Frequently Asked Questions

Possibly. If you catch us in time, we will certainly try to adjust your order as needed. Please send us an email / call us on 01736 362253. If you have already received an email to say ‘your order is on its way’, we are unable to amend.

You will receive a shipping notification once your parcel has been carefully prepared and is ready to leave our premises.

For Tracked packages you will receive notification when your parcel is due to be delivered. Unfortunately, shipping delays can occur. Please note that we are dependent on Royal Mail and international couriers and are unable to guarantee delivery timeframes.

PDF products are located in your customer account, click on > Downloads. A copy will also be emailed to you.

• UK

£1.99 – Orders under £10

£2.99 – Orders over £10

Free – Orders over £75

• Channel Islands £3.99

• International – Based on order weight (most efficient way is to add items to the shopping basket, start the checkout process, entering in your shipping address and a price will be calculated with no commitment to buy.

We use Royal Mail 48 service for UK customers. The majority of international orders are sent with Royal Mail using a Tracked service, occasionally we use a courier service for larger packages.

For UK orders of in stock items, we work hard to dispatch orders placed before 12 noon the same day (this is not a guarantee) or the follow working day. Please expect them to arrive 3-5 working days from the dispatch date.

International orders vary greatly between countries, we advise you to follow the tracking number for your individual package.

Our Sew & Quilt premises in Cornwall are not open on Saturday / Sunday so orders placed on Friday will be dispatched the following Monday.

If your order contains a pre-ordered item or item ordered on ‘Backorder’ your order will be dispatched once all items are available. If you would like to receive items sooner, please place two separate orders.

Royal Mail does not consider a parcel lost unless it has been missing 10 working days in the UK. If your parcel is missing and does not have a ‘Delivered’ status after this date we will re-send the package or refund where stock cannot be fulfilled. Please know we have only needed to do this a handful of times in our 10 years of business, most do turn up (often on the 10th day!).

If you think your order might be lost in the post, we would suggest the following steps;

1. Check with everyone in your household who may have received the delivery on your behalf.
2. Visit your local sorting office (you may not have received a calling card by Royal Mail).
3. Check with your neighbours or a designated ‘safe place’ (you may not have received a card by Royal Mail telling you if has been left).
4. Or if your package was delivered to a work address, check with the post room and all colleagues who may have accepted the delivery.

Please note we dispatch orders Monday – Friday. Weekends and all UK bank holidays are classed as non-working days, please bare this in mind when waiting for your order to arrive as orders are processed in order of receiving and may be delayed due to seasonal demand such as Christmas / start of a new BOM club or adverse weather conditions (heat waves or snow in other parts of the country may slow down the system).

If your order has not arrived within the standard Royal Mail 48 service time-frame mentioned above we will endeavour to help. Please email us at info@sewandquilt.co.uk and we will advise you if your package has a ‘Delivered’ status by Royal Mail. This means it has been scanned by a postman at your address. Please note we cannot do anything further for parcels that have this status and will only advise you to follow the points above.

You have 28 days in which to contact us regarding a lost package, we cannot do anything after this time.

International orders are considered lost if after 20 days in Europe or 25 days in the rest of the world.

We can only track packages through the same tracking number you get in your automated shipping email and don’t have any additional insights, except to advise patience and adhere to any instructions for customs fees to pay once it reaches your country, this tends to be requested via email internationally so we stress to check your emails regularly – including spam/junk folders and ensure you email address entered at the checkout is correct. 

Fabrics are sent as one continuous piece. We will contact you prior to sending if we cannot for some reason provide you with a continuous piece or it will be clearly notified on the product page at the point of sale if there are pre-cut pieces for final units.

For example add 1 unit to your bag for a 1/4m, add 2 units for 1/2m, 3 units for 3/4m, add 4 units for 1m or 5 units for 1-1/4m etc.

We sell most fabric on a minimum order of 1/4m, so the price displayed on a product page will be for a 1/4m (interfacing, stabiliser and wadding is sold by 1/2m minimums and any difference is noted on the product page). 

Please note orders of 1 unit will be cut and sent as a fat quarter cut as standard (as we are a patchwork shop, this is often a prerequisite, and preferred option by customers, in our industry), if you would like a long-quarter we will happily oblige where we can, please send us an email immediately after ordering, quoting your order number.

A fat quarter is a unit of measurement coined in the patchwork and quilting industry. It is a 1/4 (25%) of 1 metre. Cut in a useful ‘fat’ squarish size for patchworkers as opposed to a long ‘skinny’ strip from the bolt.

Most quilting cottons are around 112cm (44inches). So fat quarters are generally 50cm x 55cm (20 x 22 inches). Please see the diagram below for reference.

A ‘long quarter’ is also 1/4 metre, however it is cut as 25cm from the bolt, so you will receive a long strip measuring approx 25 x 112cm.

Please note orders of 1 unit will be cut and sent as a fat quarter cut as standard (as we are a patchwork shop, this is often a prerequisite, and preferred option by customers, in our industry), if you would like a long-quarter we will happily oblige where we can, please send us an email immediately after ordering, quoting your order number.

We can arrange samples for the following ranges; AGF Pure Solids, Essex Linen, Kona Solids and Liberty Tana Lawn Classics. Samples are priced at 50p each with our standard online postage costs. Please click here to order online, and then email us with the samples you would like to order quoting your order number in the email. Alternatively, please call and we will arrange by phone.

Yes. We do offer custom shapes and sizes in both paper and acrylic, these will be laser cut. Please fill out our request form and we would be happy to help. Please note we fit these requests in during our existing workload, shapes have to be drawn up on the computer, cutting files made, cut, bagged etc. which all takes time so will be a slower turnaround than our existing stock items.

We produce our paper templates by both die-cut methods and laser cutting, mostly the former. Both manufacture accurate results.

Due to the nature of laser cutting, it does leave a ‘singed’ edge to the paper shape, not generally noticeable on shapes individually, it does look different when stacked in a pile next to a die-cut stack of papers. This does not affect its usage in any way.

Acrylic templates are designed to be used alongside paper pieces, they are larger than the paper template so you can draw around them and cut out your fabrics accurately.

We list the correct matching acrylic and paper templates for each of our shapes on the same product page, so you can shop quickly and efficiently. Eg. if you are using a 1″ hexagon paper template, you would purchase the 1″ hexagon acrylic template, (we add the seam allowance additionally) to make it easier for shoppers.

Our acrylic templates have three seam allowance options; 3/8″ , 1/4″ , no seam allowance based on your needs.

The standard seam allowance of 3/8″ seam allowance (suitable seam allowance for most of our sizes). From experience, any paper template under 1/2″ in size is more suited to a 1/4″ seam allowance.

We use a paper that is strong enough to be used multiple times, but thin enough for sewing through if needed. Unfortunately it is not a recycled paper at this time (due to the thickness we require not available in a recycled option).

BOM is an acronym which stands for Block Of the Month club. Making a quilt through the year with a monthly kit, which works like a subscription service.

Generally the clubs are designed for a ‘confident beginner‘ (unless otherwise noted). This assumes a basic knowledge of the English Paper Piecing technique (we have a very detailed Beginner’s Guide To English Paper Piecing on our Journal). Once you have this practised you are good to go.

The instructions will be clear, you will be more familiar with cutting and understanding the format after a couple of months and you will speed up with practise. It’s a manageable size and we’ve done the hard work of breaking the pattern down into sections and providing you with the correct strips for you to simply sub-cut. We also have a friendly private Facebook group with 250+ members who post photo’s of their BOM quilts from all the clubs and previous years), offer advice and spur each other for motivation each month!

Each BOM club follows a set schedule of a payment date, please refer to the specified BOM club for explicit dates. Kits aim to be dispatched by 4 working days from the payment date.

Delivery times will vary depending on location. UK club members can expect their box to arrive 3-5 days after the dispatch day.

We use Royal Mail 48 service for UK customers. The majority of international orders are sent with Royal Mail using a Tracked service, occasionally we use a courier service for larger packages.

Yes, we do! We have international postage costs listed for each of our clubs.

The card you use at the checkout will be used for subsequent monthly payments during the club duration.

You will be charged on the specified payment date each month, (please refer to specific club page for exact date) if this falls on a weekend the payment will be debited on the Friday prior.

Please do not sign-up and checkout using a PayPal account, checkout with your credit/debit card.

Yes, you certainly can. Please select this option from the drop down menu when adding the club to your shopping basket.

It wouldn’t make sense to skip a month as you would miss out on a section to complete your quilt. In that same respect, each club is non-cancellable.

Due to the nature of a uniform club and stringent packing process, unfortunately we cannot tailor the kits to individual needs.

Any additional items in the order will be sent separately following our usual online delivery windows (unless we are notified to hold and send together).

Acrylic templates are designed to be used alongside paper pieces so you can draw around them and cut out your fabrics. The acrylic template set matches the shape/size to the paper pieces used in the quilt, with the added seam allowance. They are not necessary to complete the quilt, however are a popular choice for many customers.

If you select the option to include them in your kit, it will be included in the first month’s kit.

We charge just £2.75 for each kit to UK customers. Internationals are £10-13 per month, dependant on the club. Reduced postage for multiple kits is also available for international customers.

Drop us an email and we can have a look if we have any off-cuts to send you in the next month’s kit. Please ensure to write your full name, BOM club name, BOM club month, fabric name or code and quantity you need.

If the club is finished, please do a search on our website using the fabric name or code to purchase a new piece if still available.