1. Open a new file of about 2400x2400 pixels with 300 in resolution.

2. Add noise. Go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise. Set the Amount to 400% with Uniform Distribution and Monochromatic checked. Click OK when done.



3. Then go to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur. Set the Angle to 0 and set it to a maximum Distance of 998 pixels. Click OK when done.





4. Select now the Rectangular Marquee tool  and select the left part which is not blurry. When you have done selecting, press CTRL+J in your keyboard to create a copy in a separate layer.






5. This is now the Layer1. You can hide the Background Layer by clicking the visibility eye beside the thumbnail layer. Then Select now the Move tool  and on the right-center transforming control, click+hold+drag up to the right-end of the whole document. Press Enter when you are done.





6. Now, with this Layer1 selected, press CTRL+J to duplicate it. Then go to Edit>Transform>Rotate 90 CW. Then change the Blending Mode to Soft Light. This will create now a visible intersecting horizontal and vertical lines.






7. Merge the Layer 1 and the Layer 1 copy. Select these layers by CTRL+click on their layer names and right click anywhere on the layer name and choose Merge Layers.





8. It's time for us now to play some colors to this desaturated plaid. click the Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer button at the bottom of the layer palette and choose the HUE/Saturation. Make the Colorize box checked first. then adjust the settings using the slider. In this tutorial I use these settings: Hue=213, Saturation=25, Lightness=0. Click OK when you are done.





9. Let us now see what we have now. This looks good.




To make different colors out of this, continue using the HUE/Saturation. Just hide the first one and make another settings for a different color. Just make sure that you have checked the Colorize box. Here are some of the colors I made from this tutorial.






Opps wait..I have another tip. You can also use the setting in Image>Adjustments>Variations to set some colors. Just choose the Midtones and select for the color you want for this desaturated plaid. In the Variation settings you can already select and adjust the tone of the color you have selected. You can also save this setting or just click OK to display.





And to give you some alert, when you save this file it is in a large size when you use the maximum. Most probably this will range from 5MB-7MB in size. So if you want to lower it, just use the Meduim or High in Quality. But of course it is always depends on your needs..the maximum quality, we know, the better.

Now, if you still have a question on what about a plaid like this:




Let us go to another way of creating a plaid. This time this is much simpler plaid and the very usual. First, define a pattern like this with a size of 200x100 pixels.




To define a pattern, make sure first that the image is flattened. Then CTL+click on the thumbnail layer and go to Edit>Define Pattern. Name it whatever you want then click OK. Then open a new document of 2400x2400pixels. On the Add New Fill or Adjustment Layer button, choose Pattern. Your recently defined pattern is automaticaly loaded, so just click OK.

You have to convert this image into Smart Object. So, right click on this layer and choose Convert to Smart Object. After that, right click again on the layer and this time choose Rasterize Layer. It will be looking like this now:




Press CTRL+J to duplicate this Pattern Fill layer. And go to Edit>Transform>Rotate 90 CW. Change the Blending Mode to Multiply and there you are...a simple, bigger plaid.





If you want to have a different color also of this plaid, make a pattern with different colors according to your satisfaction. Or you can use again the HUE/Saturation option.

So that's it..these are some of my ways on how to create a simple plaid that you can use for your layouts and designs. Hope you learn something useful from this tutorial.