Hobbies Painting

5 Places to Find Free Stencils

Stencils on a surface

 

Jacqui Hurst  / Getty Images

These free stencils can be used for just about anything. Whether you're making a craft, adding some flair to a wall, transforming some fabric, or even carving a pumpkin, a stencil is a great way to add a design. They're easy enough for kids to use but also look great in more complicated crafts.

The thicker the material you use for the stencils the better results you'll get. Cardstock will work in a pinch and cardboard is a good choice. Consider using stencil plastic for even better results. It's much sturdier and will be easier to work with since it doesn't easily tear. As an added bonus, you'll be able to use it over and over again. Here are some tips on how to cut a stencil out of plastic once you've decided which one you'd like to use.

  • 01 of 05

    Free Stencil Gallery

    A stencil of the Disney castle

    Free Stencil Gallery 

    Free Stencil Gallery has hundreds of printable stencils in categories like animals, holidays like Christmas and Valentine's Day, movies and TV, people, and music. Some of their more popular stencils include sports team logos and video game images. You can browse the stencils here by category or popularity, making it easy to find what you're looking for.

    There are instructions included on how to print these stencils so they fit on an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper or stencil film. Also included is a how-to on printing a poster-size stencil.

  • 02 of 05

    Free, Printable Stencils

    A block letter "A" as a stencil

    Free, Printable Stencils

    Free, Printable Stencils has a great selection of stencils of animals, celebrities, holiday images, and more. Where they really excel is that they offer a variety of designs for alphabet, number, and border stencils.

    Each stencil has been thoughtfully sized based on the type of stencil and what kind of craft it would usually be used for. If you're not happy with the size, you can resize it in any graphics program.

  • 03 of 05

    Rapid Resizer

    A create your own stencil tool

    Rapid Resizer

    Instead of a collection of free stencils, Rapid Resizer, lets you turn any image you want into a stencil. To get started, use the free picture stencil maker to upload a photo. After you see the image you can use the tools to darken or sharpen parts of the image. When you're happy with it you can download and save it or print it.

    They also have a free text stencil maker where you can enter your own text, apply a font, and then use tools to create letter overlap and adjust the outline thickness.

    All the stencil you create can be printed on a standard size of paper for free or you can subscribe for a free to resize the stencil so it spans across multiple pages.

  • 04 of 05

    Free Stencils

    An owl stencil

    Free Stencils

    There are less than a hundred free stencils here but they are high-quality unique designs that you won't want to miss. They have printable stencils of letters, animals, hearts, celebrations, nature, and fun patterns.

    Continue to 5 of 5 below
  • 05 of 05

    Craftsmanspace

    A porcupine stencil

    Craftsmanspace

    There are some unique stencil designs here that you won't want to miss. There are stencils of flowers, animals, and trees here as well as a nice collection of Japanese inspired stencils. You could also use many of these scroll saw patterns as stencils for woodworking or any other project.

    Each of these stencils are available in a few different file formats so you can download and use them as vector or CAD files.