How to Make Make Woven & Textured Fabrics in Photoshop

Create fabric from patterns within Photoshop.

Incorporating fabric textures into your Photoshop work does not require a photographic reference, as the program includes a variety of woven textures that you can turn into realistic fabric backgrounds. Filling your document with one of the textured patterns is the basis of the fabric effect. You can customize your fabric pattern by changing the color, tone and contrast. Adding a gradient layer creates shadows and highlights that make your textured fabric appear undulated or wrinkled.

Instructions

1. • 1
     Start Photoshop and choose “File” and “New.” Adjust the size and resolution of the document and click “OK.” If you plan to use your fabric document as a repeating image for a background, make the width and height of the image equal.
   • 2
     Choose “Edit” and “Fill,” then select “Pattern” from the drop-down menu.
   • 3
     Click on the box next to “Custom Pattern” to choose the texture for your fabric. To load more patterns, click on the arrow in the top right corner and choose a set of patterns from the list. Click “Append” in the dialog box to add the new patterns. Several fabric and woven textures are available, including “Burlap,” “Denim," “Linen” and “Weave.” Click “OK” to fill the document with the pattern.
   • 4
     Press “Ctrl” and “U” to access the Hue/Saturation adjustment.
   • 5
     Click the “Colorize” box and move the Hue slider to change the color tone. Increase the Saturation of the color by moving the slider to the right. Click “OK” when you are satisfied with the color of the fabric.
   • 6
     Click the “Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer” icon at the base of the Layers panel and choose “Levels” from the popup menu.
   • 7
     Choose “Window” and click “Adjustments” to display the Adjustments panel, then go to the panel and move the sliders to change the tone of the fabric.
   • 8
     Click the “Create a New Layer” icon. Change the layer mode to “Overlay” and drag the layer above the fabric layer.
   • 9
     Select the "Gradient" tool in the Tools panel. In the Options bar, click on "Gradient," select the black and white gradient by clicking on the third icon in the Presets list, and click “OK.”
   • 10
     Set the Gradient “Mode” to “Difference” by opening the drop-down menu in the Options bar.
   • 11
     Click and drag a few times with the Gradient tool. To create waves in the fabric, drag the tool horizontally from right to left and left to right. Create wrinkled fabric by dragging the Gradient tool in several different directions.
   • 12
     Reduce the opacity of the gradient layer if the shadows and highlights are too pronounced.