Fabric Patterns

What fabric patterns are there?

The most common fabric patterns are stripes, checks, florals, geometric motifs, animal motifs, damask and spots, but the difference also lies in scale and rhythm. A striped fabric can be discreet or graphic, while a floral motif can be dense and small-scale or large and airy. Start with the pattern family, then compare repeat, colour contrast and where the fabric will be used.

How do you choose the scale of a patterned fabric?

Choose the scale according to the surface being covered and the distance from which the fabric will usually be seen. A large motif needs room to be read, which is why it often suits curtains, wide armchairs or larger cushions. On smaller pieces the same repeat can be cropped so much that the motif loses its rhythm. So always start from the pattern's actual repeat measurements and compare them with the dimensions of the piece of furniture or the window.

How do you combine two patterns in the same room?

Two patterns work best together when they differ in scale but share a colour or a rhythm. Combine a broad stripe with a smaller floral motif, for instance, or a distinct check with a softer organic pattern. If both are the same size and equally strong in contrast, they soon start to compete. Let one pattern take the lead and the other play a supporting role.

Which fabric pattern suits a sofa?

On a sofa, the pattern needs to work across large continuous surfaces and over several cushions. Stripes and checks make the matching clear, while larger organic motifs require the repeat to be placed with care. A calmer pattern can be easier to live with across a whole sofa, while more expressive motifs often work better on an armchair or scatter cushions.

What is the difference between a printed and a woven pattern?

A printed pattern sits as colour and motif on the surface of the fabric, while a woven pattern is created in the very weave between the threads. This affects how the motif is perceived: prints can offer richly detailed images and precise fields of colour, while woven patterns often gain more texture and shimmer. When choosing a pattern, the expression matters more than the technique; questions of material belong on the fabric's own page.

In depth

Fabric patterns become easier to choose when you start with the rhythm rather than with a single colour. Striped fabrics create direction and can emphasise height or width, while checked fabrics give a more defined grid. In a room with many straight lines, an organic motif can soften the whole; in a softer room, a crisp stripe can do the opposite.

Scale is the next decision. On a large curtain, a motif can show several full repeats, which allows a larger pattern to unfold. Floral fabrics can therefore feel calmer across a whole curtain than on a small cushion where only a fragment is visible. The same applies to geometric fabrics: check how much of the figure actually fits on the surface and where the seams will fall.

When comparing specific fabrics, it is wise to see them as examples of different degrees of rhythm rather than as isolated products. Linara Fabric 3 is a calm anchor alongside more pronounced motifs. Romo Fabric Arturo shows how a surface can gain character through texture even when the pattern is restrained, while Zoffany Fabric Seymour Spot offers a more defined, repetitive dot structure.

For a more narrative expression, compare Lewis & Wood Fabric Zarafshan LG, Lewis & Wood Fabric Hawksmoor and Brantwood Cotton Fabric. They help you see how different motif families behave across larger surfaces. The visualisation is especially useful when the repeat is large, since a small product image does not show how the motif lands on a piece of furniture.

Another way to build a combination is to let one pattern carry the form and another the colour. Romo Fabric Celino, for instance, can be set against Follies H Fabric or Poppy Sprig Fabric to compare a dense and a freer rhythm. If the colours are already strong, it is often better to change scale than to add yet another hue.

Spots and smaller recurring motifs are useful when you want pattern without giving the wall or the piece of furniture an obvious theme. Think of spotted fabrics as a middle ground between plains and more narrative motifs. Zoffany Fabric Woodville and Zoffany Fabric Goya meanwhile show how ornament and movement can give a surface depth without the whole room having to be built around the same motif.

For children's rooms or more playful settings, motifs with a clear figure can work beautifully, but even there scale matters more than the label. Sanderson Fabric Mickey Stripe can be compared with animal fabrics when you want to decide how much the motif should register from a distance. In more formal rooms, damask fabrics can offer a denser, more cohesive rhythm.

If several patterns are to live together, choose a main fabric first and then build outwards. Zoffany Fabric Chambalon Trail, for example, can be joined by a stripe or a plain fabric in one of the motif's minor colours. That way the colour is repeated without repeating the motif itself. The principle works just as well between curtain, armchair and cushion as between several textiles in the same seating group.

A change of pattern need not mean changing the entire colour palette. If you already have a colour that works in the room, you can move from floral to striped, from check to spot or from figurative to geometric within the same colour family. The rhythm then changes more than the colour mood. It is a useful way to make an existing interior more cohesive without starting from scratch.

Consider, too, where the fabric will be seen from. Curtains are read both up close and from across the room, while a seat cushion is usually viewed from much nearer. A distinct repeat that feels large up close can therefore be perfectly reasonable across a window. The opposite applies to small details: there, a dense repeat can make more sense than a motif that only manages to show half a figure.

On the fabrics page you will find the questions about material and use that are deliberately kept out of this guide. Here the task is instead to make the choice of pattern itself easy to grasp. Do visualise the fabric from the product page when you want to judge scale in a room. If you need to think it through further, Brittfurn can help with a consultation, and the showroom is at Sturegatan 20 in Stockholm.