This one is for all the Silhouette users out there. Ever find yourself wanting to cut different sections of the same design file from different materials, or wanting to draw and then cut on the same piece of card without having to save all the different pieces into a new file? It’s quite simple really and can be done even in the basic free edition of Silhouette Studio.
A good example is my recent soft toy rattle tutorial. It includes a free Silhouette Cut File that has three shapes that need to be cut from different heat transfer vinyls (the animal body, party hat and pom pom).
Isolate sections of a Silhouette cut file to only cut or draw certain lines
In order to isolate certain sections of your Silhouette Cut File make sure that the parts you’d like to cut/draw together are matching colours. In the example below both the animal bodies have a black line colour, the party hats have a blue line colour and the pom poms are red. This could be done with fill colour too. For this file all my fill colours are blank, but the exact same principle applies.
Once the colours are all organised and you’re ready to cut, click on send in the top left. Select the “Line” option (or “Fill” if that’s what you’re working with). Next, select the line colour that you’d like to cut first and make sure that all the other line colours are unchecked. The materials for each line colour can be specified separately. In this example both the black and blue lines are smooth heat transfer, while the red line is set to glitter heat transfer.
Lastly, all you need to do it cut. Cut the first line colour, switch out your material for the next section, change your line selection and cut again.
Isolate sections of a Silhouette cut file to first draw and then cut
The exact same principle can be used if you’d like to draw and then cut. A good example is my DIY paper fiddle leaf fig. I first need to draw the purple lines with a sketch pen and then cut the red lines with a normal blade.
In the send menu, select line and then the first colour that you’d like to draw. Change the action to “Sketch”, insert your sketch pen and then proceed as normal, making sure that all other line colours are unchecked.
Once the drawing is done, do not “unload” the mat. You want it to start in the exact same place as it started when you were using the sketch pen. Switch the sketch pen to your blade, select the line colour that you want to cut, send to the machine and viola!
I hope this helps make slightly more complicated Silhouette projects that much easier!
Deborah Xx
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