Free paisley SVG files

The drop and its decoration

Paisley is one motif repeated: a drop with a round belly and a tip that hooks over, which began as the boteh of Persian and Kashmiri textiles and took its English name from the Scottish town that wove shawls with it. What makes it look like paisley and not like a comma is the decoration inside: an edge of beads, a second line following the first, and a flower or a smaller drop in the belly.

That decoration is fine work. On the full beaded drop at 100 mm tall the groove inside the edge is 1.8 mm wide, the dots are about 3 mm across and the bridges that hold the middle in place are a little over 3 mm. It cuts well in vinyl from about 80 mm tall. Smaller than that, use the simple paisley, which has four openings and nothing thin, or the heart.

Bandanas, stencils and borders

The bandana print and the pattern panel are solid shapes with the pattern cut out, so they work as stencils: tape one down, sponge fabric paint or bleach gel through it, and lift. For a real bandana of about 55 cm, cut the print as four tiles. The border repeats end to end, and the corner ornament is drawn to sit in the top left: turn it for the other three corners.

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