Learn Cricut Weld Vs. Attach Tool | Abbi Kirsten Collections

Screenshots of Design Space featuring blue and yellow stars in a circle and yellow text that says "welding text." Understand Cricut weld vs. attach in Design Space. Learn the difference between attaching, welding, and grouping objects and how to use each!

What is the difference between Cricut weld vs. attach?

What is the difference between Cricut weld and attach in Design Space? This is a question I have received countless times from new Cricut crafters. So it’s time I add an in-depth answer here on Abbi Kirsten Collections. By the end of this post, you will clearly understand the Cricut weld vs. attach tools in Design Space and why they are important tools you need to be using for your Cricut craft projects.

An educational graphic explaining the difference between Cricut weld vs. attach vs. group and ungroup. The first photo explains what "ungroup" means, the second photo explains "group," the bottom left photo describes the "weld" tool, and the final photo explains "attach."

If you need more help learning the Cricut Design Space software, I want you to grab a copy of my ebook, Cricut Confidence, where I will walk you through all the Design Space tools, functions, examples, and pro tips you need to know!

An overhead view of Abbi Kirsten's book called "Cricut Confidence - conquer Design Space once and for all!" The book cover is an illustrated picture of Abbi in her craft room with her Cricut machine. — Cricut Confidence Ebook by Abbi Kirsten

Cricut Weld Vs. Attach and Ungroup Video Tutorial

Below I’ve created a full video to explain the difference between Cricut weld vs. attach plus understanding group/ungroup. You can also keep reading for a written tutorial.

Design Space: Cricut Weld vs. Attach tool

In short, the weld tool combines two overlapping images into one object eliminating unwanted cut lines. Weld cannot be undone once the project is closed out. Whereas the attach tool freezes the arrangement of your objects in design space, so placement remains the same when you click the Make It button. You can detach at any time.

A Design Space screenshot on the canvas window explaining attach versus weld using three designs of a heart over a vertical banner in light blue and pink.

Both the weld and attach tool can be found at the bottom right-hand corner in the Layer’s Panel in Cricut Design Space.

Because we are working in Cricut Design Space, you can use any Cricut machine that is compatible with Design Space. The Cricut Maker, Maker 3, Cricut Explore Air 2, Explore 3, and the Cricut Joy machine will all work.

All the tools we are talking about here, group, weld, and attach, are free to use. You do NOT have to have Cricut Access to use them!

Let’s dive into defining Cricut weld vs. attach!

Also, be sure to download your free weld vs. attach cheat sheet in the Freebie Vault! Sign up or log in via the form below. Once inside, search the keyword “cheat sheet” or design #575

How to Group and Ungroup In Design Space

Two educational screenshot illustrations on how to group and ungroup in Cricut Design Space. The canvas windows show two squares full of butterflies of all colors. The first graphic shows "grouped" in the pop-up menu, and the second shows "ungrouped" in the menu on the right.

To understand Cricut weld vs. attach, you must first understand the group tool. Learning how to group and ungroup in Cricut Design Space is the first step with any design. Grouping and regrouping is a useful tool because it allows you to:

Separate images by different layers or different colors to delete and hide objects.
Move multiple layers and images around as one selected object.
Scale objects all at once to retain image proportions.

You can group and ungroup at any time in Design Space in two ways.

By right-clicking and selecting group or ungroup.
Or by using the group or ungroup icon at the top of the Layers Panel to the right of Design Space.

The ungroup icon will change to a group button once clicked so you can reverse the action.

An educational screenshot graphic with text explaining two ways to group and ungroup a square full of colorful butterflies in Design Space.

How to Separate SVG Files In Cricut Design Space

When you upload an SVG to Cricut Design Space, you will first need to ungroup if you wish to move layers around individually. Read how to upload an SVG cut file here.

Once the file has been brought on to the Design Space canvas, select the grouped image and click the ungroup button at the top right or right-click and select ungroup. That’s it! You can regroup or ungroup as often as you like. The current state will also reflect in the Layer’s Panel to the right.

A picture showing how to separate images by different layers and colors in Cricut Design Space. On the screen are two gnomes and their pieces separately. The text reads, "Separate images by different layers/colors to delete and hide specific layers."

How to ungroup a PNG image in Cricut Design Space

If you find yourself asking, why can’t I ungroup in Cricut Design Space you probably have loaded a PNG image or a Jpeg image. An image-based file like PNG or Jpeg format is not a vector (known as an SVG cut file). This means there is no internal layers but rather pixels, blending the image with one color fading into the next. You will know you have loaded an image instead of an SVG because the Layer’s Panel will reflect only a single image, not stacks of layers.

How to convert an image to a layered SVG file

If you want to learn how to convert a PNG image to a layered SVG cut file, I can help you do that here!

How and When to use the Cricut Weld Tool in design space

Welding combines shapes or script text in Design Space for consolidation and seamless cut lines.

What does weld mean?

Welding means you will join two or more separate shapes or letters into one single object or path by removing any overlapping cut lines. You can weld even if the objects do not overlap, which can be important when using the slice tool.

The Cricut weld tool is defined using a screenshot of the canvas page of Design Space and two circles made of blue and gold stars.

Welding Text

Welding is often used with text, specifically script font, and cursive letters. Because without welding, in most cases, Cricut will cut individual letters, which means it will not be one seamlessly cursive word unless you use the weld tool.

The text on this education screenshot of Design Space says, "Script or cursive letters would be cut apart without welding."

Step 1: To weld your text, type out a phrase in Design Space. Select a cursive font.

Step 2: Make sure you are happy with the letter spacing. If not, use the ungroup tool to move the letters until you are happy with them.

Now, take notice of the lines cutting the letters apart – this will literally happen when you cut the design out, something you do not want for a seamless script.

Step 3: With the word or text selected, click on the weld tool at the bottom of the Layer’s Panel to the right-hand corner. Take note that the cut lines between the letters have now disappeared!

The text on the canvas window of Design Space says, "Letters are now seamlessly connected. Welded result is shown in the layers panel." Pink arrows point to how to weld text using existing designs and pop-up menus.

Welding Images

Welding images behave much of the same way as text. Take two shapes that are overlapping and click the weld tool to see the cut line between them disappear. The reason the weld tool is helpful is that we can create brand new shapes and designs with the push of this button!

Use the weld tool to create new shapes and images in Cricut Design Space. This Design Space screenshot has multiple blue circles above the outline of the design that reads "welding text." A pink arrow points to the circles, and the black text reads, "Use weld to create new shapes from two or more existing ones."

For example, in my image below, I used basic shapes from the shapes panel to overlap circles and create a border using the weld tool. Weld will work with simple shapes like our example or complex ones.

A welded image of circles in Cricut Design Space

Why you should use the weld tool even if the objects do not overlap

Simplifying a design: Welding is the best way to simplify multiple images in Cricut design space. Let’s say you made a butterfly pattern like mine below and wanted to combine all the shapes into one welded image in the Layer’s Panel instead of several dozen – the weld tool will do the job. Take a look at my multi-layer butterfly image below.

An educational screenshot of a square of colorful butterflies and text reading, "Use the weld tools to combine layers and simplify."

A screenshot of a welded result. The Design Space window is open, and the square now has all pink butterflies. The text reads, "Use the weld tool to combine layers and simplify."

Using the slice tool: Welding is important even if the objects do not have overlapping lines because there may be times you wish to use the slice tool to create three new results from two existing ones. But the slice tool only works with two objects selected. Therefore, you can use the weld tool to pair down the selection by combining shapes. If you are dealing with a lot of layers, you should weld the objects to slice several out at once from another shape.

An example of combining shapes and images to slice in Design Space using a square of pink butterflies and a large black heart over it. The text says, "Weld to pair down to two layers to be able to use the slice tool."

The Design Space window displays how to use the slice tool. There is a heart full of orange butterflies, a heart full of white butterflies with a yellow background, and a square of pink butterflies with a white heart in the center. In this center are the words, "Because we welded, we can create this sliced result from the heart and butterfly pattern."

Cricut Design Space Weld Problems

How do I find what font I used after welding?

When you weld text, you lose the ability to edit the font. As a result, welded text cannot pull up the font selection menu to see what you used. The good news is you can still figure out what font you used in the Layer’s Panel by right-clicking on the welded text, going to Image Info, and taking note of what is listed on the dropdown, which reveals the font name!

How to find the font you used for text after welding is explained using text on a screenshot of Design Space. The text is in black and reads "right-clock on your welded text > select image info > name of the font used appears!

Why is the weld button greyed out?

A greyed-out weld button indicates you do not have at least two objects selected on the canvas screen in Cricut Design Space.

When I weld on Cricut, it fills in the letters

Sometimes after welding text, the center of an e, o, d, r, etc. fills in. This happens because the letters are either overlapping a little too much, or the text was typed rather small. Try selecting your text and regrouping, nudging the letter over a bit, and weld again. If this still does not work, then enlarge the text at least 3x the size it was originally.

Design Space window with yellow cursive "welding problems" text below the black text that reads "What to do when welding fills in letters."

Why can’t I unweld?

There is no such thing as an unweld function. Once you save and close a project, you cannot unweld. If you have just welded, you can click the Undo button at the top left or CTRL or CMD + Z on your keyboard. If you think you may want to edit the pre-welded result, make a duplicate and hide it in the Layer’s Panel so you can return to the original even after the project has been closed out.

Explanation on how to save the unwelded text in Cricut Design Space. Blue circles, pink and blue hearts, and a gnome holding an Easter egg fill the canvas, and the text reads, "duplicate an unwelded copy of your text, and hide it in the layers panel before saving the project."

How and when to use the Cricut attach tool in design space

The Attach Tool is the most used tool in the Layer’s Panel since it is used in conjunction with pens, foiling, debossing, perforation, engraving, etc.

What does it mean to attach?

To attach means to tether one object in design space to another one in the exact location shown on the canvas at the time of clicking the Attach Tool. You can attach and detach at any given time.

How to stop objects from shifting on the cut screen in Cricut Design Space. The screenshot shows designs on a Cricut mat. The text reads, “Objects shifted when clicking on the make it button."

The Attach Tool for holding object placement

If you need images on the canvas to stay exactly where they are before you click on the cut screen, use the Attach tool. Cricut will automatically sort and shift images on the cutting mat preview when you click on the Make It button. To avoid objects shifting, use the Attach Tool at the bottom of the Layer’s Panel.

Cricut Design Space shows a cute gnome holding a blue Easter egg. The text reads, "Click on each object in the layers panel, holding shift + click to select. Click the attach tool."

Learn how to attach objects to hold placement. A gnome holds an Easter egg next to the black test that says, "The white layers are now attached and will hold their placement as shown here on the canvas." Pink arrows point to the commands needed in a side menu.

A cutting mat in Cricut Design Space. The gnome design is in black and white in the upper corner of the mat. A pink arrow points to it with the text, "The white of the hat and beard now appear in the same placement on the mat as they did on the canvas."

The Attach Tool for drawing operations

You will frequently use the Attach feature when working with the pen, foil, engrave, deboss, and perforate operations in Design Space, as well as any time you wish to add a scoreline to an image. Attach the scoreline to the image so it scores where you want it to.

The blue gnome design will be attached to the blue heart. The instructional text for the attach tool says, "The attach tool is often used with scorelines, pen, engrave, deboss and perforate operations."

How to Detach Objects

You can easily attach and detach at any time in Cricut Design Space. Select the attached object and click detach at the bottom of the layer’s panel to the right.

Cricut weld vs. attach is one of the most common questions Cricut beginners ask. I hope this post helped you understand the difference between weld, attach, and group and when to use each tool.

What other questions do you have? Ask me below in the comments! If you want more help mastering your Cricut machine, take my beginner’s workshop here!

A pink, blue, and yellow graphic with bold text that says, "Cricut Weld vs. Attach" with "Free cheat sheets" below. There are three hearts over vertical banners in pink and blue. Understand Cricut weld vs. attach in Design Space. Learn the difference between attaching, welding, and grouping objects and how to use each!

About Abbi Kirsten

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