How to Offset in Inkscape

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Happy New Year! With the start of a new year, I’ve been working on a new project – dog bandanas. In order to improve the look, here is how to offset in Inkscape.

I made a few dog bandanas for our pup Barry and he looks so cute in them so I thought I’d try selling some. A challenge with patterned fabric is trying to get the personalization to stand out. At first, when I put the name on it, it’s hard to detect due to the pattern. I needed a way to make the name stand out more.

What does it mean to offset?

In order to make the name stand out more, I had to offset the name. Offsetting includes a bubble around the name so that it stands out more. It’s almost like an outline around the name.

Unfortunately, there is no option on Cricut’s Design Space to do this – unless you are willing to pay for some of the Cricut fonts that allow this.
EDITED TO ADD: Cricut Design Space now has this option!

How to Offset in Inkscape

I recommend a free program called Inkscape. Inkscape is a free downloadable program that enables you to offset an image or text in a few easy steps. To download Inkscape, click here.

A quick google search will come up with a number of YouTube videos to show you how to do it. There are many to choose from – I’ll let you pick your own.

Now that I’ve done it a few times, it’s pretty easy. I love that I can save it as an SVG file so that when uploaded to Design Space I can change the colours to anything I want so that I can put them on mockups or simply be able to visualize and make it.

Once in Inkscape, follow these simple directions:

1. Type out your text.
2. Select text with pointer arrow and go to Path -> Object to Path
3. Go to Object -> Ungroup
4. Then go to Path -> Union (this makes it 1 complete image so that when you go to cut it, it around the entire word, as opposed to individual letters).
5. Then go to Path -> Linked Offset
6. Choose a secondary colour (something other than the original) so that you can see the offset.  Look for the little square and then click and drag it outwards to create the offset. You can make it as thick or as thin as you would like.
   TIP:  in order to gain greater control (especially if trying to get a small/thin offset) I found it easier to Zoom In on the image when doing this step.
   EDITED TO ADD:  If you hold the control and shift keys down at the same time, you will have greater control when trying to get a small/thin offset as well.
7. Select Save As and save as a plain SVG
8. Upload into your cutter’s software and there it is!

So when cutting, you’ll be cutting 2 different layers (and 2 different colours). If using adhesive vinyl, you would layer the top over the bottom layer before applying it to your item. I typically prefer this way – assembling the image with all the layers, before applying it to the actual item. Some will apply directly to the object, but I feel I have more control by doing it this way.

With HTV, as in the case of the dog bandanas, I heat pressed the bottom layer for 7 seconds, slowly and carefully removed the carrier sheet (sometimes, it is still stuck to it – if that is the case, press for another 5 seconds), applied the top layer and pressed for the full time (I use Siser HTV and so that’s 15 seconds for me). Once I removed the carrier sheet, I pressed for another 10 seconds just to be sure.

I typically prefer reading tutorials, as opposed to YouTube videos, but I did personally find this easier to follow someone on YouTube. However, now that I have done it, I prefer to keep the steps written out for reference. So this blog post is to help me remember, as well as to introduce you to the whole concept of offsetting.

Look at how much better Barry’s dog bandana looks now!

Doesn’t Barry look so handsome???

Interested in seeing my selection of dog bandana?, Be sure to check out my Etsy store which can access on this page.

Want to remember how to do an offset in Inkscape? Be sure to save this to your favourite Pinterest board.