What is Half-brick repeat?
Also known as: Half-step repeat, Brick repeat
A repeat structure where alternating rows are offset horizontally by exactly 50% of the tile width. Creates the visual rhythm of brick walls and is common in architectural and tile-inspired prints.
In detail
Half-brick mirrors half-drop but on the horizontal axis. Alternating rows of tiles are shifted horizontally by half the tile width, creating a brick-wall arrangement. The adjacency constraint adds a horizontal shift to the top/bottom edge equality: the bottom edge of one tile must continue into the top edge of a tile shifted horizontally by W/2. AI inpainting healing requires a staggered Pass 2 to maintain corner connectivity across the shifted boundary. Half-brick is used heavily in upholstery, home textiles, geometric apparel, and any design that wants a horizontal flow rhythm. It is functionally identical to half-drop rotated 90°, but the convention in textile design is to choose the axis that complements the motif's natural orientation. Half-brick is also commonly chosen for landscape-oriented motifs (horizontal florals, banded geometrics, ribbon-style prints) where the horizontal shift complements the natural reading direction of the design. In wallpaper and wall-tile-replica prints, half-brick is virtually universal — it visually echoes the brick or subway-tile installation it imitates.
Example
A subway-tile-inspired textile where each tile is the size of a brick and every other row is offset by half a brick. Tiled across a fabric panel, the seams form a staggered horizontal pattern like a brick wall.