If Cricut reads the sensor marks but cuts consistently beside the printed sticker, treat alignment as a separate problem from mark detection. Follow the current Print Then Cut calibration process for the machine and printer, then review a sacrificial sheet. Enlarging the sticker's white border can conceal the error without correcting it.
Record the error's shape
Keep the failed sheet and label its orientation. Note whether the cut is displaced in the same direction everywhere, whether the offset changes across the sheet, or whether individual contours behave differently. These observations help describe the failure without pretending that one symptom proves one cause.
Cricut's official calibration guide uses printed targets and guided cut comparisons, and notes that refinement can require more than one calibration. Follow its current prompts rather than copying another user's selected line numbers. Cricut: Calibrate Print Then Cut.
Keep the printing route stable
Use the supported workflow and the same intended printer. Record paper size and any scaling choice. Do not calibrate through one route and then enlarge, fit or reprint the production sheet through another application without rechecking the result.
Confirm that the source sheet is not stretched or cropped before interpreting a cut error. If sensor marks cannot be read at all, return to the separate detection workflow. Calibration observations are useful only after the machine is following the supported process far enough to make the relevant cuts.
Follow the guided calibration honestly
This is a proposed troubleshooting sequence, not a completed machine calibration. Print the current official calibration sheet through the documented route. Place it as instructed for the model and answer each prompt from the actual cut you observe.
Do not choose a screenshot's highlighted number merely because it looks authoritative. Record the machine, printer, software date and whether the guided confirmation cut was accepted. If the process still cannot produce an acceptable target, use the manufacturer's troubleshooting and support rather than repeatedly consuming valuable sticker material.
Review a simple production-like sample
After calibration, use a sacrificial sheet with a few uncomplicated approved shapes placed in different areas. Compare left, right, upper and lower border distances. This is an original inspection plan, not a promised accuracy tolerance. Agree an acceptable border variation for your own design and production method before the test.
Pass when mark detection succeeds and the actual cuts meet that agreed border requirement across the sample. Fail if only the center looks correct, if the error grows toward the edge, or if a thicker border simply makes a displaced cut less obvious.
Keep the approved artwork unchanged during the alignment test. Imagild can provide the illustration, but it does not calibrate the physical cutter or printer. Separate image approval from machine alignment so that a correct portrait is not regenerated to compensate for a hardware-workflow problem.