FREE Layered Ballet SVG 🩰 3D Ballerina Craft Idea

Make a beautiful children’s craft project with this free layered ballerina SVG.

This cute little ballet dancer is stretching her legs out after completing her latest dance routine!

You could use the design to make a DIY ballet shadow box for a child’s bedroom decor, or perhaps put it on a scrapbook page or a greetings card.

See how to stick all the layers together (and the order they go in!) in this tutorial.

Video tutorial: Free layered ballet dancer SVG

Watch the video below to find out how to cut and assemble this cute little ballerina. Or, keep scrolling for a written tutorial.

The link to download the free layered ballerina SVG is a little further down this page. Look for the pale green box 🙂

Layered ballerina craft materials

Here is a list of the materials that I used to make this project.

Please note that some of the links included in this article are affiliate links, which means that if you click through and make a purchase I may receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). You can read my full disclosure at the bottom of the page.

• Cricut Maker
• Light blue Cricut cutting mat
• Coloured Card (I used 160gsm weight of card)
• Collall All Purpose Glue
• Needle Tip Applicator Bottle
• 3D foam pads
• Shadow box (I used a white shadow frame from Hobbycraft)
• Pink Nuvo drops
• Pink or Ballet Themed Paper

Layered ballet dancer SVG assembly instructions

Here’s how to make your very own ballerina using a Cricut machine!

Step 1) Download the free file & unzip the downloaded folder

Before you upload the SVG to Design Space, you need to unzip the download folder that it comes in.

• How to unzip a folder on Windows computer
• How to unzip a folder on a Mac
• How to unzip a folder on an iPad/iPhone
• How to unzip a folder on an Android device

Step 2) Upload the SVG file into Design Space

Open up Cricut Design Space and upload the file called SVG_Ballerina_CraftWithSarah.svg

Make sure you upload the file which starts SVG_ in the filename!!

This is how it should look after you have uploaded the file:

After uploading, the ballerina will show in your “Recently Uploaded Images”. Click on it and then press “Insert Image” to put it onto your Project.

Click the ballerina on your canvas and use the width/height boxes near the top of the screen to make it the size that you want to cut it.

I made mine 7 inches wide to fit inside my shadow box. I definitely wouldn’t recommend going much smaller than about 5 inches in width as some of the details (especially the eyes!!) are fairly small so if you make the design much smaller it will be difficult to stick the smaller pieces together.

When you’re happy with the size of the ballerina SVG in Design Space, click “Make It” and follow the instructions on-screen to cut out all the layers.

Step 3) Stick the layered ballerina together

Use 3D foam pads and glue to stick the layers together.

Use this guide to see the order to stick the layers together in. A high quality printable version of this assembly guide is included in the folder when you download this SVG.

My favourite glue to use on papercraft projects is Collall All Purpose Glue.

It’s SO good because it doesn’t “warp” or bend the cardstock like some glues do. You can use as much of it as you want and the card stays perfect – and it dries perfectly clear too!

To make it even easier to apply glue to layered card projects, I highly recommend getting some of these needle tip applicator bottles to put the glue into.

The nozzles are REALLY tiny which makes them perfect for putting glue in the pieces of cardstock that make up this ballerina.

When adding the foam pads to the relevant layers, make sure you add some in the middle of the pieces of card so it give stability to the middles. If you don’t add any foam pads in the middles then it can “sag” under the weight of the other layers which doesn’t look as good.

Step 4) Frame your ballerina papercraft project

The final step is to frame your ballerina!

I cut a piece of ballet themed scrapbook paper to fit inside the frame and then added a couple of other layers of card to make a background for the ballerina.

Then, I glued the ballerina near the top of the white square and cut out a name badge using the “Offset” feature in Design Space to make the outline layer.

Finally, I added some pink Nuvo drops to the corners of the white card for that extra bit of dimension and shine.

And here is the finished result…

I hope that you enjoy this free layered ballerina SVG!

She would make a lovely “friend” for the free fairy SVG that I shared last week.

Love layered SVGs? Check out my other free layered SVG files (including a magical unicorn design!)

Happy crafting,
Sarah x