Plaid vs Check: What's the Difference | Keepin' it Simple

Patterns play a huge role in papercrafting, from choosing the perfect background for a scrapbook page to selecting coordinating papers for a handmade card. One of the most commonly used—but often confused—patterns is plaid vs. check. While they may seem similar at a glance, they have distinct characteristics. Before we dive into the differences, let’s start with the building blocks: lines and stripes.

Lines: The Foundation of Patterns

A line is a basic visual element, often forming the foundation of more complex patterns.

• A long, narrow mark
• Can be any color or tone
• May or may not be part of a pattern
• Sometimes used to describe a stripe

Stripes: When Lines Become a Pattern

Once lines repeat in a structured way, they become stripes. They can be defined as:

• A series of parallel lines in a repeating pattern
• Can be vertical, horizontal, or diagonal
• May be a single color or varying colors
• Often equal width, but not always

Types of Stripe Patterns

There are many kinds of stripes, some of which you might recognize from fabrics and wallpaper. Here are a few you may have seen in patterned papers:

• Pinstripes – Extremely narrow, single-stripes, often white or light-colored on darker background color; “the width of a pin”

• Bengal stripes – About ¼ inch wide, alternating with white or another color; also known as tiger stripe

• Candy stripes – Evenly distributed, alternating bright-colored stripes, often against white (think peppermint sticks!)

• Awning stripes – Bold, wide stripes often seen on awnings or outdoor fabrics

Now that we’ve covered stripes, we can move into plaids and checks, which use intersecting lines and stripes to create more complex patterns.

At first glance, plaid and check patterns may seem interchangeable, but there’s a key difference: plaids have varied line thicknesses and multiple colors, while checks are simpler, with evenly spaced lines forming uniform squares.

Plaid Patterns

Plaid originates from traditional Scottish tartans, featuring multiple colors and varied stripe widths. In papercrafting, plaid designs add a cozy, layered look to projects. There are many different types of plaids. Here’s a selection of common plaid types.

Defining traits are:

• Intersecting vertical and horizontal lines of varying widths
• Creates a cross-hatched look
• Multiple colors are typically used
• Often asymmetrical, with bands of color appearing in different widths

-COMMON PLAID TYPES

• Tartans – Symmetrical, multi-color designs with varying widths but vertical and stripe patterns have to match evenly creating perfect symmetrical patterns

• Houndstooth – A broken, jagged plaid with a repeating four-pointed shape often seen in black and white; referred to as resembling a canine tooth

• Buffalo plaid (Buffalo check) – Large, two-toned patterns resembling a checkerboard, famously recognized in red and black (lumberjack style)
  • Fun Fact #1: Buffalo check is a type of plaid, which is a general term for a fabric with a checkered or plaid pattern
  • Fun Fact #2: the term “buffalo check” originated from a Woolrich Woolen Mills designer who owned a herd of buffalo and named the pattern after them

Check Patterns

Unlike plaid, check patterns are more uniform, and have a grid-like design resembling checkerboards. However, like plaids, there are many different types -- here’s some common ones.

Defining traits are:

• Symmetrical appearance
• Two-color designs
• More uniform than plaid
• Uses equal-width horizontal and vertical lines to create squares

-COMMON CHECK TYPES

• Gingham – Small checks of two colors, often white and another color

• Mini check – A tiny version of gingham, often two line colors on one background color

• Pin checks – Even smaller than mini check, sometimes appearing as dots rather than squares (not shown)
• Graph check – Resembles graph paper, with pencil-thin single-colored lines forming squares

• Windowpane check – Larger squares than graph check, with one thick and one thin stripe creating a subtle grid

• Tattersall plaid – Thin, evenly spaced stripes forming a grid; often features two alternating colors
  • Fun fact: Tattersall is a check and a plaid

How to Identify Plaid vs. Check in Papercrafting

When working with patterned scrapbook paper, use these quick tips to determine whether a design is plaid or check:

✅If the pattern has multiple colors, varied stripe widths, and an overlapping effect -- It’s plaid!

✅If the pattern is a clean, evenly spaced grid with uniform squares -- It’s check!

✅ Buffalo plaid (buffalo check) blurs the lines—it has the structure of a check pattern but is often called plaid due to its large size.

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