How to use it

Tartan Pattern Generator

Design authentic tartan and plaid with full control over sett, weave and colorways — then export anything from a seamless tile to a mill-ready tech pack.

The Tartan Pattern Generator lets you build traditional and modern tartans the way weavers do: define a thread count (the sett), set its symmetry and pivots, choose a real weave draft — 2/2 twill, plain weave, herringbone or basketweave, with presets from classic setts to houndstooth and gingham — and watch the cloth render with the true diagonal texture of woven fabric, physically faithful to your ends per inch. Unlink the weft to design unbalanced cloth, and keep several colorways side by side, each matched to Pantone TCX and adjustable with hue, saturation and lightness sliders.

Export for whatever comes next. Seamless PNG, JPEG or TIFF with real physical resolution — in straight, half-drop or brick repeat — plus per-thread vector SVG for design tools. For production there is a mill-ready tech pack PDF, a WIF loom file for Fiberworks, WeavePoint and AVL, registration-marked color separations, a jacquard grid at one pixel per thread, Scottish-Register-style threadcount notation, Adobe ASE swatches and a machine-readable CSV spec. Everything runs in your browser, and threadcount import means an existing tartan comes in with one paste.

Real weave drafts

Plain weave, 2/2 twill, herringbone and basketweave render with the true texture of cloth — and the loom file follows the same draft, so what you see is what weaves.

Full sett control

Edit thread counts, pivots and symmetry exactly as tartans are defined — and unlink the weft to design unbalanced cloth.

Colorways with Pantone TCX

Keep several colorways of one sett, match every shade to its nearest Pantone TCX, and adjust a whole colorway on three sliders.

Mill-ready tech pack

A PDF spec with swatch, threadcount, all colorways, sett and weave details, warp plan and QC checklist — built from your production settings.

Loom and jacquard files

A WIF file carries threading, tie-up and treadling into Fiberworks, WeavePoint or AVL; the jacquard grid exports one pixel per thread for jacquard CAD.

Print production output

PNG, JPEG or TIFF at true DPI in straight, half-drop or brick repeat, plus registration-marked color separations for screen and roller printing.

Threadcount in and out

Paste a Scottish-Register-style threadcount to import any tartan; export yours in the same notation with a color legend.

Design-suite handoff

Per-thread vector SVG, named Adobe ASE swatches and a CSV spec carry the design into Illustrator, Photoshop and PLM systems.

How to use it

  1. Build the sett before you touch color A tartan is a thread count mirrored around pivots. Get the rhythm of wide and narrow bands right first — the palette is easy to change later, the structure is not.
  2. Or paste a threadcount Import reads Scottish-Register-style notation like B24 K4 R6, including the color legends this tool writes — so an existing tartan comes in with one paste.
  3. Choose the weave to suit the sett 2/2 twill is standard tartan construction; plain weave suits gingham; herringbone and basketweave make the structure part of the pattern. Each crossing blends two colors, so the weave changes the cloth's shades.
  4. Color it, then build colorways Set each band's color and check its Pantone TCX match, then keep several colorways of the same sett — ancient, weathered, muted — and tune each with the hue, saturation and lightness sliders.
  5. Enter production numbers early Ends and picks per inch, fabric width and shrinkage feed every export: physical size in PNG and TIFF, the warp plan in the tech pack, thread spacing in the loom file.
  6. Check it seamless, then export for the destination Switch to Seamless to see the tile behave as cloth. Then export what the next step needs: tiles for screens and print, the tech pack and loom files for the mill, swatches and CSV for the studio.

FAQ

Is the Tartan Pattern Generator really free?

Yes. The full tool is free, with no account needed, no watermarks and no export limits.

Can I use my tartan designs commercially?

Yes — patterns you create are yours to use, including for commercial textile and branding projects.

What formats can I export?

Seamless PNG, JPEG and TIFF with true physical resolution, vector SVG, a mill-ready tech pack PDF, color separations, a WIF loom file, a jacquard grid PNG, Scottish-Register-style threadcount, Adobe ASE swatches and a CSV spec.

Can a mill actually weave what I design?

Yes — that is what the production exports are for. The tech pack carries the spec a mill works from, the WIF loom file carries threading, tie-up and treadling for weaving software, and the threadcount is the standard recipe any tartan weaver can read.

Can I register my design with the Scottish Register of Tartans?

The Register asks for a precise threadcount and an image of the design — this tool exports both. Registration itself is the Register's own process, with its own fee and criteria.

How do the weaves differ?

The weave decides how warp and weft cross, which changes both texture and color: 2/2 twill gives the classic tartan diagonal, plain weave is flat and tight like gingham, herringbone reverses the diagonal in columns, and basketweave crosses threads in pairs.