diff --git a/attic/archiver.py b/attic/archiver.py
index 47650c2d..b2be0035 100644
--- a/attic/archiver.py
+++ b/attic/archiver.py
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@
 from attic.cache import Cache
 from attic.key import key_creator
 from attic.helpers import Error, location_validator, format_time, \
-    format_file_mode, ExcludePattern, exclude_path, adjust_patterns, to_localtime, \
-    get_cache_dir, get_keys_dir, format_timedelta, prune_within, prune_split, \
+    format_file_mode, ExcludePattern, exclude_path, adjust_include_patterns, adjust_exclude_patterns, \
+    to_localtime, get_cache_dir, get_keys_dir, format_timedelta, prune_within, prune_split, \
     Manifest, remove_surrogates, update_excludes, format_archive, check_extension_modules, Statistics, \
     is_cachedir, bigint_to_int
 from attic.remote import RepositoryServer, RemoteRepository
@@ -125,7 +125,8 @@ def do_create(self, args):
                     continue
             else:
                 restrict_dev = None
-            self._process(archive, cache, args.excludes, args.exclude_caches, skip_inodes, path, restrict_dev)
+            excludes = adjust_exclude_patterns(path, args.excludes)
+            self._process(archive, cache, excludes, args.exclude_caches, skip_inodes, path, restrict_dev)
         archive.save()
         if args.stats:
             t = datetime.now()
@@ -192,7 +193,7 @@ def do_extract(self, args):
         manifest, key = Manifest.load(repository)
         archive = Archive(repository, key, manifest, args.archive.archive,
                           numeric_owner=args.numeric_owner)
-        patterns = adjust_patterns(args.paths, args.excludes)
+        patterns = adjust_include_patterns(args.paths, args.excludes)
         dry_run = args.dry_run
         strip_components = args.strip_components
         dirs = []
diff --git a/attic/helpers.py b/attic/helpers.py
index ac526698..2cf46542 100644
--- a/attic/helpers.py
+++ b/attic/helpers.py
@@ -198,13 +198,20 @@ def update_excludes(args):
             file.close()
 
 
-def adjust_patterns(paths, excludes):
+def adjust_include_patterns(paths, excludes):
     if paths:
         return (excludes or []) + [IncludePattern(path) for path in paths] + [ExcludePattern('*')]
     else:
         return excludes
 
 
+def adjust_exclude_patterns(path, excludes):
+    if excludes:
+        return [pattern for pattern in excludes if not pattern.match(path)]
+    else:
+        return []
+
+
 def exclude_path(path, patterns):
     """Used by create and extract sub-commands to determine
     whether or not an item should be processed.
@@ -566,4 +573,3 @@ def int_to_bigint(value):
     if value.bit_length() > 63:
         return value.to_bytes((value.bit_length() + 9) // 8, 'little', signed=True)
     return value
-
diff --git a/attic/testsuite/archiver.py b/attic/testsuite/archiver.py
index 382fcc85..db62c1af 100644
--- a/attic/testsuite/archiver.py
+++ b/attic/testsuite/archiver.py
@@ -197,6 +197,17 @@ def test_extract_include_exclude(self):
             self.attic('extract', '--exclude-from=' + self.exclude_file_path, self.repository_location + '::test')
         self.assert_equal(sorted(os.listdir('output/input')), ['file1', 'file3'])
 
+    def test_subtree_include_exclude(self):
+        self.attic('init', self.repository_location)
+        self.create_regular_file('file1', size=1024 * 80)
+        self.create_regular_file('unwanted/file2', size=1024 * 80)
+        self.create_regular_file('unwanted/wanted/file3', size=1024 * 80)
+        self.attic('create', '--exclude=input/unwanted', self.repository_location + '::test', 'input', 'input/unwanted/wanted')
+        with changedir('output'):
+            self.attic('extract', self.repository_location + '::test', 'input')
+        self.assert_equal(sorted(os.listdir('output/input')), ['file1', 'unwanted'])
+        self.assert_equal(sorted(os.listdir('output/input/unwanted')), ['wanted'])
+
     def test_exclude_caches(self):
         self.attic('init', self.repository_location)
         self.create_regular_file('file1', size=1024 * 80)
diff --git a/attic/testsuite/helpers.py b/attic/testsuite/helpers.py
index e01b652c..b4fb304a 100644
--- a/attic/testsuite/helpers.py
+++ b/attic/testsuite/helpers.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 import os
 import tempfile
 import unittest
-from attic.helpers import adjust_patterns, exclude_path, Location, format_timedelta, IncludePattern, ExcludePattern, make_path_safe, UpgradableLock, prune_within, prune_split, to_localtime, \
+from attic.helpers import adjust_include_patterns, exclude_path, Location, format_timedelta, IncludePattern, ExcludePattern, make_path_safe, UpgradableLock, prune_within, prune_split, to_localtime, \
     StableDict, int_to_bigint, bigint_to_int
 from attic.testsuite import AtticTestCase
 import msgpack
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ class PatternTestCase(AtticTestCase):
     ]
 
     def evaluate(self, paths, excludes):
-        patterns = adjust_patterns(paths, [ExcludePattern(p) for p in excludes])
+        patterns = adjust_include_patterns(paths, [ExcludePattern(p) for p in excludes])
         return [path for path in self.files if not exclude_path(path, patterns)]
 
     def test(self):