KerfPress
Help center

Layered SVG selling checklist: what to check before listing

A problem in a cut file shows up when the buyer cuts it, after they have bought the card and spent the time. These are the checks to run before you list a layered SVG or send one to a customer, with where to fix each one in KerfPress.

1. Nothing falls out

A piece of paper that touches no edge of its sheet is an island, and it drops out when the sheet is cut. Every island needs a bridge to the paper around it, or it has to become a decal that is glued on separately.

The KerfPress editor marks islands in red. For a file you made somewhere else, drop it on Add bridges to an SVG: it opens in the editor and gives every island a bridge. The cut file below had 10 islands, and one click connected each of them.

A cat head cut out of a yellow sheet, with the ears, eyes, nose, mouth and whiskers floating loose and marked in red
10 islands, in red
The same cut with a thin bridge joining each floating piece to the paper around it
One bridge each

2. Thin strips survive

A strip of paper narrower than the blade can follow tears or lifts. Judge the narrowest parts at the finished size, not zoomed in on screen. If parts are too thin, raise the minimum paper width in the generator and generate again, or widen them in the editor.

3. Every sheet keeps an uncut edge

Uncut paper around the edge of each sheet holds the sheet together, and it is what the frame grips. Check that no cut runs into it. When a design reaches the edge, give it a border in the generator.

4. The size is stated and fits a frame

State the finished size in the listing, and the frame it fits. The SVG files carry their size in millimeters, and the assembly guide repeats it, so buyers can check the size after they import the file.

For importing at the right size, see Layered SVG for Cricut.

5. The listing says how many sheets and which colors

Buyers need to know how many sheets of cardstock to buy, and in which colors, before they buy the file. The assembly guide in every download lists the sheets in order with their colors. Copy the count and the colors into the listing.

6. The files cover common cutting setups

Include the SVG files for Cricut Design Space and for Silhouette Studio Designer Edition or above, and the PNG set for print and cut and for the free Basic Edition of Silhouette Studio, which does not open SVG files. SVG.zip and PNG.zip are separate downloads in KerfPress, so a listing with both uses two downloads.

7. You cut one yourself

Cut one copy before you list. A test cut shows what a screen cannot: how your card handles the tightest curves, whether the stack fits the depth of the frame, and how the colors look together in daylight.

8. The photos show the stack

If you have not photographed a cut piece yet, the 3D preview shows the stack in a frame, with light and shadow between the layers. Label a preview image as a preview, so buyers know what they are looking at.

For a file you already have, drop it on Preview a layered SVG in 3D.

A layered cat portrait in the 3D preview, framed in light wood, with soft shadows between the layers
3D preview of a layered portrait

9. You have the right to sell it

Commercial use allowed on every plan. You can sell the files you create with KerfPress, or physical products made from them, as long as you have the necessary rights to your source images and content. KerfPress's own designs, the free templates, design library and paper lace, are for personal use, and with Pro you can also sell the physical items you cut from them.

The full wording is in section 5 of the Terms of Service. A design based on a character, a logo or someone else's artwork needs permission from whoever owns it.

Making a portrait to order? See How to turn a pet photo into a layered SVG for custom orders.