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Best Fonts to Use with Cricut 2022 (Free & Paid) | Best Practices, Tips & Tricks

Hello Daydreamers!

Fonts give life to your projects, and today you will find the best fonts to use for your Cricut (or other cutting machines) projects.

This article is not just a list of fonts; that would be, mmm, I don’t know,

BOR-ING!

More than a list of fonts, you will be learning a little bit about them and how to use and choose the right ones, so you feel empowered to make beautiful projects that will last forever.

Best fonts to use with cricut featured image 2

The information you’re about to read is precious gold. Check out the points I am going to be covering in this article:

  • A quick overview of font types
  • What to look for when using a font for cutting purposes
  • Free Fonts, where to find them, considerations, tips & tricks
  • Premium Fonts, where to find them, tips & tricks
  • Cricut Fonts notes about writing and multilayer fonts.
  • Caution when using fonts with trademark characters

Are you ready?

Let’s get started!

Quick Overview of Font Types

I know what you’re thinking; give me the list of fonts now!

Learning about font types may sound boring to you, but knowing the terminology will help you to make you faster at combining, finding, and choosing the perfect font for your project.

Getting the right font for your project will determine whether it looks good or sucks. I want to teach you beyond listing a bunch of fonts, trust me!

There are so many fonts out there, with different names and combinations. I am not a font expert. However, I read multiple articles to accurately bring this information to you.

Keep in mind that every article I read had fonts in different categories. Not one article was the same.

But, let me explain what you need to focus on for this article.

In the realm of fonts, there are four different main types of fonts. Serif (Serif, Sans Serif, Slab Serif), Script, Decorative, Dingbat (doodles) fonts.

different types of fonts graphic (serif, sans serif, slab serif, script, decorative, dingbat

Serif, Sans Serif, Slab Serif Fonts

These fonts are everywhere, and they are the fonts people usually use to write papers, books, and essential documents. They are also crucial during the design process because they add a certain level of order.

You don’t want your Cricut Projects to look with all curvy fonts. You want to add balance.

Although they all share the “Serif” in their name, they are pretty different when you pay attention.

Here’s a standard font for each “Serif” font.

  • Serif – Times New Roman
  • Sans Serif – Arial
  • Slab Serif – Courier New

Most likely, these fonts are pre-installed on your PC or phone.

Script Fonts

Scrip Fonts are what I call “fun fonts.” They add life and sparkle to your designs.

Be strategic about their use, though!

The extended use of these fonts can ruin your design or make it impossible to read. Again, it’s a balance.

The most common Script fonts are those gorgeous handwritten letters with curves and beautiful swirls. They usually resemble cursive or calligraphy writing.

Decorative Fonts

Decorative fonts are fonts whose letters are more than a “letter.” They look nice for monograms or invitations. They have flowers or pronounce swirls around them.

Dingbat Fonts

These are what I call “doodle fonts.” They are one of my favorite typefaces because you are typing cute little images or icons instead of typing regular words.

Doodle fonts add SO MUCH VALUE to any design, and I recommend them for making SVG files.

Every dingbat font is different, and you can find them for every occasion you need!

What to look for when using a font for cutting purposes

Now that you know all about the types of fonts let’s look at the things you need to look for and avoid in a font.

When using a Cricut or a cutting machine, your best allies for the final result of your projects will be smoothness and thickness.

The smoothness of your fonts and images, in general, is essential because your machine will have an easier time cutting them.

The same thing happens with the thickness of your font. When your fonts are thick, you can easily remove them from your mat, and you also have more room to make small and intricate projects.

As you start making projects, you’ll get the feel of how thick your font needs to be, considering your materials.

For instance, if you are cutting a font for a cake topper (read my tutorial), you want a thick font because it will make your project stronger. On the other hand, if you use vinyl, thin fonts are very easy to work with.

ideal fonts to use with your cricut machine

Tip: If, for some reason, the font you want to use is skinny, try to thicken it in Cricut Design Space by changing the font style to “Bold.” You can learn how to do this in my how-to edit text tutorial.

Now check out the fonts you should avoid. Some of them look pretty beautiful, but, in some cases, they are a recipe for disaster.

Let’s start with Rough Fonts.

You want to avoid fonts that don’t have a smooth stroke around them at all costs. Some of the fonts in the infographic below are nearly impossible to cut with your Cricut.

You see, rough fonts have multiple spots that can be very tiny and hard for your machine to cut around.

fonts to avoid with the cricut machine

Thin fonts, as I mentioned, are lovely, and they can be used; just make sure they are big enough and you are using materials that don’t tear easily.

Although these are good practices, rules can be amended, so play with fonts, make mistakes, learn, enjoy your machine, and don’t be afraid to experiment.


Now that you know about the best types of fonts and the ones you should use/avoid when using your Cricut machine let’s dive into the best free fonts.

Best Free Fonts and where to find them

We all like FREE!

There are thousands of free and beautiful fonts you can use for your Cricut projects.

Although the fonts I am about to list are FREE for you to download and install on your computer. You need to make sure that you read their license. Sometimes, artists are very generous and allow users to use their fonts for personal use.

Personal use means that you don’t make money from your designs with them!

If you plan to make money from the designs you make from their font; there’s usually a link for you to buy them.

Please, respect that agreement for personal or commercial use. Not only do you want to avoid trouble, but you also want to be honorable.

Since I don’t own a commercial license for these fonts, and I don’t want to get in trouble, I don’t have a little preview for them. They are all super beautiful, though, so click away!

Free Sans – Sans Serif – Sans Slab fonts for Cricut

Free Script and Handwritten Fonts for Cricut

Free Decorative and Ding Bat (Doodle) fonts for Cricut

The fonts I just linked to are from dafont.com. Most of them are free for personal use only. For similar websites, also visit 1001 fonts.

There are other websites where you can find fonts that are free for commercial use, like fontsquirrel.com and google. Mind you, those fonts, although there are some jewels, they aren’t as beautiful as premium fonts.

Don’t lose hope, though!

In the next section, I have the places where you can find FREE fonts for commercial fonts!

Best Premium Fonts (Also Free, some of them)

Premium fonts are my favorite fonts, I used to love free for commercial use fonts, but I found out that my projects needed more spice and unique touches.

There are many places where you can buy fonts for commercial use. My favorite ones in order are:

  • Creative Fabrica
  • Hungry Jpeg
  • Font Bundles

I used to love CreativeMarket, but their licensing became so overbearing that I decided not to buy there anymore. If there’s a font I love, and it’s only there, I just don’t buy it.

That’s why I love the other three websites I just mentioned!

They are all amazing, with fabulous designers. Many of them are on all platforms.

Do you know what’s the best of those websites?

They all have FREE FONTS FOR COMMERCIAL USE!

But what are the best fonts?

It’s very easy to be overwhelmed by all the fonts out there.

While learning, always start with a few fonts. Not to scare you but pairing fonts and choosing the right one for your project is one of the most challenging parts of the creative process.

There are times when I am in love with a font, and I use it all the time; other times, there are new fonts that replace the new ones.

This is my 2022 list of ultimate favorite fonts.

Most of these fonts come with pairing fonts, which means that when you buy the font, you have different types (script, sans serif, dingbat). So for the price of one font, you get 2, 3, or more!

Isn’t that amazing?

premium fonts to use with cricut

Special Note about Cricut Fonts

In the Cricut world, you’ll find another two types of fonts. Writing and Multilayer fonts.

Writing Fonts: Allow you to write on a single line. They are ideal for making invitations, gift tags, greeting cards, etc.

These fonts are so different from regular fonts. Regular fonts are similar to “shapes.” They have width and height. So when you write with your Cricut Pens, you will be drawing a double line.

Writing fonts, on the other hand, aren’t shapes. They are single strokes (vector lines). Therefore, you can draw without double lines.

Multilayer Fonts: Consist of two layers or more layers. They are usually outlines of the fonts, but you can also find decorative options for different types of occasions.

There are no FREE multilayer fonts for Cricut. So if you want to use them, you’ll need to purchase them before you cut them or use them unlimited with Cricut Access.

You don’t need them anymore because, with the offset tool (read my super tutorial), you can create an outline of the font and make it look like some of the multilayer fonts Cricut offers.

writing and multilayer fonts in design space

Where Can I find Free Writing Fonts for Cricut?

All fonts you look at online will have a hollow effect when writing with your Cricut Pens.

I tried searching for “free single lines vector fonts,” and nothing (worth your time) came up.

Don’t lose hope, though!

Many FREE fonts can be used to write with a single-stroke effect (no pesky double lines) when you choose the right font and size it appropriately.

When it’s time to write, your Cricut will still do two passes, but if you use the tips I am about to teach you, the passes will be very close to each other; therefore, you’ll create a “single stroke” effect.

It’s not 100% accurate, and you’ll have to resize and test the fonts to see if they fit your needs.

Here’s the list of the free fonts you can find for this purpose (they are all script).

Free writing fonts for Cricut

Note: Remember that these Free fonts are for personal use only.

There are way more, but these are the ones I tried and got a license for so I could bring this tutorial to you.

The perfect fonts to trick your Cricut into writing with a single-stroke effect must be very thin and small in size.

For me, the best way to identify the perfect size it’s by:

  • Typing your text in design space with the font you want to use
  • Organize text to fix script font. Here’s how to do it.
  • Change linetype from “Cut” to Draw.”
  • Zoom in to 250% and size down until you can’t see any hollow spaces on the font.
  • Check to see if the size you are using fits your project.
  • Send it to write and test the results. (Check out my how-to-use Cricut Pens tutorial)
using a regular font as writing font in Cricut Design Space.

If you use pens with a 1mm tip (markers), you can get away with seeing a small hollow line in Design Space. The good thing about using markers is that you can write larger text.

Important: If you are using a gel or glitter gel, you need to size as if you were using a regular 0.4 pen.

The problem you’ll frequently encounter with this method is that when you are sizing down, you will also lose details of letters with hollow spaces like the letters “e, o, r, etc.”

Check out the following images to see how these fonts look when you use them with Cricut pens and markers.

Using a 0.4 Pen

Check out the details of the fonts as they increase in size. Some fonts (England, Meillyne) worked great on the first three sizes.

On the other hand, when the font was increased to a larger size, the fonts were drawn with hollow spaces.

Using a 1.0 Marker

Look at all of the details that were lost in the first image. You can’t even read some of them.

However, notice how amazing some fonts look when you increase the size. “England, Mirrafella, Merillyine, and Heart” look perfect!

It’s really up to you to experiment with size and different pen sizes to see what looks best for you.

Cricut Fonts You Should Probably Get

Cricut has a great library of fonts. The good thing about their fonts is that they are designed to work with Design Space!

However, the GIANT negative of their fonts is that you can only use them with their software.

With all the free fonts out there, you can get away with not using theirs. But they do have some pretty cool fonts you won’t be able to use anywhere else.

These are Multi-Layer and Writing Fonts.

If you don’t have Cricut Access (read my guide), I recommend you buy at least five fonts from Design Space to take advantage of your Cricut.

  • A Frightful Affair (Writing)
  • Awesome (Writing)
  • Cricut Sans (Writing)
  • Bicycle for two (Writing)
  • Babette (Writing)
  • DTC Fluffy Socks
  • DTC Porch Chair
  • BFC Flannel Shirt
  • BFC Happy Crafted
  • BFC Scary Skelly
  • DonJuan (Multi-Layer)
  • Zoo Day (Multi-Layer)
  • Varsity (Multi-Layer)
  • Boys Arrow (Multi-Layer)
  • Blackletter (Multilayer)

To buy Cricut Fonts, you need to log in to Design Space and choose the font you want to work with. Pay before cutting, printing, or writing. Unfortunately, there are no links for fonts :/

Your Cricut does come with a set of free fonts, so check them out to see if they suit your expectations. They are usually at the top of the search font box.

Are you planning on using a font to make a project of a trademarked character?

Now, let’s talk about these beautiful fonts that resemble popular movies or characters.

Fonts to support the creation of characters’ designs in movies that are Trademarked or that are Copyrighted is a widespread practice.

I see multiple blogs, Etsy stores, and other online websites making digital files to reach people, and let me tell you that this practice is illegal, and you can get in trouble.

Although the fonts on their own are just fonts, when you pair them with characters or phrases from Disney, Hello Kitty, etc., you can get in trouble.

If you want your T-Shirts from these particular characters for personal use, get legal images from Cricut’s images.

What Do You Think?

Did you find your dream font in this article?

Which one was it?

Can you guess which fonts are my favorites? Let me know in the comments!

Do you know it takes me over 25 hours to complete a single Cricut article? I know it’s wild! But I like to make sure that you understand EVERYTHING!

I would appreciate your support on Instagram / Pinterest / YouTube / as I am trying to grow my audience to keep producing great content!

Oh!

And just so you know, I also have a library full of free SVG files and Printables for all my subscribers, a.k.a Daydreamers. You can see a preview right here or get access by filling out this form.

Hilda

Wednesday 2nd of November 2022

Catalina you are the best! Thank you very much for your time an effort. Blessings to you

Elaine Wolstenholme

Wednesday 14th of September 2022

Thanks for a really interesting article on Fonts. Now I need to go play and find a favourite. Bicycle for two looks a nice one. What I really need to find is one to replace stamping a sentiment for cards, so looks good small. Or maybe I need to print then cut? What do you think?

Catalina

Thursday 29th of September 2022

Thin fonts would look good when small and using pens. If using cardstock you may need to test to see how well they hold.

Shirl Lundstrom

Monday 12th of September 2022

What an incredible post this is. I learned so much. Was able to download several freebies. Looking forward to experimenting with the pens - need to get away from those dreaded double lines. Now I know how to do that! Thanks!

Pat

Saturday 10th of September 2022

Very helpful post. Now I know what caused some of my cutting issues. Thanks

Katie Gardner

Saturday 10th of September 2022

This article is the BEST! I thought I knew a lot, but now I know even more about fonts. I saved the article for future reference.