Might not be super subtle, but quite original in its form.
Source Alex Smith
From a design found in 'History of the Virginia Company of London; with letters to and from the first Colony, never before printed', Edward Neill, 1869.
Source Firkin
Light gray paper pattern with small traces of fiber and some dust.
Source Atle Mo
A repeating background with a look of paper. I have added some changes to PatCreator. Now you can share your designs by submitting them to a new gallery section. Start by clicking Edit with PatCreator above.
Source V. Hartikainen
Greyscale version of a pattern that came out of playing with the 'slinky' plug-in for Paint.net
Source Firkin
A very slick dark rubber grip pattern, sort of like the grip on a camera.
Source Sinisha
To get the tile this is based on, select the rectangle in Inkscape and use shift+alt+i.
Source Firkin
Heavy depth and shadows here, but might work well on some mobile apps.
Source Damian Rivas
From a drawing in 'A Life Interest', Mrs Alexander, 1888.
Source Firkin
Smooth Polaroid pattern with a light blue tint.
Source Daniel Beaton
Prismatic Hypnotic Pattern No Background
Source GDJ
To get the tile this is based on, select the rectangle in Inkscape and use shift-alt-i.
Source Firkin
A seamless pattern drawn originally in Paint.net by distorting a slice of background pattern 116 and copying the resulting triangle numerous times.
Source Firkin
To get the tile this is based on, select the rectangle in Inkscape and use shift+alt+i.
Source Firkin
A seamless pattern formed from a rectangular tile. The tile can be retrieved by selecting the rectangle in Inkscape and using shift-alt-i.
Source Firkin
Prismatic Abstract Geometric Background 5 No Black
Source GDJ
Prismatic Chevrons Pattern 5 With Background
Source GDJ
Remixed from a JPG that was uploaded to Pixabay by susanlu4esm
Source Firkin
Here's a new paper-like background for free use on personal and commercial projects (this applies to all background patterns here).
Source V. Hartikainen
A nice looking light gray background pattern with diagonal stripes.
Source V. Hartikainen
Remixed from a drawing in 'Line and form", Walter Crane, 1914.
Source Firkin