How to make layered vinyl from a picture

A layered vinyl decal is one picture cut as several sheets of vinyl, one per colour, stacked in order. Getting there from a picture is mostly about deciding the colours before anything is cut.

Written by the developer of Decaly · Published 21 October 2026

Short answer

To make layered vinyl from a picture: reduce it to the few flat colours you will cut, trace each colour into its own layer, decide whether the bottom colour runs under the others (stacked) or each colour is cut only where it shows (side by side), check for pieces too thin to weed at your size, then cut one layer per vinyl colour and apply them bottom first.

Get Decaly Traces a picture into cut layers on your Android phone. Tracing is free, with no account.

1. Decide the colours

Every colour is one sheet of vinyl, one cut, one weeding session and one more layer to line up. Two or three colours is a comfortable decal; five is a project. Look at the picture and name the colours you would actually buy. A highlight that is a slightly lighter blue can often join the blue next to it.

In Decaly that is Colours to cut, from 1 to 7. The colour that runs along the picture’s edge is treated as the paper and isn’t cut. White inside the design, an eye highlight for example, has its own tile: switch Cut it on if you want it as a white vinyl piece.

2. Trace each colour into a layer

Tracing turns each colour into closed outlines your machine can follow. Look at the result at the size you will cut, not at the size of the phone screen: tiny shapes that look like texture are pieces of vinyl. Simple detail merges small bits into their neighbours; Fine keeps them.

Recolour each layer to the vinyl you have. The shapes don’t change, but you will see whether the colours read well together before you cut anything.

3. Stacked or side by side

Bottom layer: the whole whale in light blue — Stacked: the light blue is cut as the whole whale, and the dark blue pieces go on top.

Top layer: the dark blue details — Stacked: the light blue is cut as the whole whale, and the dark blue pieces go on top.

Stacked is the classic layered decal. The bottom colour is cut whole, so small misalignments don’t leave gaps; the cost is more vinyl and a thicker spot where layers overlap. Side by side cuts each colour only where it shows: thinner, less vinyl, but every edge has to meet. The choice is explained with examples in how to layer vinyl without overlapping.

4. Check what the blade can cut

At your real size, measure the thinnest part of each layer. Lines narrower than about 0.8 mm tear while weeding or don’t cut cleanly. Decaly rings those pieces and offers to make them thicker or remove them; here is how thin a blade can go.

5. Cut, weed, and apply bottom first

Save the file for your machine: an SVG for Cricut Design Space, or one DXF per layer for Silhouette Studio. In Design Space each colour group becomes a mat; in Studio, open each DXF and cut it on its own vinyl.
Weed each layer, then apply the bottom layer first and work upward. For iron-on, press each layer briefly and finish with a full press, following your vinyl’s instructions.
If the layers don’t line up, it is usually the order or the transfer tape, not the file; a stacked cut forgives more than a side-by-side one.

Which pictures work

Pictures with a few flat colours on a plain background trace best: clip art, lettering, logos, kids’ drawings. A photo can be traced too, but it turns into bands of flat colour (which photos make a good cut file).

Decaly: image to SVG, in layers you can cut

Open a picture on your Android phone and watch it trace into colour layers, free. Decaly Pro saves it as an SVG for Cricut Design Space, one DXF per layer for Silhouette Studio, or a PNG for Print Then Cut.

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