Silhouette Layering Vinyl Tutorial (The No-Fail Method)

Well, I've heard your pleas...you want to know how to layer vinyl! I must give the people what they want and so today we're going to talk about the easiest, no-fail, pretty much 100% guarantee way to perfectly layer vinyl...on the first try!  You're in, aren't you?

Just a heads up, this method is meant for adhesive vinyl since it uses transfer tape, not meant for HTV.  If you're trying to layer heat transfer vinyl, click here for some tips and tricks!

I needed a way to better organize my vinyl and of course, I needed to make a label.  For this project, I wanted to make a text label with an outline aka offset...let's get started!
Open up Silhouette Studio. 

Type out your word or bring in your design. For this tutorial, I'm going to be referring to a text design, but know this method will work for layering image designs, too. 

After the text is the sized, click the Draw a Rectangle icon.  Draw a small rectangle above the top left of your text.  Highlight the Rectangle > Right Click > Duplicate.  Move the second rectangle over toward the right side of the design. 

I wanted to make my design have a big outline so I used an offset.
Back to our offset though... the offset will be the bottom layer of our design.  To get the offset click back on the text, then click the "Offset" icon.   Select "Offset" and adjust the distance to your liking use the up and down arrows or the slide bar.  Click apply.



Now open the Fill Color panel. The Offset layer and the original with the colors of vinyl in which they'll be cut on.  Fill the registration marks with a totally different color.

Select everything - the offset, registration marks, and original design - and make a duplicate.  You can copy/paste or you you can right click > Duplicate.

Keeping the registration marks with each copy, delete the alternating layers on the two copies. You should have something that looks like this.

Group the registration marks with each layer so they don't get moved out of place.  To group, select the registration marks and the design at the same time > right click > Group. Repeat for the second layer.

At this point, my design is all ready to be cut.  Let's start with the white layer. Move the pink layer (along with the grouped registration marks off the virtual cutting mat).  Open the Send panel
and make sure to pick "Vinyl, Glossy" or "Vinyl, Matte" as the material type depending on what you're cutting.

Also make sure the cut lines are on by pressing "Cut."

Load your piece of white vinyl on the Silhouette cutting mat and into the Silhouette CAMEO machine and send it to be cut.  When it's finished cutting, unload it from the machine and set it aside.

Go back into Silhouette Studio and move the white layer off the virtual mat. Move the pink layer on and repeat the steps to cut the pink layer.

Weed both portions of your design like you normally would. Be sure the rectangles stay in place, too!  Here's how my two cuts looked after I weeded them.

Now we want to move the top layer (pink) on top of the bottom layer.  Cut a piece of transfer tape that is large enough to cover the largest layer.  Remove the backing of the transfer tape and lay it down over the top layer (for me that's the pink vinyl) like you normally would to transfer vinyl to another surface.

Peel it up like you normally would - catching both the rectangles and the design. Don't throw out that piece of vinyl backing just yet! You'll need it.

Place that scrap piece of vinyl backing lightly over the text you just peeled up, but leave the rectangles exposed.

Flip it over so the sticky side of the transfer tape is facing down and line up the rectangles on the top and bottom layers.   By putting that piece of paper there you are just making sure the top layer of vinyl and transfer tape don't start sticking to the bottom layer until you are absolutely ready.

So go ahead and place the top layer rectangles (pink) directly on top of the bottom layer rectangles (white).  I like to line up the bottom edges of the rectangles and then kind of fold up.

You can't see the white rectangles in the photo below because they are completely covered by the pink top layer rectangles.  That's what's going to guarantee your image is layered exactly right! 

Once the rectangles are perfectly stacked, flip the transfer tape up from the bottom so you can slide out that safety piece of backing or paper...

...then slowly lower down the top layer so it's on top of the bottom layer.

Keep the transfer tape in place and press the two layers together.  Peel the transfer tape up again bringing both layers of the design with it.

Now you can place the entire two layer design onto the surface where you want it!

This sounds like a lot of steps, but it's actually fairly easy to do and if you want to avoid wasting your vinyl over failed attempts at "eyeballing it" than this is definitely the way to go!

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. By clicking on them and purchasing products through my links, I received a small commission. That's what helps fund Silhouette School so I can keep buying new Silhouette-related products to show you how to get the most out of your machine! 

Thanks for coming to class today at Silhouette School.  If you like what you see, I'd love for you to pin it!