Hide contents of clipping mask layer in photoshop

Question

Is there a way to hide the contents of a clipping mask in photoshop? I don't want the clipping mask to show through in areas where the clipped layer is transparent.

Images might make it clear.

My layer setup:

Without clipping mask:

With clipping mask:

Desired result:

I know I can manually adjust the clipping mask to cover only the areas that the pattern covers, but that is too much effort since the pattern consists of a lot of layers and is quite irregular. Is there another way to simply make the clipping mask never show its own contents?

Answer 1

Sorry to be blunt, but you are following the wrong approach.

A better way to achieve this, is to have the pattern as a regular layer, and give that layer a mask to hide parts of it. You can give a layer a 'Layer Mask' (a bitmap mask) by clicking the 'add a mask' button at the bottom of the layers panel while the desired layer is selected:

You can then paint with black in the mask to hide parts of the layer, and paint with white to show them again. Greys correspond to a semi-transparency.

You can also add a 'vector mask', preferably by 'stealing' it off from a shape layer.

1. draw a shape layer, in the shape you'd like the mask to have
2. command/ctrl-drag the shape layer onto the layer to be masked in the layers palette
3. delete or hide the shape layer

Answer 2

If you want to do it with a clipping mask instead of a layer mask (which allows you to use a smart object as the mask), see this answer.