Scattered from the seed, turned within the range you set	Repeat size
Grid	One motif per cell; fillers at the cell corners	2 × 2 cells
Half-drop	Every second column moved down half a cell; fillers between the columns	2 × 2 cells

Vine settings

Setting	What it does
Stems per repeat	How many wavy stems run across the tile, evenly spaced
Waves per repeat	Whole waves across the tile, so the stem joins the next tile
Leaves per wave	An even number, so the sides alternate
Wave height	How far the stem rises and falls (at most half the space between stems)

Which tool to use

You want	Use
Leaves and trailing vines in a repeat	Leaf Pattern (this page)
Flowers in a repeat	Floral Pattern
Single leaf outlines to cut	Leaf Template
Geometric CSS backgrounds	SVG Pattern Generator
A cut-out stencil	Stencil Maker

Also handy: the SVG Pattern Generator, the Stencil Maker and the Poster Tiler.

Frequently asked questions

How does the trailing vine repeat?

Each stem is a smooth wave with a whole number of waves across the repeat, so it leaves the right edge at exactly the height and slope it entered the left edge and runs on into the next tile. Leaves sit on alternate sides of the stem. The first vine preset has 3 stems, 2 waves and 4 leaves per wave in a 6 in repeat: 24 leaves.

Are the veins inside the leaves?

Yes. Every vein is drawn from the same outline as its leaf and is shortened until all of it sits inside the leaf, at least half its own width from the edge. Our tests check every vein of every leaf shape.

Which leaf shapes are there?

Oval, narrow, lobed (three rounded lobes each side), palmate (five broad lobes from one point), a frond with paired leaflets, round, heart-shaped and a vine stem with four leaves. They are our own drawings, named by their shape, not copies of any particular plant.

Will the tile repeat without a seam?

Yes. A leaf or stem that runs over an edge of the tile is drawn again from the opposite edge, so copies placed edge to edge join with no seam. Our tests compare the pattern one and two repeats over, by shape and by sampled colour.

Do the leaves overlap?

No. Every leaf has a circle that holds it; in tossed layouts a new leaf is only placed where its circle stays clear of the others by the gap you set, and grid, half-drop and vine layouts are checked the same way (vine leaves also stay clear of the other stems). If leaves would touch, the maker says so instead of drawing them.

Is the tile the exact size I set?

Yes. The SVG tile is written in inches or centimetres (for example 6 in square for the first preset), and the PDF prints the pattern at full size with a 1 in test square.

Can I get the same pattern again?

Yes. Tossed layouts are worked out from the seed number: the same seed and settings give exactly the same pattern; a new seed gives a new arrangement.

How is this different from the leaf template?

The leaf template prints single leaf outlines to cut out. This page repeats leaves into a seamless pattern for fabric, paper and screens, with colours, veins and a real-size tile.

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.