Free crab SVG files

Cutting crabs: legs first

A crab has eight legs and each one ends in a point, so the legs decide how small you can go. At the file size of 100 mm wide the classic crab’s legs taper from about 5 mm at the shell to under 2 mm at the tip. That cuts well in vinyl and card. In 3 mm plywood or acrylic the leg tips are the first thing to snap, so cut at 150 mm or more, or pick the cute baby crab, whose six legs are short and blunt.

Every crab here except the fiddler and the hermit is mirrored exactly, which makes it easy to centre on a tote bag, an apron or the lid of a seafood boil pot. When you weed, hold the shell down and pull the waste away from between the legs towards their tips.

For a red crab on a pale background cut the design as it is. For a crab boil sign in two colours, cut the crab silhouette in red and lay the classic crab over it in a darker red: the creases in the shell show the colour underneath.

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