How often do you opt for a solid or gradient fill for your Inkscape drawings? Have you ever used the Pattern Fill?

Here’s an example of a star shape filled solid pink next to one filled “Ermine”.

This is as simple as setting any other fill.

You can change the opacity and blur filters on Pattern Fill but not the colour… at least not without cheating a bit!

This method is by no means predictable but can create interesting effects. Select your patterned object and go to Effects>Color and try out some of the colour effects. It seems that not all effects work with all patterns. Polka Dots, Stripes and Checkerboard seem to work best with Randomize and RGB Barrel colour effects.

You can also change the scale and orientation of your pattern. This can be buggy so save your work first.

Use the Node Select Tool to select your patterned fill. You’ll notice to the top left an ‘x’ shape with circular and square handles. To increase the size of the pattern just move the square handle away from the ‘x’ and to rotate move the circular handle around the x.

Since most of the patterns are semi-transparent you can layer them up (right).
You don’t have to use the presets to fill your objects - you can make patterns out of objects!

Create the objects you want to use as your pattern as well as an object you want to fill with pattern. Here I’m using a square for the background with a shape on top. Group your pattern objects (Ctrl +G) and then go to Object>Pattern>Objects to Pattern.

To fill your other object with your new pattern just click on it, select pattern fill and choose your new pattern. It will probably have a name like Pattern3806.

I’m unsure why the edges are visible. I tried using a thick outline for the square shape but it was unsuccessful. If you have any tips for that drop me a comment below.

Finally if you want to fill a shape with a bitmap it’s just as simple. Go to File>Import and select your bitmap image. Now as before, select the bitmap and go to Object>Pattern>Objects to Pattern. You now have a new pattern to fill with.

Any comments/questions/suggestions? Let me know!