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Free card template SVG files

Free SVG card templates: blank card bases to decorate yourself, each cut from one sheet with its fold already in it. There are window cards, cards with lace, wavy and scalloped edges, a gate fold, an easel card, a step card and a card with an insert.

13 designs. Free for personal and commercial use, no sign-up. What you can do with them.

What is in each file

Each template is the whole card laid flat: back panel, front panel and the spine between. The spine is a row of short slits that the blade cuts with the outline, so the card folds on the line with no scoring tool and no score setting. The slits stop short of both edges, which keeps the card in one piece. Add your own art in your cutting software before you cut: place it on the front panel, which is the right half of a side-fold card and the lower half of a top-fold card.

The gate-fold card has two folds and the easel card and the step card have more; their notes say which way each one bends. The step card is the only one with a cut inside the sheet, a fine slot that frees the strip of steps from the main panel.

Card sizes

The files are 100 mm on their longer side, so scale each one to the size in its note. A6 (105 × 148 mm folded) is cut 210 mm long from half a sheet of A4 and takes a C6 envelope. A2 (4.25 × 5.5 inches folded) is cut 8.5 inches long from half a sheet of Letter. A 140 mm square card is 280 mm long opened out, which fits A4 but is a little too long for Letter: cut it 270 mm long there, for a 135 mm card. The slim card folds to 99 × 210 mm for a DL envelope.

Card of 220 to 300 gsm makes a base that stands up. Cut inserts and liners from paper of 100 to 120 gsm, trimmed 5 mm smaller than the panel all round.

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

How do I add my own design to a template?

Open the file in your cutting software, put your own shapes or lettering on the front panel and set them to cut. Keep them 5 mm inside the edges and the fold, and leave nothing loose inside a cut-out unless you want it to fall away.

Which way do the folds of the easel card go?

Fold the base in half, then fold the front panel back on itself along its second fold, so it makes a Z from the side. Glue the decorated panel to the lower half of the front only, and glue the stop inside the back so the edge of the panel rests against it.

How does the step card stand up?

Fold the main panel towards you along its one fold. On the strip, fold the first, third and fifth lines the same way and the second and fourth the other way. Each step is as deep and as tall as the part of the panel it stands beside, so the card opens to a right angle and still folds flat.

More free SVG files