over 100 free pattern overlays ... at a glance

Would you believe that the free overlay total is at
139 overlays and counting?

(I might have a wee little addiction) ;-)

Since overlays can be hard to find on flickr (because as PNG files with transparency they appear either invisible or very funny looking on flickr) I thought I'd assemble an easy to browse page and have the overlays linked here on the blog to make downloading them a little more simplified for you.

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• These overlays all measure 12.5 inches square.
• They are 350dpi for print quality.
• Some are simple geometric patterns & some are hand drawn or based on antique images.
  

Here's how they work...

+ =


All of the 100+ overlay examples below show
solid grey where there is transparency.

The white parts will always stay white & the grey parts will always
be replaced by whatever colour or pattern you overlay them onto.

So if this is the overlay example:



and you place that overlay over turquoise textured
patterned paper, like this, for instance:



Then this will be the result:




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To save these files:
In Firefox/Chrome: right click on the image & choose "save link as"
Explorer: right click on the image & choose "save target as"

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If I might make some
suggestions for file saving?

1) Please check to be sure you are saving as PNG. This allows for the layers.

2) Use these PNGs in Photoshop or gimp (or another program that supports the transparency of the layers).

3) You might want to name the overlays so you can find them later: Just copy the name of the overlay you are downloading from this blog post & paste it in when you save the overlay file.

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To save these files, right click and...

in Firefox or Chrome choose "save link as"
in Explorer choose "save target as"

1) large Moroccan tile (solid) overlay:

2) large Moroccan tile (outline on white) overlay:

3) tiny Moroccan tile (solid) overlay:


4) tiny Moroccan tile (outline on white) overlay:


5) tight zig zag chevron overlay:


6) medium hexagon (outline) overlay:


7) world map overlay:


8) modern ledger overlay:


9) antique ledger (on white) overlay:


10) subtle Moroccan tile (on white) overlay:


11) subtle Moroccan tile (solid) overlay:


12) subtle tiny Moroccan tile (on white) overlay:


13) tiny subtle Moroccan tile (solid) overlay:


14) dress pattern overlay:


15) architectural quatrefoil (on white) overlay:


16) tiny architectural quatrefoil (on white) overlay:


17) wood grain/faux bois (on white) overlay:


18) wood grain/faux bois (solid) overlay:


19) french script overlay:


20) antique typography overlay:


21) medium zig zag chevron overlay:


22) medium dots outline overlay:


23) ML mod notebook overlay:

To save these files, right click and...

in Firefox or Chrome choose "save link as"
in Explorer choose "save target as"

24) big chevron overlay:


25) big ultra thin chevron overlay:


26) medium stripe overlay:


27) medium dots (on white) overlay:


28) medium dots (solid) overlay:


29) coffee text overlay

30) stretch zig zag chevron overlay:


31) subtle stripe (on white) overlay:

To save these files, right click and...

in Firefox or Chrome choose "save link as"
in Explorer choose "save target as"

32) vintage vine (solid) overlay:

33) vintage vine (vine on white) overlay:


34) subtle sketched chevron overlay:


35) distressed houndstooth fabric overlay:


36) globe pattern overlay:


37) text (on white) overlay:
(an antique flower making article -- it mentions stamps!)


38) tiny triangle (outline) overlay:


39) tiny triangle (solid) overlay:

To save these files, right click and...

in Firefox or Chrome choose "save link as"
in Explorer choose "save target as"

40) subtle graph (on white) overlay:


41) floral vine (on white) overlay:


42) floral vine (solid) overlay:


43) 'dream' dictionary definition overlay:


44) Rapunzel text overlay:


45) subtle random stripe overlay:


46) capital alphabet overlay:


47) tiny rounded quatrefoil (on white) overlay:


48) vintage fabric overlay:


49) tiny subtle graph (on white) overlay:


50) bubbles (on white) overlay:


51) double chevron overlay:


52) tiny hexagon or honeycomb
(outline on white) overlay:

To save these files, right click and...

in Firefox or Chrome choose "save link as"
in Explorer choose "save target as"

53) double patterned chevron overlay:


54) ML damask (outline) overlay:


55) extra small hexagon (solid) overlay:


56) extra small hexagon (outline) overlay:


57) paper-pieced chevron (outline) overlay:


58) paper-pieced chevron (solid) overlay:


59) tiny dot (solid) overlay:


60) tiny dot (on white) overlay:

To save these files, right click and...

in Firefox or Chrome choose "save link as"
in Explorer choose "save target as"

61) grammar wheel overlay:


62) subtle diamond (on white) overlay:


63) patterned diagonal stripe overlay:


64) tiny circles (solid) overlay:


65) tiny circles (on white) overlay:


66) patterned circle overlay:


67) pencil damask (solid) overlay:


68) pencil damask (outline on white) overlay:

To save these files, right click and...

in Firefox or Chrome choose "save link as"
in Explorer choose "save target as"

69) overlapping circles (outline on white) overlay:


70) overlapping circle solid (overlay):


71) lowercase alphabet (outline) overlay:


72) stitched chevron overlay:


73) circular grid (solid) overlay:


74) circular grid (outline) overlay:


75) checker overlay:
(white with grey distress)


76) subtle overlapping circles (outline) overlay:


77) soft floral overlay:


79) medium diagonal stripe overlay:

To save these files, right click and...

in Firefox or Chrome choose "save link as"
in Explorer choose "save target as"

80) bus ticket (London) overlay:

(Thanks to Sweetly Scrapped for the ticket image available here)


81) small scale star map overlay:


82) large scale star map overlay:


83) Graphics Fairy botanical twig overlay:


84) Graphics Fairy leaf field journal overlay:


85) large subtle triangle (outline) overlay:


86) small scale leafy alphabet overlay:


87) large scale leafy alphabet overlay:


88) small scale graph (solid) overlay:


89) small scale graph (outline) overlay:

To save these files, right click and...

in Firefox or Chrome choose "save link as"
in Explorer choose "save target as"

90) large scale flower doodle overlay:


91) sewing instruction text overlay:


92) graph (solid) overlay:


93) graph (outline on white) overlay:


94) bold triangle (outline on white) overlay


95) pin stripe overlay:


96) pomegranate & flower Moroccan tile (solid) overlay:


97) pomegranate & flower Moroccan tile (on white) overlay:


98) small diamond (solid) overlay:


99) small diamond (on white) overlay:

To save these files, right click and...

in Firefox or Chrome choose "save link as"
in Explorer choose "save target as"

100) sketched Moroccan tile overlay:


101) retro time sheet overlay:


102) quatrefoil (solid) overlay:


103) quatrefoil (outline on white) overlay:


104) art deco alphabet overlay:


105) patterned heart overlay:


106) plain heart overlay:

To save these files, right click and...

in Firefox or Chrome choose "save link as"
in Explorer choose "save target as"

107) Graphics Fairy (bold) damask overlay:


108) Graphics Fairy (low contrast) damask overlay:


109) Graphics Fairy (outline) damask overlay:


110) Argyle overlay:


111) outline circles overlay:

112) large scale interlocking circle (on white) overlay:


113) medium scale interlocking circle (on white) overlay:

114) small interlocking circle (on white) overlay:

115) ML soft floral solid (on white) overlay

To save these files, right click and...

in Firefox or Chrome choose "save link as"
in Explorer choose "save target as"

These bold overlays are very simple & handy for
filling with different patterns or colours...

116) Bold circle overlay:


117) random small rectangle overlay

118) large diamond overlay

119) small distressed squares overlay:


120) small distressed diamond overlay:

121) large square overlay:

122) small square overlay:


123) large batik flower overlay:


124) small batik flower (on white) overlay:

125) varied batik flower overlay:


126) large octagon (solid) overlay:


127) large octagon (outline) overlay:


128) medium octagon (solid) overlay:


129) medium octagon (outline) overlay:


130) small octagon (solid) overlay:


131) small octagon (outline) overlay:


132) scallop wave (solid) overlay:


133) scallop wave (outline on white) overlay:


134) large hexagon (solid) overlay:


135) large hexagon (outline on white) overlay:


136) medium hexagon (solid) overlay:


137) medium hexagon (outline on white) overlay:


138) small hexagon (solid) overlay:


139) small hexagon (outline on white) overlay:

140) printing primer overlay:

141) bold grid overlay:


142) polkadotted line overlay (white background):

143) polkadotted line overlay (white on solid colour):


144) monochromatic chevron overlay (tight zigzag):

145) monochromatic tiny Moroccan tile overlay:


146) monochromatic tiny dot overlay:


147) monochromatic medium chevron overlay:


148) monochromatic hexagon overlay


149) monochromatic typography script overlay:


150) tag paper overlay:


151) teeny tags overlay:


152) teeny envelope overlay:


153) art deco alphabet overlay (white letters):


154) art deco alphabet overlay (coloured letters):


155) ombre CHEVRON (tight zigzag) overlay:

156) bold diagonal stripe overlay:


157) subtle script overlay:
(Script adapted from this Graphics Fairy image)


158) Alphabet chart overlay:
(Chart adapted from this Graphics Fairy image)


159) subtle diamond overlay (thin white diamond lines):


160) architectural overlay (antique image of buildings):


161) thin chevron (with black outline) overlay


162) medium dots (with black outline) overlay:


163) large Moroccan tile (with black outline) overlay:


164) tiny Moroccan tile (with black outline) overlay:


165) pin stripe (with black outline) overlay:


166) tiny squares (with black outline) overlay:


167) subtle ornamental pattern (on white) overlay:


168) subtle ornamental pattern (solid) overlay:

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...use these overlays:

Want help using overlays?

There's a tutorial here for how to use them in GIMP:



or one here showing how to use overlays two ways
and with Photoshop:

You can read

(guidelines for use here)

Hope you can have
some fun with these!