Hi Daydreamer!
Get ready because at the end of this article you will master how to edit text in Cricut Design Space like PRO! I want to teach you how to fish and empower you with the knowledge to come up with cool ideas on your own!
Text it’s a huge deal in any design, you can accomplish so much with it and that’s why you need to get hands on and learn all the possibilities you have with the Cricut Machine.
On this post you are going to learn the reasoning and sort of logic of how text works in Cricut Design Space, then we are going to apply those concepts in a step to step tutorial.
Oh!…
Oh! And just so you know, I also have a FREE growing library with tons of printables and SVG files ready to be cut.
I would love for you to be able to get access to all of them. It’s 100% Free for my daydreamers (aka subscribers) check out a live preview here, or get access here.
Let’s get started!
Text Basics
One of the things that I like the most about text is that you can personalize everything you want and your heart desires.
Learning the basics and more advanced options you have within the Cricut Design Space area will allow you to not only personalize things, but also doing it beautifully!
Adding and Editing Text
First things first!
In order for you to add text to the design area you need to click on the T (text) icon located on the left panel of the canvas.
After clicking a little box will appear and this is where you would type your text.
If you already have typed some text, you can easily edit it by double clicking the text itself in the canvas area.
Editing Menu Overview
There are countless ways for you to edit text, but for this tutorial we are going to focus with the options given in the editing menu; especially the icons that are marked in pink.
Don’t be shy. After you are done with this tutorial go ahead and try other options, I promise your computer won’t break. 😛
These are the topics we will be covering in details.
- Linetype and Fill
- Font
- Font Style and Font size
- Letter Space and Line Space
- Alignment
- Curve
- Advanced
Linetype and Fill for Text
Linetype and fill will basically tell your machine how to cut, or treat your materials when you press Make it.
Basically you will have 5 options combined (3 Linetype and 2 with fill)
Linetype
On this drop down menu you will have three options:
- Cut: Will tell your machine to cut. Here you can change colors too, and each color will represent a different material color.
- Draw: With this option you are telling your Cricut to draw and for this you will need the Cricut Pens. So when you press make it; your text will be drawn and not cut.
- Score: When selecting this option your text will be scored and for this type of effect you need either the scoring stylus, and or the scoring wheel. This last one is for the Cricut Maker only!
Fill
This option could be a little more confusing. But here I am to make it easy for you!
Fill is only for the PRINT then CUT option, and it’s only activated when you have Cut as a linetype.
- No Fill: means that you won’t be printing anything, so if printing something out is not you intention then ignore this setting.
-
Print: this means you will printing your design and then cutting it, when you click here you can now choose your print type by clicking on the little color square.
- Color: choose color to print in any color you want your text to be.
- Pattern: select pattern if you want your text to be filled with your own or Cricut patterns.
Font Types
Every time you type something, Cricut Sans will be the default font. If you want change the font just click on the Fonts drop-down menu and choose your favorite font.
Keep in mind that not all fonts are free if you have Cricut Access you can use most of them. However, some of them need to be purchased prior to cutting your project.
If you don’t know what Cricut Access is, make sure to read this great guide I put together.
If you want to stick to free fonts make sure to filter by “My Fonts” (This will include your system fonts and some Cricut Fonts that Cricut may have free at the moment.
Something really cool about Cricut Fonts is the writing and Multi-layer Fonts.
Writing fonts are great for Cricut Pens, because they will give a hand drawn effect to your project, and multi-layer fonts are a type font that consist of 2 or more layers.
I will explain what is multi-layer font in the advanced options icon.
The Big Difference between Cricut Fonts and System Fonts
There’s a big difference between the Cricut and System fonts and that is the Cricut Fonts are designed to fit all of the potential of your machine.
You have the Writing – as a font style – and the Multi-Layer options.
Sure you can write with your system fonts – by changing the Linetype for draw – but it would look more like an outline of the font rather than a handwritten effect.
Font Style
When you click on font style you will be given a drop down menu. Most common options are: Regular, Bold, Italic and Bold Italic.
However, if you are using Cricut Fonts you may have less or more options like Writing.
Font Size and Letter Spacing
As the name says it, font size will allow you to change the size of your selected text.
Letter Space is really cool because you can adjust the space between letters.
Line Space is extremely cool as well, but this time you can either increase or decrease the length of text lines.
Letter Spacing to Fix Script
One of the things that letter spacing is really good at is to fix your cursive fonts.
The first time I tried to create a project with a handwritten font I didn’t understand why it looked so weird and ugly. To this day I still don’t understand…
The thing, is that by default all cursive fonts will be spaced out. But not worries, look at the screenshot down bellow to learn how to fix this problem.
- Write your desired text and select your cursive font. Remember by default all letters will be spaced out.
- Select the text and and reduce the letter spacing, to get it almost perfect. There will be some letters overlapping each other, but we will fix this in a moment.
- Select your text and this time click on advanced and select ungroup to letters. Now you will be able to move every letter on its own. For this case I moved the letter C.
- If you were going to cut your project right now, all letters would be cut out individually. To make this a single word, select all of the letters and click on the weld option located at bottom of the right – layers – panel of the canvas area.
Note: You will be learning more about the the advanced options in a little bit!
Text Alignment
This option give you three different alternatives:
- Left: Selected text will be aligned to the left
- Center: Selected text will be centered
- Right: Selected text will be aligned to the right
Curve Text
I love this feature! Curving text can add an extra touch to any design. However, this option is only available for one line of text at the time; no paragraphs!
Select your text line and play with the curve option. The further you are from the center the more curved appearance you will add to your text.
Advanced Options
This is by far one of my favorite options and you may think is difficult because of the name of this icon!
For this example I am using a Multi-Layer font called A Frighfull Affair. This font is made out of two layers. An outer – black – and inner – yellow – one. Each layer represents a different material.
Using this font let’s see how each of the advanced options work.
Ungroup to layers: this option is only available on multi-layers fonts. When you click on this option you can separate all of the layers that make up the font and edit them individually.
This is great if you only want to use a particular layer of text.
Ungroup to lines: If you need to write a paragraph but need all text lines on their own this tool will be your best friend.
Write your paragraph, align and space your fonts and then click on ungroup to lines; Then you can edit each line of text on its own!
Ungroup to Letters: this option allows you to separate every letter into a different layer; it can be applied to a paragraph, line of text, or just any word.
Notice that when you separate to lines and letters the font kept the multi-layer attribute. So, If you have a multi-layer font you can ungroup to layers after using either ungroup to lines or letters.
Now, Let’s Put in Practice what we learned!
It’s time for you to put in practice what you just learned!
From start to finish we are going to use as many tools as we can to achieve the design on the screenshot right down below.
Don’t be afraid to change things up. The best way to learn is by trying new things all the time.
Step 1 – Add Text
First we are going to add the following paragraph.
LEARNING AND PRACTICING NEW
THINGS ARE DEFINITELY SOME OF
MY FAVORITE THINGS IN THE WORLD
Here we are trying to keep all of the lines of the paragraph the same length. It’s not totally possible but we will fix this later.
Step 2 – Choose your font
Let’s select a cuter font!
Click on font, then explore your options by filtering every option. I went with Avenida Com.
Step 3 – Ungroup to lines
Remember when I said we couldn’t curve text with a paragraph?
Since you can only curve text with lines of words we are going to select our paragraph and then we are going to click on Advanced and choose ungroup to lines.
At this point you will be able to edit every single line on its own!
However, as you can see right now they are not the same length and we need them to be because otherwise our design wouldn’t look even.
Step 4 – Use Letter Spacing
We need to make all of the lines the same length. I like to have the longest line dictate the size of the other lines.
To do this, select the first line and adjust the letter space till the line looks the same size as the middle one. Once you are done, repeat the same process with the third line.
Step 5 – Let’s curve some text
Here we are going to add our curvy effect!
Select the first line of text and click on curve, and type -5.104, this will make the line to curve down.
Then, we are going to select the second line of text but this time we are going to type 5.104. This will cause the line to curve up.
Finally, for the third line of text we are going to repeat the same thing we did with the first line. Click on curve and type -5.104
Step 6 – Organize all of the elements
Now organize all of the element like the screenshot down below.
Step 7 – Let’s play with Linetype and Fill
Usually you would stick to one Linetype, but for the purpose of this tutorial we are going to use the draw, and cut and print options.
For the first line I selected draw as a linetype and then for color I went with a light turquoise.
For the second line, I went with Cut as linetype to activate the fill option. Then I selected print as fill, and a turquoise color.
For the last line I wanted to explore patterns! So I selected cut as linetype to activate the fill option and then I changed the print type for pattern.
There are many options you can select from, However, I wanted to stick with the turquoise pattern.
Step 7 – Let’s play with Linetype & Fill / Linetype: Cut – Fill: Print, print type: Pattern
That’s it! You are a Pro Now!
So…
What did you guys think?
Do you feel more confident with editing text now?
What kind of projects are you going to make now that you are a Pro at editing text in Cricut Design Space?
I can’t wait to hear all about so make sure to comment on the section down below
If you like this post and think someone else could benefit from it, make sure to post it on your favorite social media, by doing so, you aren’t only helping someone else to learn and find cool resources, but you are also supporting my work.
Carly Hovsepian says
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I am just finding this and I love how you have made this tutorial. The way you explain things is just perfect!!!
Catalina says
So happy I can help!
KATHY BAKER says
Thanks so very much for putting these instructions together. You are so detailed and are in my Favorites!
Catalina says
Thank you so much! I am glad I was able to help.
Martha Leatherman says
I have been so frustrated with trying to get my cricut explore to use the pen to write. When I click on “Draw” I get an outline. I want a solid text. Also, I don’t see advanced anywhere on my tool bar. How do I find that? Any help you can give is appreciated.
Thank you, Martha
Catalina says
You need to use writing fonts. My Cricut Pen tutorial will explain more in detail how to use pens with your Cricut.
Lynn says
Are you able to create your DAYDREAM logo in design space? I’ve tried to create that curve in the middle of the word SURVIVOR by adjusting the font size for each letter but with no luck.
Catalina says
Not really, but you can use shapes and make words into shapes. You can get a similar result!
Tia says
How would you do this? Would you slice??
Catalina says
Yes, I would.
Renee says
Hello! I am new to Cricut and have learned a lot from your tutorials. Thank you so much! Is this curve text feature not available for a MacBook Pro laptop? If no, any guess as to when it might be. There is a project I want to do that would require this feature
Thanks for any insight you can offer!
Catalina says
You can use the curve tool from your MacBook Pro as far as I know. You can’t from your Ipad, or phone.
Chelsea says
Hello!
I just bought my Cricut Air 2 a few days ago and today I wanted to try using the Pens. And I did everything as far as changing it to draw instead of cut and all that and placed my pen into the right place but it wouldn’t go down enough to actually write once the time came. The cricut moved as if it was drawing but it wasn’t. Am i doing something wrong or is there another piece I need to add in order to use my pens? thank you in advance
Catalina says
Installing pens can be tricky sometimes. Did you gently push the pen until it clicked? If you didn’t, then the pen was installed correctly.
Donnita says
Hi, I’m
Fairly new to cricut. I created a design. Saved it and want to reprint it. I went in and made the words bigger. Now I can’t get the font option to display across the top after double clicking. Are you able to change the font and letter spacing after saving a project and going back in another time?
Catalina says
You can unless you welded or sliced the text. When you perform those actions your texts is no longer a “text layer.”
Lucille M. says
thank you for the info. I have a question, though. How would you cut the word
“KINDNESS”, so the D remains a D and not an open hole? Hope that makes sense
Catalina says
if you are using paper, letter fallouts will happen unless you use a stencil font. You can find them online some free, other paid. Even Cricut has some. I hope this helps 🙂
Kim says
I need you to pack your bags and move in with me for at least 6 months plenty of crafting to do!!
Or, could you stop me from going around in circles today? I have text in my Design Space, but when I go to ‘make it’, it shows it cutting from the left-hand side of the paper, I want it to cut out of the middle of the page.
Catalina says
Hi Kim! You made me smile, for sure.
Regarding the text, it’s very simple. Send it to cut, then select it on the mat and move it where you want it to be. It’s that simple 🙂
Ramona says
Hello Catalina,
As a beginner, I have found a lot of useful infos in ths post. Thank you for that !
I do have on problem though. Can I split some letters in their parts ? I mean letters like i and j. They use to have a dot that is not connected to the rest of the letter. I case of a cake topper for example, the dot is loose. Is it possible to move the dot independent of the rest of the letter ?
Thank you !
Catalina says
Hi Ramona. Yes, you can, but you need more tools than text. For instance, type in the letter “i”, then make a small square and place it on top of the dot, then select both and “Slice.” this will allow you to separate the dot from the letter. Keep in mind you won’t be able to edit that text anymore.
I hope this helps!
Jessica Spurlock says
Catalina, this is an incredible resource! Thank you for sharing your hard work. I’ve been working with Design space and know a bit, but I’m interested in learning how you bent just the top of the word “Daydream” in your blog post title. I like that! Could you please explain.
Catalina says
I do it in Illustrator. But I have a nice tutorial on how to make words into shapes!
Evonne says
Catalina do you know how to print your own handwriting with ou having double lines. Try to do art piece of mom’s recipe but print her writing in double lines, I DOWNLOADED ILLUSTRATOR, BOUGHT A WHY TO EXPENSIVE CLASS AND STILL CAN’T DO IT.
Catalina says
Hi Evonne, handwriting when you convert it to cut image is a shape. This will make your lines double, no matter what. If you want a single line you need to work on vector lines or solid lines.
Shapes and lines are very different. I hope that makes sense. On Illustrator try using the pen tool with a very thin stroke and don’t expand the design. I hope this makes sense.
Carrie Paden says
Hi! thank you for this tutorial – I’m very new to the cricut world! I just purchased a cricut maker. I want to make fabric pennants – like baseball pennants. How can I make the angled letters to fit in a pennant? I want to cut them out of fabric with my cricut. So the pennant is a sideways triangle, and the first letter (left) is the largest, and they angle smaller to the last letter. I’ve seen some people just make each letter a different size, but it doesn’t achieve the angled, cohesive look of the traditional pennant. Can anyone help me? Thank you!!
Catalina says
Hi Carrie. You need to edit each letter slightly. On programs like AI, you can make the text take the shape with the angle, but not with design space. Check the last section of my how to edit shapes tutorial. for ideas on how to do this.
Marilyn Powell says
Hi – I am fairly new to the Cricut world. I am having a problem with the text feature. I find that after I have typed my text, chosen the font, moved the letters around a bit – then decide I want to change the words, I can’t get my type-able text box back. The instructions I’ve seen say to double click in the box where your font is showing up, and the text box is supposed to pop up. Sometimes it does, but most of the time it doesn’t. What am I doing wrong? Please help.
I just discovered your site this evening, and am really enjoying it. Are any of your tutorials printable? (I am old school, and prefer to read on paper, rather than a screen (also that way I can highlight, etc).
thank-you in advance!!
Catalina says
Did you use Weld on your text? Your text will stop working as a “text layer” if you do this. I hope this helps 🙂
Deb O’Malley says
I’m struggling with changing fonts in the projects I have created. It is not clear how I can edit if I have misspelled something. I’m also not seeing the second line which is where the font names are listed and the editing options are located. I’m wondering if I have inadvertently changed settings and that is what is causing my issues.
I just purchased some training material yesterday but I wish I had looked at yours.
Thank you
Catalina says
Hi Deb.
There’s no autocorrect on Design Space. However, you can install the Grammarly, browser extension to see the misspellings.
Karen says
Just found your helpful ideas. Going to sit at “my desk” and practice. The. I might need to raise my hand with a question 😉. (That’s the 30 yr of teaching school still left in me). May God bless you and your family as you lead us all on the Cricut Quest!
Catalina says
So happy to hear! Also, the weather here is terrible. Can’t wait for summer!
Jessica says
Hi! Is there a way to stretch fonts to be taller? I am trying to get my font to be similar in size while using bigger words in small spacing. I can’t increase the font height without increasing the width as well and have a limited amount of space.
Catalina says
Select the text, then on the canvas you’ll notice there’s a little lock on the left corner of the selection. Click on the lock to unlock proportions.
Julie says
Is there a way to make fonts thicker? I want to do a cut with a certain font and it was too dainty to get a good effect when I cut it and put fancy glitter paper behind it.
Catalina says
Hi Julie, you can select the font and choose “Bold” in the font style. If you want outlines, I have a handy tutorial that’ll help you achieve what you want!
Pat says
I want to make a cute sign like the farm style signs, so all I really want to do is to print my text and cut it out! So i’m lost, There a easy way to just print and cut out text.
Catalina says
Check out my Print then Cut tutorial! I show you how to do it with text there!
Sandy W. says
I’ve been making labels for my pantry – I started with bold and decided I wanted to change to regular. When I click on the word to make that change, I have no problem with some of the words. But other times I click on a word and the text/font/size details bar is not visible and I’m unable to make any changes that would be available on the second bar of options – font/style/spacing/advanced, etc. It seems to come and go on a whim (the upper bar is always visable – undo/linetype/fill, etc.). What causes that and how can I make it appear without having to retype the entire word. Thanks
Catalina says
Did you weld that word? If you did, you can’t edit it a text anymore. Also, are you selecting each word on its own? You can change font type when selecting more than one text layer.
Let me know if this helps!
Karin says
Wondering if there is a way to use the foil quil to “write” the text in Design Space and then cut it out with a border (or shadow)?
Catalina says
Hi Karin, most likely is that if you can think it, you can achieve it. However, I don’t have experience with Foil quil yet! Coming soon, though!
Kimberly Carter-Smith says
HI. Is it possible to underline your text in Cricut Design Space?
Catalina says
At the time is not possible.
Melissa Whitney says
What is the cursive font that you used in this tutorial? I am trying to purchase a font that looks like the ones used in the ‘images’ in Cricut Design Space and cannot seem to find one! Thanks!
Catalina says
Hi, Melissa, this font is called Sorilena.. I really like it!
Lacey says
I am trying to figure out how to connect letters if I am doing something in a cursive font so that they look connected instead of individual letters when I cut them out. Is this possible? How do you do that? I want to be able to connect them then lock it in so that I can make it bigger or smaller or curved but that doesn’t seem to be working.
Catalina says
Hi Lace,
There’s a section on this article called “fix cursive.”
If you want to curve, do this before joining the letters.
Once you weld, you can’t edit the text anymore.
I hope this helps.
Rebecca Walker says
Help I need to have my text draw exactly as I have it in on the screen..I have an air explore 2
Catalina says
Hi Rebecca, check my “how to use the Cricut Pens” tutorial to learn how to do this.
Rosie Niery says
I want to curve text so I can put it on ornaments, but when I ungroup so I can make the letter closer and then regroup, I don’t have the choice to curve anymore. WHY??
Catalina says
If you ungroup words into separate layers you can’t group them again. Before you ungroup to letters make sure you add all the changes.
Morgan Holden-White says
That seems a bit mad? I need to ungroup so that I can join a cursive font up but when I group together again I’m unable to use the curve option – yet if I curve before I join the font up and then ungroup and try to do that afterwards, it doesn’t look right. Frustrating that the second layer of edit options aren’t available after you ungroup…
Catalina says
If you ungroup by letters when you group back (are you using the options on top of the layers panel?) you’re just keeping the text together. If you want to curve text do it before you ungroup to letters. 🙁
Try curving the best you can, then ungroup to letters and finish the touches you need.
Myndee says
I’m going crazy! I can’t figure out how to print a saying and then have the saying connected as opposed to having to individually place each letter on my shirt. 🙁 I am using the infusible ink. I am a beginner and so i’m sure this is incredibly basic, but I can’t seem to find an answer.
Thank you!!
Catalina says
Hi Myndee, what type of font? Check out my T-Shirt Infusible tutorial
Deena says
Wow Catalina! Thanks for your hard work! I used Cricut Design Studio years ago but this is more advanced and I’m unable to figure out how to master it. I want to cut welded words, for titles. With a larger layer following the shape of the title and another larger layer behind the second layer. Like a fully surrounded triple word title. Is that possible with Cricut Design Space?
Catalina says
You are welcome, Deena! In this tutorial, I explain about multi-layer fonts. Maybe those will work. At this moment you can’t do a triple shadow effect from the software, but I know there are some apps on the phone that will allow you to do so.
I hope this helps!
Elizabeth says
How do I keep all letters the same size without having to individually size them? I tend to get different sizes letters when I go to print them. ☹️ I try to remember the size when I make the first letter but never can get them just right each time. Is there a simpler way? TIA for your time.
Catalina says
Hi Elizabeth, add all of the letters you need in one single text box and resize the entire text at the same time; then select it and click on Advanced (I show it in this tutorial where it is) and select the option “Ungroup to letters.” I hope this helps!
Dina Glass says
I have a question – Hope you can help. I used my gypsy and loved it because I had a lot of options when using fonts. One was that I could slant the letter or skew them. Is there not a way to do that in Cricut Design space now? thank you!
Catalina says
Hi Dina. Unfortunately you can’t do this from Design Space. However, If you check my How to edit shapes tutorial you’ll find a section that shows you how to get a similar effect (make words into shapes)
I hope this helps!
Misty Terrell says
I have a question……. I make earrings on my cricut from leather. How can get my machine to cut a capital B out of the teardrop? So that you can see it is a letter B? HELP ME!!!!!!
Catalina says
Hi Misty, you need to use a stencil font. Or convert the font you want to use into a stencil one, by using shapes and slicing. I will be writing a tutorial about this soon; in the mean time I hope this makes sense.
Kat says
What about design space on my iPad? Wish the tutorials would show how to do the same things there……or aleast acknowledged the fact not all things are the same.I
Someone please make note of this!!!!!!
Catalina says
Hi Kat.
I understand your frustration, I will add this in a future. I do have a tutorial for the Ipad or iPhone
There it will show you where everything is, plus it will also tell you how it differs from the Desktop version.
Have a great day
Gargi S says
Hey your instructions are very helpful for beginners like me . However once I weld is there an option to undo it? Also the “ advanced”option disappears once I weld my letters? How can I curve once I weld the letters? Thanks again
Catalina says
Hi Gargi,
Unfortunately you can’t edit text once you weld. You need to curve and edit all text before you weld.
I hope this helps!
Gargi S says
Thanks so much
Nancy says
I have a Circut Marker and Need to know where I can find line type so I can use pens.
Catalina says
Hi Nancy, checkout the part of the post that explains Linetype. It explains it there!
Have a great day!
Jean says
I love reading over your instructions! I’ve always wanted a Cricut but wasn’t sure what I needed it for and then I saw different ways to personalize cups, totes and t-shirts and thought this was a beginning. Your directions are very good and I might be a little slow and will need to practice but I will master this. I feel confident!
Catalina says
Hi Jean!! I am so happy that I get to help you on your Cricut Journey! Please check out ally other posts so you keep getting better and better!