Whimsical yellow and blue digital papers and tips to coordinate patterns

Hello friends! I just wanted to share another digital paper pack perfect for spring themed sets. This digital paper pack, features floral patterns, dragonfly and bird patterns, vintage tile motifs plus coordinating polka dot, chevron, vertical and diagonal line papers that are usually used to balance out complex designs.

Tips to use patterned digital papers

While many designers can achieve amazing results by breaking the rules, I prefer to be more on the moderate side when it comes to coordinate my patterned papers. Basically I follow these tips to achieve a balanced design:

• I only coordinate patterns that share the same color palette.
• Avoid mixing complex or busy patterns together.
• I prefer to mix a complex pattern with either a subtle one, or with a solid color like the example shown below.

Tried and true: pattern combinations that work

• Floral patterns: mix well with stripes, plaid, polka dot, chevron. If they are really subtle can be paired with damasks.
• Chevron and polka dot: go well with almost every other pattern.
• Damask, paisley and Toile: pair great with stripes, gingham, polka dot, any geometric pattern such as lattice and floral patterns as long as they are very subtle.
• Animal print and camouflage: I prefer to coordinate them with solids or textured solids only.
• Houndstooth: pairs well with florals and damasks but I make sure that the color I pick for the houndstooth is kind of very subtle, light and desaturated. I love to match houndstooth patterns with a solid color though.
• Ikat: goes well with solids, plaids, floral and geometric patterns.

When I’m not sure how to coordinate a pattern or if I want to explore new pattern combinations I just google “the name of the pattern+bedding” for example, “paisley bedding sets”, that search brings a lot of other great ways to mix and match my patterns. I’m planning to make a new post about this subject with pictures to illustrate different types of patterns and how they look together.

So these are my tips! What are pattern combinations you like the most? Where do you look for ideas and inspiration? Leave a comment to let me know what you think, I’d love to hear from you!

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♥ xoxo