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Flowers and nature

Free magnolia SVG files

Free magnolia SVG files drawn by code: flowers on bare woody branches, the open flower from above, buds, a tree in bloom, a leaf wreath, a monogram frame and a paper flower template. Every one is a clean welded shape.

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

What makes it read as a magnolia

A magnolia flower is built from tepals, which are thicker and smoother than the petals of most flowers. They stand up in a cup like a goblet, then the outer ones fall open, and on the spring-flowering kinds all of this happens on bare twigs before any leaf is out. So the branch matters as much as the flower: woody, forked, with a small furry bud at the end of every twig. From above, the open flower is three rings of three tepals round a cone.

The channels between tepals are about 1.3 mm wide at 100 mm, and the narrowest part of each branch design, a bridge between two channels, is 1.6 mm or more. The branch designs cut well in vinyl from about 80 mm across. In card or thin wood keep them at 100 mm or more, or pick the simple magnolia, whose channels are 2 mm wide.

Leaves, wreaths and colours

The leaf here is the long glossy oval of the evergreen southern magnolia, the one used for door wreaths and garlands. Saucer magnolias are pink outside and near white inside; star and southern magnolias are white or cream. The layered file follows the pink kind, and its three tepal layers can be cut in white, ivory and cream for the others. Cut the leaves in dark green, and for a real leaf wreath look add a second set in brown, since the underside of a magnolia leaf is rust coloured.

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 shape the paper magnolia?

Cut the nine tepals from heavy paper or thin card of 160 to 200 gsm, which holds a curve the way a real tepal does. Press each one into the bowl of a spoon so that it cups. Roll the fringed strip into a tight cone and glue it. Then glue the three small tepals round the cone, the three middle ones over the gaps between them, and the three large ones last.

Which magnolia design suits a door sign or a round coaster?

The magnolia wreath and the monogram frame are both built on a ring with an open middle for lettering. For a coaster with no lettering, use the flower seen from above, which is round and exactly symmetrical.

Why do the branches have no leaves?

Most garden magnolias flower in early spring on bare wood, and the leaves follow as the flowers fade. A flowering branch with no leaves is the look people know. The blossom with two leaves, the wreath and the sprig of three leaves are there for the evergreen southern magnolia, which carries flowers and leaves together.

More free SVG files