How to replicate tissue pattern using swatches in Illustrator?

Question

Using swatches in Illustrator I want to replicate this pattern:

I think to use swatches is the fastest way to replicate this pattern. But I can't get it done right. Firstly I drew those little ellipses and copied them to get this pattern:

Secondly I applied clipping mask to it and dragged the result into swatches panel.

Then I drew a rectangle and clicked on the swatch I have just created. The rectangle wasn't filled completely with dots, here is what I've got:

Please help me create that pattern using swatches.

Answer 1

The area you are trying to fill is larger than the size of your design. You need to save your image as a Pattern if you want to do that.

The advantage of that is that next time, you don't have to copy and paste so many shapes, but the disadvantage is that you have to make sure the pattern tiles smoothly.