(10-08-2021, 07:12 PM)rickk Wrote: the pattern always seems to "index" itself from the upper left hand corner of the entire drawing, and not just within the specific area.
Indeed, it does index from the upper left corner.
You don't need "New Image"
What I do, is a new layer then make a selection of the needed area (in the middle for example), then fill with a color, you don't care about the color I just drag n drop from FG or BG (it's just to have a "content"),
then Layer > Crop to content now I can fill with my pattern and it will be filled as I want
still it's indexed from the upper left, but it is indexed from a smaller layer and at the place I want
In your case
You can stroke your selection on a new layer, then same > Layer > Crop to content then bucket fill your gradient
It might not be the best solution but it does the trick