Making guide / Design your own pattern
How to make a kinusaiga pattern by hand
Start with a pencil sketch. A workable kinusaiga pattern has closed fabric regions and details large enough to cut and tuck at the finished size. This guide covers the steps from sketch to test print.
1. Set the finished board size first
Measure the board or the frame’s usable inner opening. Draw a rectangle with the same proportions. A design that works at 300 mm wide may have points that are frustrating at 150 mm, so choose dimensions before refining details.
2. Reduce the picture to fabric shapes
Begin with your own sketch or a reference you have the right to use. Trace the main silhouette, then keep only colour boundaries that need separate pieces of fabric. Combine tiny highlights with nearby regions. Use broad curves where possible; many thin slivers and sharp points make cutting and tucking harder.
3. Close and number every region
Each fabric area needs a complete boundary, shared with its neighbours or the outer edge. Look for gaps, overlapping lines and islands too small for your fabric and tool. Number the regions and make a separate colour key so the print remains readable in black and white.
4. Print at actual size and test one corner
Print a draft at the board’s final dimensions, with scaling set to 100%. Measure a known length on the paper. Cut the smallest point or narrowest band into an offcut of your chosen foam and tuck the real fabric. If it crumbles or feels crowded, enlarge that region or simplify the drawing before making the full board.
For designs that span multiple sheets, the printing guide explains page assembly and the 25 mm scale check.
Starting from a pet photo?
A photograph needs an extra simplification step before you draw closed fabric regions. Follow the photo-to-pattern guide for choosing features and checking the smallest pieces.
A simpler first project
If your first sketch needs too many tiny cuts, try one of our beginner patterns to see how large regions and numbered boundaries work together. Then return to your own design.