Change the background color of a pattern and keep the motif

You have a print you like, but the client wants it on sage instead of cream, or you want a dark version for winter. The flowers, leaves and lines should stay exactly as they are. Only the color behind them changes.

On a printed pattern, that background is called the ground. This guide shows a one-step way to change it, how to pick a ground that works, and the manual routes in Illustrator and Photoshop.

Ground and motif

A printed pattern has two kinds of area:

• The ground: the background color that fills the space between the shapes. It usually covers most of the fabric.
• The motif: the flowers, figures, lines and accents drawn on top.

Changing the background color of a pattern means changing the ground and keeping every motif color. That's also the quickest way to make a new colorway, because the ground changes the look of a print more than anything else.

Why background removal tools struggle

Most "change background" tools online are made for photos. They look for one subject, such as a person or a product, and cut away everything else.

An allover pattern has no single subject. The tool may keep a few large motifs and cut away small ones, or leave holes in the print. Even when it works, you get a transparent file and still have to add the new color and check the edges.

Note: If your pattern is already a PNG with a transparent ground, you don't need a recolor tool. Place a solid color layer behind it and export.

Change the ground in one step

Color Variation changes the ground of a design and keeps the motif. It's free with an account.

1. Upload your pattern as a JPG, PNG or WEBP.
2. Colorways appear in three groups: light, dusty and dark. Each shows its new ground with the color name and hex code.
3. Click "New colors" on a group to see more grounds.
4. Click a colorway to view it larger, then download it at full size. "Download all" saves every colorway, and "Download chart" puts them on one sheet.

The motif keeps its colors exactly, and so do edges, texture and transparent areas. Downloads keep the original's pixel size and DPI, so the file prints at the same size as before.

The tool changes the ground only. It does not recolor the motifs. The free colorway generator guide explains every option on the page.

Tip: Upload one clean repeat tile rather than a screenshot of a mockup. The colorways are easier to compare, and the tile is the file your printer needs.

Pick a ground that works

A new ground has to keep the motif readable. Three groups are a useful way to think about it:

Group	Feel	Example grounds
Light	Soft pastel	Ivory, mint, powder blue, peach
Dusty	Muted, earthy	Sage, mauve, clay, dusty blue
Dark	Deep, rich	Navy, wine, charcoal, black

What matters most is lightness. Dark motifs need a light or dusty ground, and light or gold motifs need a dark one. A mid-tone motif on a mid-tone ground looks muddy from across a room.

Tip: Turn each option to grayscale before you choose. If the motif still stands out in gray, it will read well printed. The colorway guide shows a quick Photoshop check.

If you're building matching grounds for a whole collection, see colorways for a surface pattern collection.

Vector files: Illustrator

If the pattern is a vector pattern swatch in Illustrator, you can change the ground there.

• Recolor Artwork (Edit > Edit Colors > Recolor Artwork) swaps the colors of a whole pattern from one panel. The Pitter Pattern tutorial notes that it changes "the colours of the pattern as a whole instead of having to recolour each element on its own" (Pitter Pattern).
• To change one color inside a swatch, double-click the swatch in the Swatches panel, select the background shape, pick a new fill color and click Done (RetroSupply).

This works on vector shapes. A JPG or PNG placed in Illustrator is a raster image, so use one of the other methods for it.

Raster files: Photoshop

If the motif is on its own layer

Layered files are the easy case. Photoshop Essentials shows how: select the Background layer, click "New Fill or Adjustment Layer" at the bottom of the Layers panel, choose Solid Color and pick the new color (Photoshop Essentials). Double-click the fill layer's thumbnail any time to try another color.

If the file is flat

Most prints arrive as one flat layer. Then you have to select the ground first:

1. Go to Select > Color Range and click the ground with the eyedropper.
2. Adjust Fuzziness until the ground is selected and the motif isn't. Use the eyedropper with the plus sign to add more shades of the ground (Highlander Training).
3. Click OK, then add a Solid Color fill layer. The selection becomes its mask, so only the ground takes the new color.
4. Zoom to 100% and look along the motif edges.

Warning: Color Range works best on flat, clean grounds. On a textured or shaded ground, or where motif edges blend into the ground, you'll see patches and a thin line of the old color around shapes. Fixing that means painting the mask by hand, which can take longer than the rest of the job.

For a related Photoshop job with masks and adjustment layers, see changing a saree border or pallu color.

Export for print

Changing the ground shouldn't change the size of the file. Keep the original pixel size, then save in the format your printer asks for.

• Spoonflower asks for JPG or PNG files under 40 MB, at 150 DPI, in sRGB color mode (Spoonflower).
• Other fabric and print-on-demand printers publish their own file rules. Check the DPI, file type and color mode before you export.
• If the pattern is too small for the print size, enlarge it before you print. The Image Upscaler does 4× and 8× free and downloads a PNG tagged 300 DPI.

Screen colors and printed colors differ, so order a sample before a big run. The guide on why print color differs from the screen explains why.

Common mistakes

• Using a photo background remover on an allover print.
• Picking a ground with the same lightness as the motif.
• Recoloring with a plain fill on a flat file, which paints over the motif edges too.
• Saving the result as a small JPG, so the printer gets fewer pixels than the original.
• Approving the color on screen without a printed sample.

What to do next

Upload one clean repeat of your pattern to Color Variation. Keep one light, one dusty and one dark ground, check each in grayscale, and download the one you want at full size for your printer.