Let’s create embroidery patterns on your character’s cloth. It’s a good idea for giving detail to your design.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to create embroidery patterns in 3 style, the free hand stitch, the cross stitch and the embroidery lace.

 

 

I will also show you the various way to create pattern object in Clip studio that you can choose the one that most fits on your usage😊

 

Turn on cozy music and got a warm tea, it’s digital embroidery time ~

Preparing

To embroider the cloth, you will need the yarn or thread.

Even you’re going to embroider digitally, you will also need ‘digital yarn/thread’ 🧵

A thread brush

To create the thread brush,

create a new canvas and set the [paper color] to any color except white.

Draw a white rectangle with the [Figure] tool

Lock the transparent pixel,

then use the pencil brush to draw the thread pattern with [Gray-50%] color

Also paint on the edge to create depth to the thread

Then make a rectangle selection,

select on the top edge, then move it down to the bottom and deselect.

(hold [Shift] key to keep moving in straight line)

This will make a bit of distortion on the art, paint over to cover it

Register it to material : [Edit > Register Material > Image…]

give the name and check on [Use for brush tip shape] option

Go to [Decoration] sub tool and copy a lace brush. (or any brush)

Give it a name and [OK] , the new brush will stay on the bottom of the list

On the [Tool Property] panel, click on [Show sub tool detail panel] icon

Then go to [Brush tip] tab and change the brush tip

Change the angle and thickness, now the brush will look like a yarn/thread

Set the starting and ending of the line in [Starting and ending] tab,

enable the dynamic for brush size and density.

This will create round tips to make the brush stroke looks like stitches of yarn/thread

And the (digital) yarn for the pattern is ready!!

To change the color, paint on layer with [linear burn] mode and clip it to the yarn layer.

Note : You can download this yarn brush I’ve made here :

 

Freehand stitch

Let’s create a simple rose stitch. I roughly design it like this.

Create a new layer and paint over with the yarn brush,

For the flower pedal, stroke the stitch brush from the center,

For the leaf, stroke the stitch brush in the direction of the leaf line

For the line decoration, just follow the direction of the line

This is kinda good for meditation 😊🧵🧵

Let’s turn this into a strip pattern

Put all the layer in a folder

Make a selection on the left edge, and use [Move] tool to move it to the right

(hold [Shift] key to keep it horizontal aligned)

Fill the empty area, and the strip is done!

Convert the folder to a file object,

go to menu [Layer > File object > Convert layer to file object]

Set the area to [Drawing area] and save the pattern as a new file

Select the pattern with the object tool, there will be a blue border covering the pattern

Enable the [Tiling] option in the [Tool property] panel,

and now you got a traditional embroidery patten ready to use on your art

Note : If you want to access the file to edit the pattern,

you can click the icon in the [Tool property] panel

To use the file object as a pattern, import the file by

[File > Import > Create file object…]

You have to set the [Tiling] option to repeat the pattern

Rasterize the pattern layer

Erase the unwanted area and then adjust the pattern with [Mesh transformation]

Change the node amount in the [Tool property] Panel, then adjust the pattern to the cloth

Clean up the pattern to fit the area and it’s done

Cross stitch

Cross stitch is a traditional pixel art on fabric, it’s good for symmetric pattern design, and you don’t even need the symmetrical ruler.

To create cross stitch pattern in clip studio is easy with [Grid]

Enable the grid on your canvas, go to menu [View > Grid]

by default : the grid comes with 4*4 subdividing blocks

Change the grid setting in [View > Grid/Ruler Bar Settings…]

Set the [Number of divisions] to 10 and set the [Gap] to your preferred size

 

(Here I used 400 px gap for 2000 x 2000 px canvas)

Disable the snap to grid option and draw the X with the yarn brush in some grid box

Lock the transparent pixel, then paint over the cross stitch with [Soft airbrush], [blending mode : multiply] and color [Gray:50%] to make some depth

Optional :

you may copy and switch position of the stitch to make variation on the pattern

(Then merge the layer back into 1 layer)

Enable the [snap to grid] again and create a rectangle selection covering the stitches

Convert the layer to an image material, 

go to [Layer > Convert layer] and set the type to [Image material layer]

Select the object with the [Object tool] ,

and enable the [Tiling] option in the [Tool property] panel.

All the stitch will be fit in each grid block.

Time for the pattern design!!!

Hide the stitches layer and create a new layer above it

Use the [Lasso fill] in the [Figure sub tool : Direct draw] to fill the pixel

(Make sure the snap to the grid option is enabled)

Note : Be careful if you want to move the drawing, the move tool doesn’t let you snap to the grid. You have to move it as close as possible to the grid lines

If you’re using Clip studio 2.0+ you can easily move the pattern by creating a selection covering the position you want to move, then on the [Align/distribute] panel, set the [Alignment base] to [Selection area] and align the art to the position.

(if you don’t see this panel, you can open it by [Window > Align/distribute])

You may rotate the art to make a symmetrical pattern, 

but be careful with the rotation angle, It must be -180,-90,90 or 180 only

Be careful with the rotation, 

if the center of the rotation [+] is not on the intersection or center of the grid block, when you rotate, it will move away from the grid,

 

you must manually align it to the grid later

You may copy repetition part and create the patterns

To turn the pixel pattern to the cross stitch pattern, 

right-click on the pattern layer [Selection from Layer > Create Selection]

Then show the cross stitch layer, select it and enable the layer mask

Clip the pattern layer on the cross stitch layer,

And change the layer mode to [Linear burn]

If you want more bold pattern, enable the [border] effect on the [Layer property] panel

You may use the pattern as it is or turn it to the seamless pattern.

Embroidery lace

Embroidery lace is the lace that embroidered on the transparent fabric.

To make this kind of lace, you need 2 patterns : the background and the embroidery pattern

Lace background

Embroidery lace is on the net pattern or transparent cloth, let’s start with the net pattern

Create a new canvas,

then [View > grid] (I’ll use default grid this time)

And draw a hexagon with roundness corner filling the grid area

Then draw another hexagon in the same size to create pattern

Select the area where it can repeat,

and register material [Edit>Register Material>Image…]

When registered, enable the [Tiling] option

To use the pattern, you can just drag it from [Materials] panel to the canvas

Scale down the lace pattern, reduce the opacity,

and draw the [Guide] ruler on the canvas.

(must zoom in and put the guide near the line of the pattern)

Draw guides on the other side too to create the guideline block for cutting the seamless pattern

 

Note : the guide on top-left and bottom-right have to align to the pattern in the same way to create a seamless pattern

Adjust the opacity back and hide the layer. Keep it for the next step.

Lace embroidery pattern

First, design a pattern, you may draw or use the stamp material from Clip studio Assets

This is the stamp I use

Import the stamp to the canvas.

Drag it from the [Material] panel

Create a new layer and trace the line with [textured pen],

make it bold on the edge and with clear shape

Or if you’re using Clip studio paint EX version, you can convert the stamp to line and tone.

(check the preview for seeing the result in real time)

Copy the flower and align to the guides, Do not align it out of the top and right area

Merge the line art into a layer

Use the [Auto select : Refer to editing layer only] tool,

set the [Area scaling] value to more than 0 (depend on your ink size)

and select the empty area outside the line art area

 

 

Then inverse the selection, and put the lace background pattern on

Edit the pattern size with [Object] tool,

then copy the layer and move to create a more complicate pattern

Merge the layers.

Toggle the [snap to special ruler] on, and create selection on the top area

Click on [Copy and paste] button,

hold [Shift] key and move the layer down to the lower grid

Align the layer to the lower grid,

you may use the [Align/distribution] and set the [Alignment base] to guide(Clipstudio 2.0+)

or just align it manually

Repeat it on the right edge too

Merge the layers and make selection before convert to a file object, image material layer or register the material

The embroidery lace is done!!

You may easily change the color with the [effect] option in the [layer property] panel

I hope my tutorial get you some idea about creating your own pattern in Clip studio,

And see you in the next tutorial ❤️💕