For this project, I worked to create a seamless pattern in Adobe Illustrator. I chose to do chilly penguins as a theme for a couple of reasons. One, penguins are my favorite animals. Two, I can not wait for the chilly weather to get here and thinking about the cold weather makes me happy. 

I knew that I wanted to show several different penguins doing a variety of activities. I first started sketching different species of penguins, but it wasn't quite where I wanted to go with this project. The more I sketched I found that I wanted a flatter, almost cut paper look for my penguins. I achieved this by keeping my color palette simple and focusing on flat shapes. To build each of my penguins and other items I used the pen tool to work from the sketches I had created. Once I had all of my elements I arranged them on a square and placed some of them off the edges. I made sure all of the penguins going off the edges corresponded with the elements along the opposite side. I then used the merge and trim options in the Pathfinder panel to crop my pattern. After making a swatch and adjusting the scaling, my pattern was done! Once my fabric ​​​​​​​arrived I sewed a simple envelope pillow case to showcase my pattern.

Throughout this project, there was a bit of a learning curve. I worked to become more comfortable creating illustrations as that is a form in which I do not have much experience. I also worked with another printer that I did not have prior experience with before this project. In this case, I had my pattern printed on a cotton fabric that I then sewed into a pillow. I value the skills learned from working with varied printers because it forces me to learn more about the printing process.