PLOTCASTER Photo to line art
Sports and school

Free swim SVG files

Free swim SVG files: a swimmer in front crawl, butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke, a racing dive, a swimmer on the starting block, a swan dive, goggles, a cap with goggles, a six-lane pool and a team badge. The swimmers are plain silhouettes with no faces, and the water is welded to them.

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

Water that holds the swimmer together

A swimmer is long and thin, and the arms are the first thing to tear. On the four strokes the body lies on a band of water about 4 mm thick at 100 mm wide, with a second band joined below it. The bands are part of the same piece, so they stiffen the whole design and give you something to hold while you weed. The slimmest parts are the fingertips and toes, at about 2.5 mm, and each ends in a round tip.

For iron-on on a team shirt or a towel, 200 mm wide is usual for the strokes and the racing dive. The swan dive and the swimmer on the block are compact and work at 80 mm on a swim bag or a water bottle. In card, lift from the body and let the arms follow. The goggles are mostly strap, about 4.5 mm wide at 100 mm, so burnish them well before peeling the transfer tape.

Telling the strokes apart

In front crawl one arm is ahead in the water and the other is lifted over with the elbow high. In backstroke the swimmer faces up and one arm stands straight out of the water. In breaststroke the head is lifted and both arms point forward together. Butterfly is shown from the front, because that is the view everyone knows: both arms wide and the head low between them. Pick the stroke your swimmer races and nobody will need a caption.

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

Which swim design suits a team shirt or a meet day sign?

The swim team badge is round and centres itself on the chest or on a car window. The butterfly from the front is mirrored and wide, which fits across the back above a name. For a parent’s shirt, the swimmer on the block at 120 mm sits well over a line of your own lettering.

Can I add a name to the swim cap?

Yes. The cap has clear panels either side of its centre seam, each about 12 mm wide when the design is 100 mm tall. Set a short name or initials in your cutting software and cut them from a second colour to lay on the cap, or cover the seam with a patch of your own.

What do I put behind the swimming pool?

Blue or white. The lane ropes, the floor lines and their T ends are cut out of the pool, so whatever lies behind shows through. Blue card behind a white pool looks like the pool from the gallery, and white behind blue looks like the painted lines on the floor.

More free SVG files