From a drawing in 'Bond Slaves. The story of a struggle.', Isabella Varley, 1893.
Source Firkin
Orange-red pattern for tiled backgrounds.
Source V. Hartikainen
An aged paper background tile with smeared and pressed text.
Source V. Hartikainen
To get the tile this is based on select the rectangle in Inkscape and use shift+alt+i.
Source Firkin
A huge one at 800x600px. Made from a photo I took going home after work.
Source Atle Mo
From a drawing in 'Art Embroidery', M.S. Lockwood and E. Glaister, 1878.
Source Firkin
Remixed from a drawing in 'Maidenhood; or, the Verge of the Stream', Laura Jewry, 1876.
Source Firkin
Remixed from a drawing in 'Chambéry à la fin du XIVe siècle', Timoleon Chapperon, 1863.
Source Firkin
It looks like a polished stone surface to me. Download it for free, as always.
Source V. Hartikainen
The first pattern on here using opacity. Try it on a site with a colored background, or even using mixed colors.
Source Nathan Spady
Prismatic Groovy Concentric Background 4
Source GDJ
Lovely pattern with some good-looking non-random noise lines.
Source Zucx
A seamless pattern based on a square tile that can be retrieved in Inkscape by selecting the rectangle and using shift-alt-i.
Source Firkin
Formed by distorting the inside front cover of 'Diversæ insectarum volatilium : icones ad vivum accuratissmè depictæ per celeberrimum pictorem', Jacob Hoefnagel, 1630.
Source Firkin
To get the tile this is based on, select the rectangle in Inkscape and use shift+alt+i.
Source Firkin
From a drawing in 'La Principauté de Liège et les Pays-Bas au XVIe siècle', Société des Bibliophiles Liégeois ,1887.
Source Firkin
A seamless pattern that includes the original tile (go to Objects / Pattern / Pattern To Objects in Inkscape's menu to extract it).
Source GDJ
Prismatic Hexagonalism Pattern No Background
Source GDJ
This is so subtle I hope you can see it! Tweak at will.
Source Alexandre Naud