How To Cut Large Stencil Letters With A Cricut

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Step by Step Instructions to Cut Large Letter Stencils With Your Cricut

Making big signs doesn’t have to be hard or expensive, you can do it with this cricut tutorial. Maybe you are heading over from my instructions on how to make a large sign, hope this gives you more ideas and tools to make a big sign! If you don’t have a cricut you can head over to that post for some alternate ways to make a large sign without a cutting machine! I’ve got you covered anyway you shake it!

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I am using a Cricut Explore Air 3 for this project and going to the Cricut Design Space to lay out my letters to cut. Here is step by step instructions, please let me know if you have questions or I didn’t explain something well!

1. 1. From the Cricut Design Space go to the top right corner and hit NEW PROJECT
   2. On the left hand menu hit TEXT
   3. Add the text you want into the box that pops up, I recommend adding a new box for each word in your sign so you can move, manipulate and cut easily.
   4. Highlight the text you just input and in the menu up top select FONT. This will bring up font examples and at the top of that pop up window will be three options: All, SYSTEM or CRICUT. You can use the fonts you have on your computer (system), the ones Cricut has (free and paid) or roam through both (all). I am a font junkie so I usually use my fonts because I download fonts like crazy. (Here is one of my favorite sources, always be carful with fonts and graphics, personal use is usually ok but resale or distribution requires extra licensing. click link below)
   5. You may want to get creative and use different fonts for different words, which is another reason to enter them in separate text boxes.
   6. Make sure you have your final board/sign measurements and now you can play around with shrinking or enlarging your words to fit your sign. The markings you see are in inches and you may want to shrink the view so you can see more by sliding the zoom in the bottom left of your screen. You can cut the letters individually and place them closer together on your actual project than they may appear in the layout on your screen, good to remember when you are determining size.
   7. Once you determine what size letters will fit both in height and width on your sign determine how many letters you can cut out at once on your mat. I use a 12X24 mat, but for large letters I can often only fit three or four letters at a time. For example with this Muddy Puddle sign I had to make 4 sheets of cuts. The first was Mud, the 2nd was dyPu, the third fit ddle and the 4th had Farm. It will depend on your font style and size how this works out.
   8. You may have to delete some letters for each cut and type them back for the next, don’t delete the text box, just retype the letters and your sizing will stay the same. You can also “hide” words so you can cut one at a time. You do this by clicking on the little eye in the right hand menu next to the word you want to hide. To bring it back click on the crossed out eye and it will return.
   9. When you are ready to cut hit the MAKE IT button on the top right of your screen.
   10. If you aren’t super familiar with how your Cricut cuts or the material you are cutting on I suggest making a test cut for depth correctness. My machine tends to need the depth dial to go one past the recommended setting. I cut contact paper on the dot after vinyl or with the iron on setting, for cardstock I use pretty thick cardstock and use the fabric cut setting.
   11. You will see the way the letters are laid out in the design center is not always exactly how they show up on the cut screen. The size will be accurate but you can drag the words around to center on your cutting mat how you’d like. Sometimes a good sized border around your words will help when you go to paint. Position letters how you’d like. This is also where you have an opportunity to save on contact material or whatever material you are cutting (see exactly what I use in the supply list below) by only laying exactly as much material on your cutting mat as needed because you see the exact cut preview here. Just make sure your material coverage and orientation matches what you see on the screen. When ready make sure your machine is connected or on network and hit CONTINUE in the bottom right. I work with my machine plugged directly to my computer with a USB even though it can go wireless, just my preference.
   12. Make sure the material dial is set correctly. 
   13. Load paper with the flashing arrow button on machine.
   14. When the little cricut looking C lights up, hit it and watch your goody get cut.
   15. Repeat steps until all your letters are cut. You will have to do like I mentioned, going back and delte and retyping letters or hiding and unhiding words to get through everything. Next you are ready to paint your sign.
   16. You might find some tips on painting your large sign here!

I hope these steps help you cut large stencil letters easily!

Here is a supply list that will help you cut those large stencil letters for your sign:

New Cricut Explore Air Machine in Gold

Large Cutting Mat (12 X 24 and I used standard grip for this project)

Contact Paper

Some of my favorite fonts