pattern tiles making me crazy

[skewed1]

I'm trying to make a pattern tile of horizontal lines. I made 1 line, and move/copied it across a 1" square. How can I trim off the overhaning parts of the lines, so that this will work as an overall pattern in other objects?

I"m new at this - any pattern tips appreciated!!!

[Drive by Shooter]

I'll take a whack at this since no one else answered. I'm certainly not an expert.

To make a pattern, you need an object or objects, and an unstroked unfilled rectangle behind the objects. The rectangle doesn't print, it defines the pattern.

Your objects may overhang the rectangle - you needn't cut them off at the edge. If you want to make a repeating pattern which doesn't show the box outline, you must see to it that any object which overlaps the left side of the rectangle laps back in on the right and vice versa. The same is true of the top and bottom edges.

There's a good overview of this technique in "The Adobe Illustrator CS2 WOW! Book" on page 86. If you don't have the book, go to a bookstore and read that page - you'll probably buy the book.