Textile & Pattern Design with Adobe Illustrator Course

What you'll learn

Learn how to create original textile prints and repeating patterns with our textile and design short courses in Sydney! 

Bring your creative ideas to life as you learn how to transform drawings, illustrations, and imagery into professional digital textile designs using Adobe Illustrator.

In this hands-on course, you’ll explore the exciting world of textile and surface pattern design while developing practical digital design skills for fabric printing, fashion, accessories, interiors, and creative projects. Whether you work from hand-drawn artwork, paintings, digital sketches, or photographic inspiration, you’ll learn how to turn your ideas into polished repeat patterns and placement prints ready for production.

Guided by your tutor, you’ll explore colour, composition, scale, and repeat design while building confidence using Adobe Illustrator for textile applications. Along the way, you’ll experiment with developing your own visual style and discover how professional textile designers create cohesive, production-ready artwork for fabric and surface design industries.

Combining creativity with practical digital skills, this course is ideal for anyone wanting to expand their design practice, explore textile pattern creation, or develop portfolio-ready work for creative industries.

Image credit: Work created by past student Catriona Johnston.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this Textile & Pattern Design course, participants will have developed practical skills and knowledge in areas such as:

• Using Adobe Illustrator tools relevant to textile and pattern design
• Creating repeating patterns and placement prints
• Understanding colour palettes and fabric applications
• Preparing artwork for digital fabric printing and production
• Developing original textile design concepts from source material
• Building confidence in digital textile and surface pattern workflows
• Developing textile design skills relevant to fashion, interiors, product, or surface design industries
• Creating professional-quality textile designs ready for printing or portfolio use

Course content

What will be covered in this Textile & Pattern Design course?

During the course, participants will be guided through key concepts, techniques and approaches that typically include:

• Setting up artwork files for textile printing
• Introduction to textile and surface pattern design in Adobe Illustrator
• Working with original drawings, imagery, and source material
• Creating placement prints and seamless repeating patterns
• Exploring colour palettes and pattern composition
• Scaling and preparing artwork for fabric applications
• Preparing files for digital fabric printing and garment production
• Developing an individual creative style and cohesive design direction

Content may vary slightly depending on class pace, participant interests, software updates, and instructor approach.

Intended audience

Who is this Textile & Pattern Design course for?

This course is ideal for students who already have a basic understanding of Adobe Illustrator and are familiar with its fundamental drawing, editing, and selection tools.

It is ideal for textile artists, fashion and surface design enthusiasts, illustrators, makers, and creatives looking to expand their digital design skills for fabric and print applications. The course may also suit those developing portfolio work or exploring opportunities within textile, fashion, product, or surface design industries.

Course venue

Rozelle Campus

2A Gordon Street, Rozelle NSW 2039 (corner of Gordon St & Victoria Rd in the grounds of St. Joseph's Church)

Course materials

What to bring to class:

During the first week, students will discuss ideas for creating a repeating design using their own artwork. It may be helpful to bring along 1–5 illustrations you’ve created at home using mediums such as ink, pen, pencil, watercolour, or gouache, as well as photographs or visual inspiration you may wish to incorporate into your designs.

Please bring:

• A selection of your own illustrations, photographs, or source material
• A hard drive or USB (minimum 16GB) to store your files
• Your own device with Adobe Illustrator installed
• An active Adobe Illustrator licence

Tip: Adobe currently offers a free trial of Illustrator, which may be useful if you are deciding whether to subscribe.

Additional information

Please note the following:

• Basic Adobe Illustrator skills are required before commencing this course
• Participants should feel comfortable using Illustrator’s fundamental drawing, editing, and selection tools
• Students will develop digital artwork suitable for textile printing and portfolio use