Free scarecrow SVG files

Cutting straw without losing it

Straw is what makes a scarecrow, and it is also the hard part to cut. Here every tuft is a fan of tapered strands that are about 3 to 4 mm wide where they leave the sleeve, the hat or the collar and narrow to a rounded tip. The strands are short and joined at the root, so they hold in vinyl and card at 100 mm. For plywood, felt or foam, cut the figures at 150 mm or more, or pick the scarecrow face, whose strands are thicker.

The faces are solid with the features cut out: button eyes, a triangle nose and a smile with stitches across it. Put orange card behind the nose and yellow or cream behind the rest, or leave the windows open on a door sign so the wood shows through.

Harvest, Halloween and the school year

Scarecrows cover the whole of autumn, from the first harvest displays to Thanksgiving. The classic scarecrow on a pole and the silhouette with two crows suit porch signs and window clings. The pumpkin head scarecrow is the one for Halloween. The loose eyes, nose and mouth turn a real pumpkin, a hay bale or a paper lunch bag into a scarecrow with no carving.

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