How to make banner designs in Minecraft: loom and patterns

Put a banner and a dye in a Loom, pick a pattern and take the result: each pass adds one layer, up to 6 layers per banner. All facts below come from the Java Edition 26.3 game files. Bedrock Edition uses the same Loom and Banner Pattern items; the command at the end is Java syntax.

• Banner: 6 Wool of one color on the top two rows of a crafting table, 1 Stick in the bottom middle. The wool color is the background of your design.
• Loom: 2 String on top, 2 Planks of any wood below.
• Dyes: one dye per layer. Craft them from flowers and other items before you start.

The banner page lists all 16 colors.

Open the Loom. Put the banner in the left slot and a dye in the slot beside it. The list in the middle shows every pattern available, with a preview on the right. Click one, then take the banner from the output slot.

Each pass uses up 1 dye and adds 1 layer. Thirty-two patterns (stripes, halves, crosses, borders, gradients) need nothing else. The other ten need a Banner Pattern item in the third slot.

Put the banner back in the Loom with the next dye and pick the next pattern. A new layer is always drawn over the previous ones, so plan your design from the back to the front: big shapes first, details last.

After 6 layers, the Loom stops offering patterns for that banner. Use the preview before you take each result: the only way back is the Cauldron (last step).

These patterns only appear while their Banner Pattern item is in the Loom. The Loom never uses it up.

The trial chambers guide explains vaults and keys.

Pattern names are the ones the game shows in the banner tooltip.

Pale Dexter is the stripe on the left as you face the banner, Pale Sinister the one on the right. In a world with cheats, this command gives the Italian flag straight away:

/give @s minecraft:white_banner[minecraft:banner_patterns=[{pattern:"minecraft:stripe_left",color:"green"},{pattern:"minecraft:stripe_right",color:"red"}]]

• Copy: put your finished banner and a blank banner of the same base color in a crafting grid. You get the copy and your original back.
• Shield: put a Shield and the banner in a crafting grid. The Shield takes the design and the banner is used up. It only works on a Shield that has no design yet, so copy the banner first if you want to keep it.

Fill a Cauldron with water and use the banner on it. The last layer you added disappears and the Cauldron loses one level of water. Repeat to peel off more layers. A blank banner cannot be washed further.