Free window SVG files

Glazing bars that hold

A window is mostly holes. What is left, the frame and the bars between the panes, has to carry the whole piece, so the bars here are never thinner than about 2.2 mm when the window is 100 mm tall and are usually 2.5 mm or more. Each pane has slightly rounded corners, which stops vinyl tearing as you weed and stops a laser scorching a sharp inside corner.

The Gothic window with diamond panes and the stained glass rose have the most cells to clear. Weed them from the middle outwards, and on a cutting machine use a slower speed so the small diamonds do not lift. The farmhouse pane frame and the window icon are the opposite: six and four big openings, safe to cut at 40 mm.

Light behind the glass

Windows are made to be backed. Glue vellum, tracing paper or coloured cellophane behind the frame and stand a small LED light behind it: the cathedral window and the stained glass rose glow like the real thing, and the window with a cat becomes a night scene. Every window sits on a sill with a flat underside, so it can be stood up in a paper village or fixed into a shadow box.

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