FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

The best way to contact us is by email.  However all our contact information can be found below:

• Correspondence Address: Pretty Fabrics and Trims, 48 Westcliffe Road, Ruskington, Lincolnshire, NG34 9AY

• [email protected]

So sorry we do not, we are purely an internet based business and as such our workshop is not open to the general public. We do however host our Happy Stitches Hurrah at least once a year, which is a wonderful opportunity to meet up with you and spend the day enjoying some happy stitches together!

We have lots of customers purchase our kits who are just starting out on their sewing journey and we include lots of step by step instructions and diagrams. We would suggest that you try one of our smaller Felt Kits or an Embroidery Hoop kit to begin with as they are 100% hand sewn.

To help you along the way, don't forget, you can also join our FREE Beginners Guide to Patchwork and Quilting Course and also our FREE Sarah's Favourite Embroidery Stitches Course, both can be found on Schoolhouse website. In both courses you will find professionally filmed 'little happy' video tutorials with close up and slow motion footage, with Sarah talking you through her favourite techniques and stitches.

Plus, you can also find lots of FREE patterns and projects on our Blog 'A Little Happy Place' for you to try first.

Finally, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us and we will do all that we can to help!

Sarah's passion is hand sewing and the majority of our kits primarily include hand sewing techniques, such as hand embroidery, English Paper Piecing (EPP), needle turn applique and hand quilting. Some of our kits are 100% hand sewn, such as our Felt kits, Embroidery Hoop kits and the Wrapped Hexie kits.

To complete our other kits, Sarah does use a sewing machine* at some point, for example to put together a needle book, huswif, hanging heart or pin cushion, or perhaps to piece some elements of a quilt top and always to first attach a quilt binding to the front of a quilt, but she always hand sews the bindings to the back. Sarah has a Janome Horizon (known affectionately as the beast), but for many years she used the Frister & Rossmann sewing machine she inherited from her nanny Flo. She still uses it, as it makes the best button holes when she is dress making!!

*The pattern instructions are written assuming that you have a basic understanding of machine piecing and know how to safely use your sewing machine.

The checkout is powered by PayPal so you can be sure that it is secure. We never see any of the details you enter at checkout except your name and address and the products that you have purchased. Payment can be made by PayPal via your PayPal account or using any debit or credit card.

If you live in the UK, we can also accept payment by cheque, please contact us to confirm your order. Please make your cheque payable to Pretty Fabrics and Trims and send it to us at the workshop: Pretty Fabrics and Trims, 48 Westcliffe Road, Ruskington, Lincolnshire, NG34 9AY.  Your order will be put into production as soon as your cheque has cleared.

Oh no, we're very sorry!  Please do get in touch and we will sort this out for you straight away!

For our UK deliveries:

• Orders under £99.99 are £5.00

• Orders over £100.00 we offer FREE delivery (*At point of sale only, sorry...does not include combined order totals)

We use Royal Mail 1st class post for all our deliveries, however for large, bulky or heavy orders, we use Parcel Force express48.  

Royal Mail aim to deliver first class post between 1 to 3 days and express48 within 2 working days.  

We frequently post our parcels full of loveliness all over the world! For all Overseas purchases, we use Royal Mail and we will send your parcel by either International Tracked or International Signed depending on which service is available for your location.

• Orders sent by Priority Mail to our International Customers are £35

• For our U.S. Customers your postage charge will also include the additional IEEPA tariff, please the specific question below

Please note, for Overseas Orders whilst we charge a flat rate of postage, the actual cost of each parcel is based upon the weight and dimensions and is dependant on your specific country of residence. THEREFORE should an Overseas order weigh less and cost considerably less to post, we will always arrange a postage refund, see examples below.  

Please note, that our kits are extensive and offer more than just linen, embroidery threads, and instructions. For instance, our best selling #sewalittlehappinesseveryday kits come complete with linen, embroidery threads, instructions, as well as paper pieces where necessary, all the pretty additional fabrics required for the quilt top, buttons, decorative trims, quilting threads, wadding, backing fabric, and binding fabric...just add in your favourite sewing notions such as a needle and sewing thread.

Here are some example orders, as at 7th April 2025:

• If you were in Canada and were to order a Hand Quilted Needle Case Kit, plus four packs of needles this would weigh in the 'up to 500g' bracket, the actual postage cost alone is £20.70, you would receive a postage refund of £14.

• If you were in New Zealand and were to order a #sewalittlehappinesseveryday Summer, sampler kit and a Favourite Things of Summer kit this would weigh in the 'up to 750g' bracket, the actual postage cost alone is £26.10, you would receive a postage refund of £8. 

• If you were in Australia and were to order the Crab Apple Sampler Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter kits this would weigh in the 'up to 750g' bracket, the actual postage cost alone is £26.10, you would receive a postage refund of £8. 

 Additional Notes for ALL our International Customers

• Pretty Fabrics and Trims can not be held responsible if it does not arrive to its destination, although we can provide you with proof of postage.

• Large Orders: Should an overseas order cost considerably more to post, we reserve the right to contact you and inform you of the higher postal charge. We will only proceed with your order once we have received confirmation from you that you would like to proceed. 

• All International Buyers are responsible for any tax/duty that is due upon receipt of the package, but as an International Buyer, UK VAT is automatically deducted from your order at checkout, for deliveries being sent overseas. 

• We can not also accept responsibility for overseas orders that are held up in customs and it is a legal requirement that we are required to put the actual value of goods on the customs label, we are not able to put a lower value to reduce custom/import fees. 

• Whilst we will carefully wrap your parcel and it's contents, Customs Officers can and may open packages to spot check the items. Unfortunately, should this occur, it is out of out control and regrettably, we cannot be held responsible for damage to parcels, in this case.

• Sometimes, for our 'special' Christmas boxes and Subscription Clubs, postage is included in the listing/monthly payment.  If this is the case this will be detailed within the listing and as such no additional postage will be added at checkout.

• Very occasionally we are unable to post to an International destination due to Sanctions, changes in legislations, the postal service not being available or previous problems we have experienced.  If this were to occur and then we would advise you at the earliest opportunity and provide you with a full refund.

Additional Notes for our EU and Northern Ireland Customers

Unfortunately, due to legislative changes and the introduction of the new General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), we have had to suspend all shipments of physical products to the EU and Northern Ireland effective immediately. You can however still purchase our Digital PDF Patterns and Online classes on the Schoolhouse website, which is fully compliant.

We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to all our valued EU and Northern Ireland customers who have been steadfast supporters of our family business and an integral part of our happy stitches community over the years.

Following the removal of the $800 US Duty Free De Minimis by the White House and as required by U.S Customs and Border Protection, the new IEEPA tariff will need to be paid PRIOR TO POSTING when ordering items imported from outside the U.S. Going forward we will therefore now be sending all parcels via Royal Mail's Postal Delivered Duties Paid (PDDP) shipping service. This means that the tax/duty, in addition to the normal International Tracked postage fee, will now be paid when you checkout. Which means no unexpected charges when your parcel arrives and hopefully a smoother journey through customs.

Please remember also, that the prices of the products shown on our website INCLUDE 20% UK VAT and this will be removed at checkout when you enter US as your country of residence.

The Delivery Charges* for our U.S customer orders collected at checkout will be as follows and allows for the BOTH the postage cost which is based upon the physical size and weight of your parcel AND the new IEEPA tariff:

• Orders up to £74.99 ~ £35

• Orders up to £99.99 ~ £37.50

• Orders up to £124.99 ~ £40

• Orders up to £149.99 ~ £50

• Orders up to £199.99 ~ £55

• Orders up to £299.99 ~ £70

• Orders up to £399.99 ~ £80

• Orders over £400 ~ £100

Please note, should your order cost considerably less to post than the Delivery charge paid, we will as always arrange a postage refund.  

Additional Notes for ALL our International Customers

• *Please note, that our kits are extensive and offer more than just linen, embroidery threads, and instructions. For instance, our best selling #sewalittlehappinesseveryday kits come complete with linen, embroidery threads, instructions, as well as paper pieces where necessary, all the pretty additional fabrics required for the quilt top, buttons, decorative trims, quilting threads, wadding, backing fabric, and binding fabric...just add in your favourite sewing notions such as a needle and sewing thread. Examples of the actual postage costs, based upon the size and weight of a parcel can be found in the International Delivery question above, just remember that there would also be the IEEPA tariff, generally 10% to be paid in addition.

• We regret we are at this time unable to ship certain items to our U.S. customers. This could be for various reasons, for example the country of origin and therefore a higher IEEPA tariff. If an item is effected it will be detailed within the product listing. Should an item be included in your order that we are unable to ship, then a refund will be given for it.

• Pretty Fabrics and Trims can not be held responsible if it does not arrive to its destination, although we can provide you with proof of postage.

• Large Orders: Should an overseas order cost considerably more to post, we reserve the right to contact you and inform you of the higher postal or tariff charge. We will only proceed with your order once we have received confirmation from you that you would like to proceed. 

• We can not also accept responsibility for overseas orders that are held up in customs and it is a legal requirement that we are required to put the actual value of goods on the customs label, we are not able to put a lower value to reduce custom/import fees. 

• Whilst we will carefully wrap your parcel and it's contents, Customs Officers can and may open packages to spot check the items. Unfortunately, should this occur, it is out of out control and regrettably, we cannot be held responsible for damage to parcels, in this case.

• Sometimes, for our 'special' Christmas boxes and Subscription Clubs, postage is included in the listing/monthly payment.  If this is the case this will be detailed within the listing and as such no additional postage will be added at checkout.

If you are a Happy Stitches Journal Club member, we have emailed you.

If you are one of many lovely US customers who have also pre-ordered a Christmas and/or Secret Squirrel Stitch Society Autumn boxes, we have also emailed you.

Unfortunately, due to legislative changes and the introduction of the new General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), we have had to suspend all shipments of physical products to the EU and Northern Ireland effective immediately. You can however still purchase our Digital PDF Patterns and Online classes on the Schoolhouse website, which is fully compliant.

We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to all our valued EU and Northern Ireland customers who have been steadfast supporters of our family business and an integral part of our happy stitches community over the years.

If your order doesn't arrive, please email us and we will do all that we can to help.

In most cases when this happens, we have found that items are actually awaiting collection at your local Royal Mail sorting office. We would kindly ask that you make contact with them to see if this is the case. If parcels are not collected within a certain time frame (normally 1-2 weeks) then they are returned to us as 'not collected' (Sadly they can take up to 4 weeks to get back to us!) If they are returned, we will either offer either a refund (less postage / packaging costs) or to re-send (at cost to you).

If it appears that item has been mislaid, lost or delivered to an incorrect address, then we will file a claim through the Post Office on your behalf. There are certain timescales that we have to adhere to before we can submit a claim, for Royal Mail First Class this is currently 10 working days after the due date until a claim can be filed.  For International parcels, this is 20 working days for items in Europe, after 25 working days for rest of world.

Once the claim has been investigated by the Post Office they will make contact with you and they will require a response. This will be their deciding factor as to whether a claim will be honoured.

As soon as a claim has been agreed we will either send a replacement or provide a full refund, which ever you would prefer.

• We are sure that you will be completely happy with your purchase. If this is not the case we offer a fair returns policy. All we ask is that you NOTIFY us of your reason and intent to return your goods within 14 days of purchase. We will then always try our very best to resolve any issues or concerns that you may have. If after this, you still remain unhappy, we will give you a full refund (minus any postage costs).

• Items must be returned in there original condition.

• Goods are returned at your cost unless there has been a mistake on our part.

• Please make sure that you enclose in your return, a note of your name, address, purchase date and order number. Do get a proof of postage from the post office (they are free) as we are unable to accept responsibility for parcels lost in transit.

• As we are sure you appreciate, if the goods returned appear to have been used or the packaging or labels are not intact, we reserve the right to refuse returns after inspecting the merchandise, or if we were not notified prior to the items being returned.

• Please be aware that we do not offer refunds on special orders i.e. where we have sourced / supplied you with a "non-standard" website item.

No.  When you sign up to a Subscription club you agree to take part in the full program and it is non cancellable.

The answer is no, the pattern included with your kit is for your personal use only. The reason for this is simple, we are a family business and the income that we make from designing and selling our patterns and kits, keeps a roof over our heads and supports our family. Therefore, redistribution, copying or reselling of this pattern is strictly prohibited.

However, it would make our day if you would recommend us to your friends and family so that they can also enjoy some happy stitches!

We take great pride in everything that we do and spend a long time sourcing and testing the pretty fabrics and trims that we supply in our kits.   Because of this, whilst we are happy to share some information, for example the name of a Liberty fabric or a DMC thread number received in a kit, we hope that you respect that we have to keep some trade secrets. 

Thank you for asking, however our patterns are for you to be enjoyed personally or for you to make as gifts for others.  Please do not reproduce the pattern or kits and sell items made from them.  Business use of any kind is not permitted.