How to make an all over print mockup from one motif

Which products can take an all over print

All over is offered on the products where a repeat makes sense, mostly cut and sew garments, home textiles and bags:

• Tops: oversized tee, long sleeve tee, tank top, crop top and sports jersey
• Dresses and Indian wear: t-shirt dress, skater dress, kids frock, kurta and kurti
• Home: bed sheet, cushion cover and pillowcase
• Bags and accessories: tote bag, drawstring bag, bandana, apron and stole

Make the mockup, step by step

1. Prepare one motif as a PNG with a transparent background. Trim it tight, Drapeshot removes empty transparent edges anyway.
2. Open the scene wall, filter by one of the products above and drop the motif in.
3. Open a scene and set the print area to All over. The motif now repeats edge to edge.
4. Open Advanced. Pattern size scales the motif from 40 to 250 percent of its starting size. Space between repeats adds breathing room from 0 to 80 percent of the motif.
5. Pick a garment colour for the ground. It shows through anywhere the motif is transparent.
6. Download the mockup, then use Print file to get the repeat tile.

How big should the motif be?

Each product starts the motif at a size that suits it. At 100 percent the long side of the motif is about 4 inches on a tote, cushion or crop top, 5 inches on a long sleeve tee or t-shirt dress, 6 inches on an oversized tee and 9 inches on a bed sheet. Children's pieces start smaller.

A useful rule from textile printing: small, dense motifs read as texture from a distance, and big, spaced motifs read as pictures. If people should recognise your motif from across a room, push the size up and add space. If you want a ditsy floral or a logo scatter, go small and tight.

Why a half drop

Every all over print in Drapeshot uses a half drop repeat, where each column is shifted down by half a motif. It hides the grid. A straight grid repeat makes obvious rows and columns on a garment, and the eye picks them up straight away on seams and folds. A half drop spreads the motif more evenly, which is why it is so common on fabric.

What the print file gives you

For an all over print, Print file saves one repeat tile as a PNG: two motifs wide, so it already contains the half drop, with your spacing and print look baked in. Tile it edge to edge in your printer's software or your print on demand pattern tool and it repeats without seams.

Free print files are 150 ppi with a watermark, for checking scale. Pro gives a clean 300 ppi tile. The toast after download tells you the tile size in inches, which is what you give a sublimation or cut and sew printer.