Free nurse SVG files

Small crosses, thin needles and what size to cut

Most of these designs are solid shapes with a few cut-outs, so they weed quickly. The parts to watch are the slits that draw a band, a seam or a fold: they are about 2 mm wide when a design is 100 mm across, and they close up if you cut much below 50 mm. For a badge reel or a pen pot label, pick the nurse cross with a heart, the cap with a cross or the first aid case, which have the biggest cut-outs.

The syringe is the delicate one. Its needle is long and slim, a little over 2 mm wide when the file is 100 mm tall, so in vinyl keep the syringe at 70 mm or longer and peel towards the point, not away from it. In wood or acrylic the needle will snap below about 120 mm.

Colours that read as nursing

A white cap with a red cross is the picture most people know, and the layered cap gives you that in three sheets. For shirts, a single colour usually looks better: white or pale pink vinyl on navy or ceil blue scrubs, or black on a pale tote. The medical cross set is four loose pieces on one sheet, so cut it once and you have spares for lanyards, lockers and water bottles.

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