Free bow SVG files

Solid bows, open bows and what to cut them from

The solid bows (classic, simple, hair bow and the silhouette) are broad shapes with only a few slots cut in, so they suit vinyl, iron-on, felt and thick card and stay clear at 30 mm wide. The open bows show the ribbon as a band about 6 mm wide at the 100 mm size of the file: lovely in card and wood, but keep them above 50 mm wide so the band is still 3 mm.

On every bow the tails are joined to the knot under the loops, and the knot is laid on top as the last step, so the piece never comes apart at the middle. The slots by the knot are creases: on iron-on, weed them out with a pin before pressing.

Using the hair bow template

The template is three flat pieces for a bow you assemble, not a picture of a bow. Cut it from faux leather, felt or glitter canvas. At the file size the long strip is 100 mm, which makes a bow about 50 mm wide; scale all three pieces together for a bigger or smaller bow. Fold both ends of the strip to the centre, set it on the tail piece, wrap the strap round the middle and glue or stitch it at the back over a clip.

How to open the files

• Cricut Design Space: choose Upload, pick the SVG, and add it to the canvas. Set the width you want; the shape is already welded.
• Silhouette Studio: Designer Edition and above open the SVG. The free Basic Edition does not, so open the DXF instead.
• LightBurn, xTool Creative Space and Glowforge: import the SVG, then set the layer to cut, score or engrave.
• Inkscape, Illustrator and Affinity: open the SVG. It is a plain filled path, so you can recolour it, add a stroke or combine it with your own work.
• Printing or sublimation: use the PNG, which has a transparent background.

Each design page lists the file’s narrowest part at seven sizes, so you can tell whether it will survive at the size you plan to cut.

Questions