Free rainbow SVG files

One piece, or one layer for each colour

A rainbow is a set of separate bands, so a single-colour file has to decide how they hold together. Here the bands are joined by clouds, by a bar along the bottom, or by a cloud and a pot of gold, and those designs cut and lift as one piece from vinyl, card or wood. The boho rainbow and the hand-drawn rainbow are loose arches by design, for vinyl on transfer tape or for gluing down one at a time.

The layered files have one layer for each colour, named in the file, and a backing piece underneath. Cut each layer from its own colour and glue the bands to the backing, starting with the largest. In vinyl you can leave the backing out and place the bands straight onto the surface.

Every file is 100 mm on its longer side, and the bands are between about 5 and 10 mm wide at that size, so they stay easy to handle down to half size. The six-colour designs keep the order of a real rainbow, with red on the outside.

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