Questions? We have answers

Most made-to-order listings have a Personalization box just above the Add to Cart button. Type it exactly the way you want it to read, because we copy it letter for letter, capitals and spacing included, so GRACE and Grace come out as two different pieces. If a listing doesn't show that box, message the maker before you pay rather than after, and they can usually open a custom listing for you.

For stitched lettering, 8 characters a line reads best, and most of our makers cap a single line at 12. Longer names still work, we just shrink the letters or split them over two lines, and we'll show you which in the proof. Crochet name banners are counted differently: each letter is its own piece, so those are priced by the letter.

Yes, on anything carrying a name, date, or message we email a digital proof within one business day, and nothing goes on the hoop or the press until you reply with an approval. Most customers approve the same day. If we haven't heard back in 5 business days we send one reminder, then make it exactly as you typed it so your delivery date doesn't slip.

Message us the second you spot it. Spelling changes are free any time before you approve the proof, and in practice we can nearly always still catch it inside the first 24 hours. Once thread is in the fabric or ink is on the shirt, fixing it means fresh materials and a full remake, so at that point we do have to charge for it.

If we stitched or printed something different from what you typed, that's our mistake, and we remake it and cover the return shipping, no debate. Same goes if it turns up damaged or not as described. If the proof you approved matches what arrived, we can't refund it, because a piece with somebody else's name on it can't be sold to anyone else. That's the one honest reason personalized work is final sale.

Yes. Each listing shows the fonts that particular maker actually owns, usually one script, one block, and one serif. We can't match a font from a screenshot overnight, though: turning a new typeface into stitches takes 2 to 3 days, carries a digitizing fee, and some fonts aren't licensed for us to copy. Ask before you order and we'll tell you straight whether it's worth it.

Simple shapes like hearts, stars, and tiny flowers, yes, and we keep a small library of hand-drawn ones that stitch beautifully. Full-color emoji, no: embroidery is solid blocks of thread, and most emoji pack 6 or more shades into a space smaller than a dime, so it just reads as a blob. On printed items we can do it, but it comes out in our own artwork style, not the one on your phone.

Accented Latin letters, the kind used in Spanish, French, German and Scandinavian names, work in almost every font we carry, and we check yours against the actual font file before anything is made. Non-Latin scripts such as Arabic, Hebrew, Cyrillic, Thai or Chinese depend on the maker, so send the exact text first and we will confirm within one business day. Paste the real spelling into the personalization box instead of describing it, because that is the only way we can be sure it comes out right.

The personalization box holds up to 1,024 characters, but what physically fits on the item is a lot less: roughly 4 lines of 20 characters on an embroidered tea towel, about 6 lines on a printed poster. Send the whole message anyway. We'll lay it out, show you in the proof, and say so if it's crowding the piece.

Please do, those turn into our favorite pieces. A child's handwriting or a grandparent's signature works best in dark ink on plain white paper, photographed in daylight, at least 1,000 pixels wide. For embroidery we trace it by hand, which adds 2 to 3 business days plus a digitizing fee of roughly $12 to $18. On printed items there's usually no extra charge.

They do. Add about 2 to 4 business days to the listing's normal processing time for lettering, and 1 to 2 weeks for a made-to-order crochet piece in a custom color; the proof step is already counted inside that. If you're aiming at a birthday or a wedding, message us the date instead of typing it in the personalization box, or it ends up stitched on the item, and we'll tell you honestly whether we can hit it.

Before you approve the proof, yes, at no cost, and that's normally the first 24 to 48 hours. After approval we've already cut fabric or wound thread for your piece, so most of our makers refund about 50% at that stage; the exact figure is in each shop's policies. Once it ships, a personalized item can only come back if it's faulty, damaged, or we got the wording wrong.

Most pieces are worked in acrylic, 100% cotton, or wool, with merino for anything that sits against the skin. Every listing names the exact fiber content, because acrylic and cotton behave very differently in the wash and in how they drape. If you'd like a design remade in another fiber, message us before you order. We can usually quote it, though the price and the finished feel both change.

Acrylic and most cotton pieces can go in the machine on a gentle or delicate cycle, cold water at or below 86°F (30°C), inside a mesh bag or a zipped pillowcase. Skip the bleach and the fabric softener, since softener coats the fibers and leaves a residue that dulls stitch definition and makes acrylic pill faster. Wool, alpaca, and blends are hand wash only unless the listing says superwash, because heat plus agitation is what felts wool, and felting can't be reversed. The fiber and its care are printed on every listing, so check there first if you're unsure.

Please skip the hot dryer. Acrylic can tumble on low or no heat, but high heat permanently relaxes it, what crafters call killing the yarn, and the piece goes limp and shiny and never springs back. For anything we make, the safest route is to press the water out in a towel, never wring, then lay the piece flat, reshape it, and air dry away from direct sun and radiators. Figure 12 to 24 hours for a blanket and 24 to 48 hours for a small amigurumi, since the stuffing holds water.

Cotton can tighten up in its first wash, usually under about 5%, and we allow for that where the design lets us. Wool won't shrink from water alone, but it will felt if heat and agitation land together, and that is permanent. Acrylic barely shrinks in a cold wash, but it has no memory: once it's stretched it stays stretched, which is why we ask you never to hang a heavy crochet piece on a hanger. Dry it flat and reshape it while it's damp and you'll keep the measurements you started with.

Yes, and it shows more than wool does: pills on wool tend to break off, while acrylic fibers are strong enough that the pills stay put and build up. You'll see them first in high-rub spots like underarms, cuffs, and the arm of a couch, usually within the first handful of washes, and that's normal wear rather than a defect or a sign of cheap yarn. An electric fabric shaver, about $15 to $25 (roughly £12 to £20), clears them in a few minutes. Work flat areas only and stay off bobbles, textured borders, and edging, where a blade can cut straight through a loop.

A true wool allergy is genuinely rare. The dermatology literature puts the familiar prickle down to fiber diameter rather than an immune reaction, with itch setting in around 30 to 32 microns and coarser, and the merino we use runs about 15 to 19 microns, well under that line. So most people who tell us they can't wear wool are fine in merino. If you've reacted to lanolin before, or you'd rather not gamble, ask us about the same design in cotton or acrylic and we'll tell you whether it works in that fiber.

Our amigurumi is made and sold for ages 3 and up, not as an infant toy. In the US a toy intended for under-3s can't contain or release parts that fit the CPSC small parts cylinder, and the UK Toys (Safety) Regulations set the same bar through EN 71-1, which puts plastic safety eyes and loose fiberfill squarely in that group. We can make a fully embroidered version with no plastic parts on request, but we still sell it as a 3+ keepsake, because a toy genuinely intended for babies has to be lab tested and certified and that isn't something a small shop can do per piece. Either way, please don't leave it in a crib.

They're not glued. We use two-part plastic safety eyes with a locking washer, seated before the head is closed, so the post is trapped inside the stuffed body, which is the same construction commercial plush relies on to pass the pull tests in ASTM F963 and EN 71-1. We tug-test every eye by hand before a piece ships, but we don't lab certify, and no attachment is childproof forever: with hard chewing or years of play any eye can eventually work loose. That's exactly why we age-grade at 3+ and offer embroidered eyes for younger children.

100% polyester fiberfill, the stuff usually sold as poly-fil. It's hypoallergenic, lightweight, and machine washable, so the filling isn't what limits cleaning; the yarn and the safety eyes set the care rules, not the stuffing. We stuff firm but not rock hard, so the shape holds without the stitches spreading and letting white show through. It can feel a little clumped after a wash, so squeeze and roll the piece between your hands while it dries and it fluffs back up.

Every piece is worked by hand, so a little variance is normal: figure about ±0.5 in on a hat or an amigurumi, and ±1 to 2 in across a blanket or a sweater, since hand tension shifts from one sitting to the next. Listing measurements are the finished flat measurements of the item, not body measurements. For garments, compare them against your own bust or chest and add 1 to 2 in of ease for a close fit, 2 to 4 in for a standard fit, or 4 in and up for a relaxed one. If you need an exact size, message us before you order; custom sizing is usually doable, and we'll confirm price and timeline first.

Close, but we can't promise an exact match. Yarn is dyed in lots, and two skeins with the same color name from different lots can read differently in daylight even when they look identical on the shelf, and hand-dyed yarn varies more again. Add screen calibration on top of that and small shifts are unavoidable. If the exact shade matters, say for a wedding or a nursery, ask us for a photo of the actual skein in natural light before we start.

Crochet fabric is built from loops, so open stitch patterns like shells, mesh, and granny squares will always show gaps. That's the design, not a dropped stitch or a flaw. Open work does catch on rings, watches, and Velcro, so if you wear a lot of jewelry we'd steer you toward our tighter single-crochet pieces instead. And if a strand ever gets pulled, don't cut it: ease the slack back along the row with a blunt tapestry needle and the stitch closes up again.

For anything that gets worn or washed, we stitch with 40-weight polyester embroidery thread. Polyester holds its color against sunlight, hot water, and even chlorine bleach, while rayon starts to fade and weaken after repeated washing. Rayon and cotton floss are reserved for framed hoop art and heirloom pieces that never see a washing machine.

Polyester thread is colorfast, so ordinary washing won't shift the color — in most cases the garment fades before the stitching does. The exception is deep reds and navies in cotton floss on hand-stitched pieces, which can bleed into a light background, so give those a cold rinse on their own the first time. Wash cold, 86°F (30°C) or below, and don't leave a piece sitting wet in the drum, which is when dye travels.

Nine times out of ten it's stabilization — the wrong type or weight of backing for the fabric — followed by hooping that stretched the knit before the needle ever moved. Stitch density is the third culprit: a heavy fill at 0.4 mm stitch spacing will shove the fibers aside on a 4.5 oz tee. We match a cut-away stabilizer to the garment weight and hoop without stretching, and if a file you send is too dense for the blank you picked, we'll tell you before we run it instead of shipping you a rippled shirt.

On framed hoop art the back is tidy but not mirror-perfect — knots and short thread carries are normal in hand work and don't affect how long the piece lasts. Where the reverse actually shows, like napkins, bookmarks, and aprons, we finish the back and cover it with a fabric facing. Machine work on garments gets a soft backing behind the stitching so nothing scratches your skin.

Fleece, felt, denim, canvas, and mid-weight cotton wovens all take stitching beautifully. Knits and waffle need extra prep — a cut-away stabilizer plus a wash-away topping so the stitches don't sink into the loops — and that prep is already built into the listing price on those items. Very lightweight jersey under about 4 oz can still be embroidered, but only with an open, low-stitch design; we'll steer you away from loose sweater knits and heavily sequined fabric altogether.

Polyester thread doesn't shrink, but cotton does — 3–5% on the first hot wash, and considerably more if the blank was never pre-shrunk. That mismatch is exactly what makes stitching pull tight or ripple after laundry day, and pressing only softens it, it doesn't undo it. We pre-shrink 100% cotton blanks before stitching, so wash cold and tumble dry low or hang dry and the piece should stay flat.

Yes, and we're glad to do it — send it clean and freshly laundered with your order number tucked inside. Here's the honest math though: the trade runs around 2% spoilage on decorated garments from needle breaks, misplacement, and machine mishaps, and like every shop we can't replace a garment we didn't sell you. We'll ask you to approve a short waiver first, and we run a test stitch on similar fabric before the needle touches your item.

Sometimes — on dark cotton and fleece the hoop compresses the fibers and can leave a faint ring. It isn't scorching and it isn't permanent on those fabrics: steam, or a spritz of water followed by air drying, lifts it out, and we steam-finish every piece before it ships. Velvet and other pile fabrics are the real exception, because a tight hoop can crush the pile for good, so we float those on adhesive stabilizer rather than hooping them at all.

It depends on the style, and this is where most orders go wrong. In the traditional script monogram the surname initial sits in the center and larger, reading first, last, middle — Emily Rose Carter becomes E C R. In a block monogram where all three letters are the same size, they read straight across in name order instead: E R C. For a married couple it's usually the wife's first initial, the shared surname in the center, then the husband's; both that and the older reverse order are correct, so note your preference at checkout and we'll send a mock-up before we stitch.

We do both, and every listing says which one you're buying. A hand-stitched monogram is 2–3 hours at the hoop; the machine runs the same monogram in roughly 10 minutes once it's digitized and hooped, which is why hand work costs several times more. Machine stitching is more uniform and takes weekly laundering better, while hand work has the texture and small irregularities that are the whole point of it.

Six thread colors per design is our standard, and we can go up to 15 on request with a setup fee. Every color change means stopping the machine and swapping thread, so more colors adds lead time, not just cost. Worth knowing up front: swapping one color for another is free, but adding colors means re-splitting the design in the digitizing file, so a 3-color design you later want in 5 comes back as a re-digitizing charge.

Clean block or sans-serif letters hold down to about 0.25 in (6 mm) tall. Below that the stitches crowd together and an 'e' or an 'a' fills in to a dot — script needs more room, roughly 0.35 in (9 mm), because the thin strokes are the first thing to go. On fleece, terry, or waffle, add another 1/8 in and we'll run a wash-away topping, since the pile swallows fine detail no matter how well it's digitized.

DTG sprays water-based ink down into the cotton fibers, so it feels soft and flat and looks richest on 100% cotton. DTF prints onto a film that gets heat-pressed on around 300°F — you can feel it slightly with a fingertip, but it sticks to cotton, blends, and poly alike. Vinyl is a cut sheet pressed on top: razor-sharp for one- or two-color text, and the edges are the first place wear shows. Every listing names the method that shop used, so you're never guessing.

Some shops here do, and sublimation only works on fabric that's at least 65% polyester — 100% is ideal. The ink turns to gas under heat and dyes the fiber itself, so there's no layer sitting on top to crack or peel. On a 50/50 blend only the polyester picks up color, which is why those come out softer and heathered — that's the vintage look, not a printing flaw. If a listing says 100% cotton, it isn't sublimated.

Honest numbers: DTF usually goes 50+ washes with no visible change, and DTG holds 25–50 — it softens and lightens gradually rather than failing outright, which is normal for ink that sits in the fiber. Well-applied vinyl also clears 50+, but a rushed press shows edge lift far sooner, so how it was applied matters more than which material it is. Sublimation is the outlier — nothing sits on top to crack or peel, so it only dulls after long stretches in direct sun.

Inside out, cold water under 86°F (30°C), gentle cycle, mild detergent. Skip bleach, and — this is the one most people miss — skip fabric softener; it coats the print and is a top cause of peeling. Wash it with like fabrics, not tossed in with denim, zippers, or towels that scrub against the design. Do that and you land at the top of those wash numbers instead of the bottom.

Tumble dry low or hang dry — high dryer heat kills more prints than washing ever does. Never set a hot iron straight on the design. Iron the shirt inside out on the lowest setting (under 275°F) or lay a thin cotton press cloth over it; a handheld steamer held a few inches away is the safest of all.

Early cracking is almost always an application fault — wrong temperature, weak pressure, or too short a dwell time — not something the wash did. Properly pressed DTF flexes with the fabric, and well-applied vinyl clears 50+ washes; it's the rushed press that lifts at the edges. If a print fails in the first few washes under normal care, message the shop: that's a quality issue, not a change of mind, so a personalized order is still covered when the item arrives faulty or not as described.

That's pretreatment, and it's expected with DTG. The shop sprays a clear fixative so the white ink sits up on the surface instead of sinking in, and on dark cotton it can dry as a faint rectangle or a slightly shinier halo around the artwork. It normally rinses out in the first cold wash, two at most. Still visible after that and something genuinely went wrong — message the shop.

For DTG, 100% ringspun combed cotton wins every time — the ink is water-based and needs cotton fibers to grab onto. Tri-blends and 50/50s come out softer and more muted under DTG, which some people love and others don't expect. Sublimation flips it: you need 65% polyester or more. DTF is the easygoing one — cotton, blends, poly, it takes all of them.

Aim for 300 DPI at the finished print size — a 12-inch chest print needs about 3,600 pixels across, and a 12x12 square needs 3,600 x 3,600. Most shops can work down to roughly 150 DPI, but it'll look soft up close, and a good one will flag it before printing. Photos straight off a modern phone (4,000+ px) are plenty; screenshots and images saved off social media usually aren't. Send the largest original file you have, not a resized copy.

Not if it's copyrighted or trademarked — Disney and Marvel characters, sports team logos, band artwork, brand marks. That holds even when you send the file yourself, and there's no "change it by 30%" rule; that's a myth. What shops can print: your own photos, your own artwork, your kid's drawing, your pet, your handwriting, your words. For another artist's work, the shop needs written permission from them before anything goes on press.

Most wall art here is giclee, meaning pigment ink on acid-free cotton rag, usually 230 to 300 gsm in a matte finish. Independent testing by Wilhelm Imaging Research puts pigment on rag at 100 or more years of display life out of direct sunlight, which is why it costs more than a photo-lab print. The matte surface has a light tooth, so there is no glare when you hang it near a window. Weight and finish do vary by shop, so check the listing for the exact stock.

Most prints here ship unframed — it keeps shipping affordable and lets you match your own walls; a few shops do offer framing, and the listing will say so. Sizes are the standard ready-made ones: 5x7, 8x10, 11x14, and 16x20 for US buyers, A4 and A3 for the UK, so an off-the-shelf frame fits without custom cutting. The listed size is the paper size and usually includes a 0.5–1 inch white border for matting or signing. Want it borderless? Message the shop before you order — most can do it, but not after it's printed.

Every listing is labeled in US sizes and lists the garment's flat measurements in both inches and cm, so nothing gets lost in conversion. UK women's numbers run 4 higher than US: a UK 12 is a US 8, a UK 16 is a US 12. When the letters and the numbers disagree, trust the pit-to-pit measurement and compare it to a shirt you already own.

Easiest route: don't measure yourself, measure a shirt you already love. Lay it flat, run the tape armpit to armpit in a straight line, and match that number to the chest-width column, rounding to the nearest 1/4 inch. For crochet and knit pieces, take your bust with the tape snug but not tight, then add 2–4 inches of ease for a classic fit or 4–6 for a relaxed one.

If you normally wear a women's cut, yes — one size down is the usual call. On a medium, unisex shoulders run about 17–18 inches across versus 14–15 on a women's fit, so the same letter sits wider and longer on you. Going down two only works if the chest measurement still clears your bust by an inch or two, so check the chart on the listing first. And if you like it roomy and front-tucked, stay at your usual size — that's a style choice, not a mistake.

Size up about nine times out of ten. Fabric relaxes a little at the seams but it never grows back, and a tee an inch too big reads as relaxed while an inch too small just reads as wrong. The exception is cropped or fitted crochet, where sizing up drops the shoulder seam down your arm — send us your pit-to-pit and we'll tell you which way we'd go.

A little, yes. The cotton tees we print on are preshrunk but still give up roughly 2–5% — about half an inch to an inch and a half of body length — on a first hot wash, and heavyweight garment-dyed styles can run 5–10%. Wash cold at 86°F (30°C) or below, then tumble low or hang dry, and you keep nearly all of it. If you're already on the line between two sizes, take the larger one so it still fits after a few washes.

It depends on the fiber, and every listing names it. Acrylic won't shrink, but it can stretch under its own weight — machine wash cold on gentle and keep it out of a hot dryer, because high heat flattens the stitches for good. Untreated wool felts and shrinks fast in hot water, so those are hand wash cold and dry flat only. Cotton relaxes as you wear it and comes back once you wash it and pat it into shape flat to dry.

You're in good company — that's the message we get most. Two things that actually work: ask for the pit-to-pit of a shirt they wear constantly, which lands a lot softer than asking their size, or pick a relaxed style where two inches either way still looks deliberate. Blankets, scarves, hats, and hoop art skip the problem entirely.

Go by height and chest, not the birthday. Our charts list both: 3T runs about 36–38.5 inches tall and 30–34 lbs, and plenty of two- and four-year-olds land there. US T-sizes are cut roomier through the seat for diapers, so a plain 4 is slimmer and a touch longer than a 4T, and UK 3–4 years is the closest match to a US 4T. On a handmade piece, sizing up one usually buys another 6–9 months of wear.

Yes, if you catch us before we start. Message us as soon as you know — if the piece hasn't been cut or hooked yet, we swap it at no charge. After that it's case by case: a stock print can often still be changed, while a made-to-order crochet piece may already be halfway up the back and would need a partial remake fee. Ask anyway — we'd much rather adjust than mail you something that won't fit.

For plain, non-personalized items, yes: message us within 14 days of delivery and send it back unworn and unwashed. You cover return postage and we cover shipping the new size out. Personalized and made-to-measure pieces sit outside that window because we can't resell them — but if one arrives faulty, damaged, or worked to measurements other than the ones you sent us, that's on us and we remake it free.

For crochet and embroidery, yes. Send bust or chest, waist, hip, and your preferred sleeve and body length, and we'll quote it — custom sizing usually adds about 20–30% to the price and 1–2 weeks to the timeline, since the piece is made from scratch instead of pulled off a shelf. Printed tees and sweatshirts stay in the stock range, roughly XS–4XL depending on the style.

Not the measurements — a stitched design is only a few inches across and doesn't pull the whole garment in. What it changes is drape: the cut-away stabilizer behind the stitching stays in the shirt permanently, so that panel feels stiffer at first and softens over roughly 5–10 washes. Turn it inside out, wash cold, and skip the dryer — polyester thread doesn't shrink but cotton does, and that mismatch is what puckers the stitching.

Processing time is how long your maker needs to actually make the piece; shipping time is how long the carrier has it after it leaves the studio. A 5-day processing time plus 3-day shipping is about 8 days total, not 3. Every listing shows the two numbers separately, and your order confirmation combines them into one estimated delivery window.

Almost nothing here sits on a shelf waiting — a crochet piece gets hooked stitch by stitch after you order it. A baby blanket runs roughly 25-30 hours of hand work, which is why makers quote 2-3 weeks instead of 2 days. If you're in a hurry, filter for Ready to Ship items; those are already finished and go out in 1-2 business days.

It depends on the category: ready-made pieces go out in 1-2 business days, printed shirts and art take 2-7 business days to produce, and made-to-order crochet or embroidery runs 1-3 weeks. Bigger pieces like full-size blankets or custom hoop art can take up to 6 weeks, and the listing always shows that maker's own number. If a piece runs behind, you'll see an updated date on your order page and can message the shop straight from there.

You'll get the tracking email as soon as the carrier's first scan lands, not the second the label is printed. Makers often buy labels a day or two ahead, so a number sitting on "label created" for 24-48 hours is completely normal. Your tracking also stays under Your Orders in your account.

Domestic packages usually scan every day or two, but going quiet for 3-5 days between sorting hubs is common, especially over a weekend. International parcels often stop updating entirely once they leave the US and only reappear when the destination post picks them up — that can mean 1-2 weeks of silence. Message us after 7 days with no movement domestically, or 21 days internationally, and we'll file a search with the carrier.

From the US, standard tracked post to the UK usually runs 7-21 business days once your item is finished, and express is about 3-5. Add the maker's processing time on top — for a made-to-order piece that can mean 4-6 weeks door to door. Customs clearance adds a few unpredictable days that no carrier will guarantee, so we won't either.

Yes — we ship to the UK, most of the EU, Canada, and Australia. After production, Canada usually lands in 7-14 days, the EU in 7-21 business days, and Australia in 10-25. Shipping and destination tax are calculated at checkout, so you see the real total before you pay; the only thing that can be added later is duty on higher-value parcels, which the customs question covers.

For most orders we collect the destination tax at checkout, so nothing is owed at your door — that covers UK orders of GBP 135 or less, and EU orders, where we now charge VAT plus the flat EUR 3 per-item customs duty that replaced the old EUR 150 duty-free rule on July 1, 2026. Above those values the carrier bills duty and import VAT before release, plus a handling fee: Royal Mail GBP 8, Parcelforce GBP 12, express couriers GBP 11.50-15. Canada is the odd one out — parcels sent by post can be assessed from CAD 20, plus a CAD 9.95 Canada Post handling fee. We can't predict, cover, or refund government charges, and we won't label a parcel a gift or under-declare its value, because that's illegal.

For orders of GBP 135 or less, yes — UK VAT at 20% is added and shown at checkout, and the parcel clears customs with nothing left to pay. Over GBP 135, VAT and any duty are collected by the carrier at delivery instead, plus a handling fee of about GBP 8 with Royal Mail. A few categories are zero-rated in the UK, such as children's clothing and books, so VAT can show as 0.00 on those lines.

Give it 24-48 hours first — carriers scan "delivered" early more often than you'd think, and parcels turn up with a neighbor, in a mailroom, or behind a gate. If it's still missing, ask your local post office to check the GPS scan on your tracking number, then message us within 7 days of that delivery scan. We work these case by case toward a replacement or refund; we can't promise an automatic one, because carriers rarely pay a claim on a parcel they've already marked delivered.

We post the exact cutoffs on the homepage each November, but as a rule of thumb: order made-to-order pieces by December 10 for US delivery and by November 25 for international. Ready-to-ship items can usually go out as late as December 18 domestically with expedited post. December volume adds 2-5 days to normal carrier transit, so we'd rather give you an honest date than a hopeful one.

Message us right away — if the label hasn't been printed yet, we can correct the address in a couple of minutes at no charge. Once a label is printed we usually cancel and ask you to reorder with the right address, since shipping anywhere other than the order address voids delivery protection for both of us. If it's already moving, we can sometimes buy a USPS Package Intercept (about USD 19.45) to pull it back to the studio and re-send it, but international parcels can't be recalled once they've left the country.

Once your name is stitched or printed onto a piece, nobody else can ever buy it, so custom orders are final sale. UK law spells this out — the 14-day cooling-off period on online orders doesn't cover goods made to your spec or clearly personalized — and US shops set their own policy the same way, since there's no federal return right for online purchases. Final sale still doesn't apply if the item shows up faulty, damaged, or different from what you ordered. Those are on us, every time.

Anything ready-made with no personalization on it — a plain crochet scarf, a blank tote, a print with no custom text. Send it back within 30 days of delivery, unused and unwashed with any tags still on, and we refund the item price once it lands back with us. Return postage is on you unless the item was faulty or we shipped the wrong thing.

Message us within 5 days of delivery with three or four photos: the item, the damage up close, and the outer box or mailer. You don't need to ship it back — we file the carrier claim on our end — but hang onto the packaging for two weeks in case the carrier asks to inspect it. We'll come back to you within one business day with a free remake or a full refund, whichever you'd rather have.

Message us the moment you spot it. If the piece hasn't gone into production yet — usually the first 12 to 24 hours — we change the spelling for free. Once the hook or the printer has started, the yarn or the blank is already spent, so we remake it at 50% off plus actual shipping. That's not a penalty, it's just covering materials.

We do, all of it. If what we made doesn't match what you typed at checkout, we remake it free and cover the shipping — and you don't need to mail the wrong one back, so keep it or pass it along to someone. Send one photo of the item next to your order confirmation and we'll have the remake queued by the next business day.

Well-cured DTG ink should hold up for dozens of washes — 25 to 50 is the realistic range with cold water and no hot dryer. If it cracks or peels within the first 5 washes, that's a defect: send us a photo and we replace it free, no return needed. What we can't cover is heat damage, so wash inside out at 86°F/30°C or cooler and hang printed garments to dry.

Give it 48 hours before you worry. Carriers scan parcels as delivered early more often than you'd think, and packages turn up with a neighbor, behind a side gate, or the next morning. If it still hasn't shown, message us and we'll open a trace with the carrier on that tracking number, and if it's genuinely gone we remake or refund.

Once tracking has been silent for 7 days past the last estimated delivery date, we treat it as lost — message us and we'll refund in full or remake and reship, your call. The one exception is international mail: a parcel can sit in UK customs for 10 to 14 days with no scan at all and then start moving again. If yours looks like the customs kind, we'll tell you straight rather than leave you waiting blind.

You pick, not us. A remake is usually the faster route on personalized work, roughly 3 to 7 business days, while a refund goes back to your original payment method within 5 business days of us approving the claim. Your bank or card issuer may take another 3 to 5 days to display it, which runs on their clock rather than ours.

Thirty days from delivery for most issues, and within 5 days for shipping damage so the carrier claim window is still open. UK buyers also have a 30-day short-term right to reject faulty goods, with further rights on genuine faults after that. Past 30 days we'll still look honestly at real construction faults — a seam that gave way, a print that failed early. What we can't do is treat normal wear on a handmade piece as a defect.

Usually not. For damage, misprints, or anything we got wrong, clear photos are enough and the item stays with you. We only ask for a physical return on non-personalized pieces you simply changed your mind about, and that postage is yours — figure $5 to $9 in the US or £3 to £5 in the UK for a small parcel.

A pulled loop isn't a defect — it's what yarn does when it meets a ring or a Velcro strap — and it's fixable. Send a photo and we'll walk you through easing the strand back with a hook, or mail it to us within 90 days and we'll repair it free and cover the trip back; you just cover postage to us. Actual unraveling from an unsecured end is our workmanship, and that one we remake outright.

There is no paid wrapping option at checkout, because wrapping is not an extra here. Pieces go out in tissue or kraft paper and tied, ready to hand over as they are. If you want a particular colour, a ribbon or a few words on a card, message the shop before you order, or leave a line in the note box at checkout — small shops nearly always say yes. Every reply lands in Messages in your account. Our gift wrapping page shows what turns up in the box.

Yes. Type your message in the gift note box at checkout — up to about 200 characters — and most shops write it out by hand on a card rather than printing a slip. It's copied exactly as you type it, so check names and spelling before you place the order. If the note is the whole point of the gift, send it to the shop in a message too; notes do occasionally get missed on a busy order printout.

Yes, and it costs nothing — no price goes in the parcel at all. Every piece is made after you order and sent straight from the studio, so there is no invoice, no packing slip and no price sticker to remove. If you want to be certain, message the shop or add a line in the note box at checkout, and the maker reads it before packing. Order and tracking emails come to you, never to the person receiving it.

Of course. Put their address in the shipping field and yours in billing; the tracking emails still come to you, usually within a day of the label being printed, so you know the moment it lands. Check the apartment, flat or unit number twice — one wrong digit is the most common reason a gift misses the date, and once the carrier has the parcel, rerouting is rarely possible. For an office or dorm, add the company or hall name so the mailroom knows where to take it.

Not yet, and we would rather say so than sell you a code that does not exist. Three things do work today. The Gift Finder narrows the whole shop down by who it is for and what you want to spend. You can send the parcel straight to the recipient with a note inside, so it arrives as a gift and not as a delivery. And most pieces can carry their name, which is the part people keep. Our gift cards page walks through each one.

Sometimes — it depends on the shop and the piece. A ready-to-ship crochet or embroidered item can leave the studio in 1 business day and reach most US addresses in 2–3 days on an expedited service, while a made-to-order blanket needs 2–4 weeks of stitching that no rush fee can shorten. Message the shop with your date before you order and you'll get a straight yes or no instead of a maybe.

We can promise the day it leaves the studio, but only an express, tracked service carries a delivery-date guarantee from the carrier — standard mail never does. Order so it should land 3–5 business days before the occasion, and give it a full week in December or for a wedding. If it does run late, message the shop — we'd rather send you a printable card to hand over than have you show up empty-handed.

For made-to-order pieces, order by mid-November — 2–4 weeks of making plus transit eats December fast — and for ready-to-ship US items, by around December 10. The carrier cutoffs sit mid-month: USPS Ground Advantage typically closes around December 17–18 with Priority a day later, US-to-UK mail closes in the first half of December, and Royal Mail's last 2nd Class date is usually about December 18. Those dates move every year, so check the current list before you cut it close — and popular yarn colors sell out in November anyway.

Yes, matching sets are one of the most common custom jobs. Allow 6–8 weeks for a set of 6–12 personalized pieces, and most shops send a digital proof of the names or monograms before a single stitch goes in. Message the shop with your quantity, colors and wedding date first: many cap a custom set around 20 pieces so the last one looks as good as the first, and personalized work generally can't be returned.

We can keep your name off the card, off the packing slip and out of the box, and marking the order as a gift hides every price. What we can't hide is the return address on the shipping label — carriers require one — so a curious recipient can still see which shop it came from. Write the card however you like, "from your secret admirer" included, and it's copied word for word, up to about 200 characters.

Not always, and it's worth knowing before you plan the unwrapping. Two shops means two parcels with their own tracking; even inside one order, crochet and embroidery leave the maker's studio while printed apparel and wall art come from a partner print shop, often 2–4 days apart. If it all has to land at once, order the printed piece a few days earlier, or have everything sent to you and pass it on in one box.

Yes, if the shop takes returns — most allow 14 to 30 days from delivery, and the policy is printed on every listing. The recipient can message the shop directly to arrange an exchange, but a refund has to go back to your original payment method, so those run through you. Personalized work — a stitched name, a printed date — is only replaced if the shop got it wrong or it arrived damaged; in the UK you also have 14 days to cancel a non-personalized order under the Consumer Contracts Regulations.

Every Ettee shop is run by the maker — crocheters, hand embroiderers, and small custom studios, most of them one or two people, not resellers buying in finished stock. Our rule is simple: the seller has to make or design the item themselves, and if any part of it is produced by an outside partner, the listing has to say so. If a shop looks like it's reselling someone else's goods, flag it for us and we'll review the shop.

Most Ettee shops work out of home studios in the US and UK, with a smaller group across the EU. Every listing shows the shop's location and a Ships from country — read both, because they aren't always the same. Ordering from a shop in your own country skips customs entirely, which usually takes a week or more off the wait.

Yes — there's a Message shop button on every listing and shop page, and it's the best way to ask about yarn colors, sizing, or whether your date is realistic. We ask every shop to answer a first message within two business days, and many reply the same day. These are one- and two-person studios, though, so a note sent Friday night usually gets picked up Monday morning.

Many do, and it's some of our favorite work here. Once you've approved the design, a custom crochet or hand-embroidered piece usually takes 7–14 business days to make, plus a few days of back-and-forth on details before that. Most shops ask for payment up front, since a one-of-a-kind piece can't go back on the shelf. Personalized, made-to-order work isn't covered by the usual change-of-mind return window — but faulty or not what you signed off on is a different story, so message the shop and open a case with us if you can't work it out.

Sometimes — it comes down to what's already in that maker's queue. Rush fees usually run 20–50% of the item price on top of faster shipping, and what you're paying for is a place at the front of the line, not fewer stitches. Message the shop with your hard date before you pay; a good maker will tell you straight when it can't be done instead of taking the money and hoping.

Yes, at shops that offer custom printing and embroidery. Send a PNG or JPG at 300 DPI at full print size — a standard 12-inch chest print needs a file around 3,600 px wide — or a vector file (SVG, AI, EPS) for logos and line art. Embroidery takes one extra step: the artwork has to be digitized into a stitch file, a one-time $15–35 charge, and the shop keeps that file so reorders never pay it twice. We can't reproduce artwork you don't hold the rights to, and that includes licensed characters, band logos, and team marks.

Yes — wedding favors, corporate gifts, and stock for brick-and-mortar shops are all normal orders here. Minimums usually start at 10–25 pieces per design, and bulk pricing typically runs 30–50% below retail depending on quantity and shop. Hand-crocheted and hand-embroidered runs need 3–6 weeks because one person stitches every single piece; printed and engraved goods are quicker, usually 2–3 weeks. Send the shop your quantity, your deadline, and your ZIP or postcode and you'll get a real quote instead of a guess.

You own the finished piece, and you keep the rights to any photo or artwork you send — the shop uses it to make your order, and has to ask you first if they'd like to show the result in their portfolio. The maker keeps the copyright in their own pattern and design, and they can make similar pieces again unless you've agreed otherwise in writing. If you want something nobody else can order, ask about exclusivity before work starts; it's a paid arrangement and not every shop offers it.

Yes. Once you've bought a finished piece it's yours, and first-sale rules in both the US and the UK let you resell that physical object. What you can't do is copy, share, or resell a digital pattern, PDF, or embroidery stitch file — those stay under the designer's copyright no matter how many you bought — and you can't reuse the shop's photos or name to sell it. If you want stock to resell regularly, ask the shop about wholesale; it's cheaper than retail and lets the maker plan their yarn and their time.

Their listings come down and you can't place a new order, but the shop page stays up with a note from the maker — most give the date they're back. Anything you ordered before the break still gets made and shipped; going away doesn't pause work that's already in the queue. You can still send a message, though a reply may take longer than the usual two business days.

Only a buyer with a completed order can review a shop, so every star you read here is attached to a real purchase. Your window opens on the estimated delivery date and stays open for 100 days after that. Inside that window you can edit your rating, photos, and text as often as you like — but once the shop posts a public reply, the review locks.

No. A shop can't remove or edit what you wrote — their only move is one public reply underneath it. We take a review down only when it breaks our rules, like abusive language or someone's personal details, never because a shop asked us to. That's also why it's worth messaging the shop first: most makers will remake the piece or refund you long before it turns into a public argument.

We take Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover, plus PayPal. Debit cards on those same networks go through exactly the same way at checkout. We can't take checks, wire transfers, or gift cards from other stores. If a card gets declined, it's almost always your bank's fraud filter and not the order itself — a quick tap in your banking app usually clears it.

Yes. Both show up at checkout automatically when your device supports them, and they're the quickest way through since you skip typing a card at all. In Safari on an iPhone or Mac, Apple Pay is right there; in Chrome, Edge, or Firefox on a desktop you finish by scanning a code with your iPhone, and Android users get Google Pay. Either way your real card number never reaches us — the wallet passes along a one-time token instead.

Yes, and the plan depends on where you are. In the US it's Klarna Pay in 4 on orders from about $35 up: 25% at checkout, then three more payments every two weeks. In the UK it's Pay in 3 — a third today, a third at 30 days, a third at 60. Both are interest-free, though a missed US payment can add a fee of up to $7, and that part is between you and Klarna; we're paid upfront, so your piece is made and shipped on the normal schedule either way.

Everything here is priced and charged in US dollars, so a UK or EU card gets converted by your own bank at its rate that day. Most non-US cards add a foreign transaction fee on top — usually 1–3%, and that one goes to your bank, not to us. Travel and multi-currency cards normally waive it, and the converted amount typically settles on your statement a day or two after the order.

US sales tax is worked out from your shipping address, not from where our studio sits. Forty-five states plus DC charge it, and the combined state-and-local rate lands anywhere from about 4% to just over 11%. If you're in Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, or Oregon it shows as $0.00, and most of Alaska too. None of it stays with us — it's collected and sent on to your state.

For a parcel coming from the US where the goods total £135 or less, 20% UK VAT is collected at checkout, so there's nothing more to pay when it lands. Over £135 we aren't allowed to charge it upfront — the courier collects import VAT plus a handling fee of roughly £8–£12 before they'll hand the package over. Your confirmation email shows the VAT on its own line, so you can see exactly what was charged.

Under €150 we collect your country's VAT at checkout through IOSS — 17% to 27% depending on where you live — so the parcel clears customs without a bill at your door. Since 1 July 2026 the EU also charges a flat €3 customs duty per item line on low-value parcels, but that one is billed to us as the sender rather than collected from you. Above €150, VAT and duty are charged on arrival by the carrier, and honestly we can't predict that figure for you.

Yes. Reply to your order confirmation and ask, and you'll usually have a PDF invoice back within one business day — our business details, itemized lines, tax broken out separately, and our VAT number where one applies. That's the version an accountant will actually accept. If you're buying for resale or tax-exempt in the US, send us the exemption certificate before you place the order; once tax has been collected and remitted to the state, we can't refund it.

Your card details never touch our servers. The payment form is hosted by our processor, which is PCI DSS Level 1 certified — the top tier — and it hands us back only a token. All we ever see is the card brand and the last 4 digits, which means we can't quietly charge you again and there are no card numbers sitting on our side for anyone to steal.

That's 3-D Secure — you may see it branded Visa Secure or Mastercard Identity Check — and your bank sets it off, not us. UK and EU rules require that extra check on most online card payments, while US banks use it when something looks unusual, like a first order going to a brand new address. Approve it in your banking app or type in the code, and the payment clears in a few seconds.

No — guest checkout just needs an email address and a shipping address. Double-check that email before you pay, though: your receipt and tracking both go there, and it's the only way we can reach you about a custom detail. An account is really only worth it for order history, saved addresses, and quick reorders — and if you make one later with the same email, message us and we'll connect your earlier orders to it.

When you place an order your bank puts an authorization hold on the funds instead of taking them, and that pending line usually drops off within 3–7 business days. If a payment failed and you tried again, you might see two holds for a little while — only one ever turns into a real charge. We show up as ETTEE on statements, so if that doesn't ring a bell, check your inbox for a receipt with the same amount before you call the bank.

Fill a clean sink with cool water — around 85°F (30°C), never warm — add about a teaspoon of wool-safe detergent, and let the piece soak for 10 minutes. Squeeze gently; don't wring, scrub, or twist, because that friction is what makes stitches stretch out and fuzz. Press the water out between two dry towels, then lay it flat and nudge the edges back into shape while it's still damp. A full-size throw takes 24 to 48 hours to dry, so it's worth starting in the morning.

It comes down to the fiber, so check the fiber content on the listing first and message the shop if it isn't clear. Acrylic and most cotton pieces do fine in a zippered mesh bag on a cold, gentle cycle, then tumble low or air dry. Wool, merino, and alpaca are hand wash only unless the listing says superwash — heat plus agitation felts wool permanently, and a blanket can come out 20% smaller with the stitches fused solid.

Hand wash in cool water with a mild soap, letting it soak about 10 minutes rather than rubbing at the stitched area. Skip chlorine bleach, oxygen bleach, and any brightening detergent — hand-dyed floss can bleed, and once the color runs it doesn't come back out. If you machine wash, turn the piece inside out, use a mesh bag on cold and delicate, and always air dry, since a hot dryer puckers the fabric around dense stitching.

Please don't — water soaks into the backing board and mounting tape, leaves brown tide lines, and can stain the fabric for good. Keep it dusted instead: a soft makeup brush over the surface every month or so, or a lint roller pressed on lightly if nothing is beaded or working loose. If yours is glazed, the 1/8-inch spacers between the glass and the fabric need to stay put so the glass never flattens the stitches. For an actual stain, ask the shop first — some clean their own work, and anything old or sentimental is worth a textile conservator.

Turn it inside out and wash cold — 86°F (30°C) or below — on a gentle cycle with similar colors and lightweight items, so no jeans or towels are scrubbing against the print. Skip fabric softener; it leaves a film that dulls the ink and traps residue in the fibers. Hang dry whenever you can, or tumble on the lowest heat setting, because dryer heat is harder on a print than the wash ever is.

A well-made DTG print usually stays vivid for 25 to 35 washes, and washing cold, inside out, and air drying regularly stretches that to 50 or more. Because the ink soaks into the cotton instead of sitting on top, it softens evenly rather than cracking — though prints on dark shirts sit on a white underbase and can show wear a little sooner. If yours cracks, peels, or lifts in the first few weeks, that reads as a production issue rather than normal wear: photograph it and message the shop, since each shop sets its own replacement and return terms.

Never rest an iron directly on acrylic yarn — it's plastic, and it glazes shiny or melts somewhere around 250 to 300°F, well below a cotton setting. Hold a steamer about 6 inches away instead, or use the synthetic setting with a press cloth. Embroidery presses best face down on a folded towel so the stitches sink in rather than flatten, and printed garments get ironed inside out or under a cloth, never on the design. Dry clean only when the listing calls for it — solvent can dull hand-dyed color and loosen glued-on trim, and the finishing press flattens texture, so hand washing is the safer default for nearly everything we sell.

Wash and fully dry the piece first: moth larvae feed on wool and silk, and sweat, body oils, and food traces are exactly what draws them in. Fold it loosely into a breathable cotton pillowcase or canvas bag rather than sealed plastic, which traps moisture and can leave natural fibers yellowed or mildewed, and tuck in a cedar block or lavender sachet — those deter moths rather than kill them, so refresh every 3 months. Store it in an interior closet, not an attic, basement, or garage. If you do find moths, seal the piece in a bag and freeze it at 0°F for 72 hours, thaw for a day, then freeze it again.

Yes, though how fast varies a lot. Wool, cotton, and hand-dyed yarns can show visible fading within 6 to 12 months in a bright south-facing window, while acrylic holds its color much longer but still isn't sunproof. Pigment art prints are rated for 70 to 100 years, but that assumes indirect light and UV-filtering glass — sitting in a sunbeam, you're looking at a few years. If a blanket lives on a sunny couch, flipping and rotating it every couple of months keeps the fading even.

Don't cut it — that one loop is holding a lot of neighbors. Work from the back with a crochet hook or a blunt tapestry needle, draw the pulled loop through to the wrong side, then tug the fabric gently side to side so the slack spreads back across the stitches. For a real hole or an open seam, send the shop a clear photo before you do anything else: many makers repair their own work, but repair terms and who covers return shipping vary shop by shop. Personalized pieces generally can't go back just because you changed your mind, though a genuine fault is a separate conversation.

Some pilling is friction, not a flaw, and it shows up most in the first two or three washes on acrylic and wool blends. Five minutes with a battery fabric shaver or a sweater comb, worked in one direction, brings the surface right back, and it slows down a lot after that — just go light on loosely spun yarn, since a shaver pressed too hard can cut straight through a strand. Washed gently and stored dry, a well-made crochet blanket often stays in good shape for a decade or more; something handled daily, like a bag or a stuffed toy, will show its age sooner.

These are made for indoor life. Acrylic holds up outdoors better than wool or cotton, but the dyes still fade in direct sun — reds go first, often within a single season — and cotton yarn can mildew after a couple of damp days. Bring pieces in ahead of rain and let them dry all the way within 24 hours. Worth saying plainly: sun and weather damage usually falls outside what a shop covers, so check with your maker before you plan on an outdoor display.

Yes, and we like them. The minimum is 12 pieces per design for crochet and hand embroidery, and 25 for printed apparel or art prints. Email us the item, the quantity, and the date you need it in hand, and you'll have a written quote in 1-2 business days. If your date is tight, say so in that first email and we'll tell you honestly whether we can hit it.

Yes, once you confirm your company owns the artwork or has the right to use it. Send a vector file (.AI, .EPS, .SVG, or a vector .PDF); a transparent PNG at least 2,000 px on the long side works too. Embroidery caps at 6 thread colors, and any line thinner than 1 mm won't stitch cleanly, so we thicken hairlines and send a proof before anything runs. One-time digitizing is $45, and we keep that file for 24 months so reorders skip the fee.

Printed goods drop the most, because setup is a one-time cost: roughly 15% off at 50 pieces and 25% off at 250. Crochet and hand embroidery only come down 8-12% at 50, and here's the honest reason — hands don't speed up the way a press does, and a beanie is still two hours of somebody's day at piece number 100. We'd rather say that up front than pad the quote and hope you don't notice.

Printed items run 10-15 business days from the day you approve the proof. Crochet and hand embroidery take 4-6 weeks for 50 pieces, because each one is 1.5-3 hours of hand work and we batch them assembly-line style to claw back time. Rush slots open at a 25% surcharge when the calendar allows. For December delivery, book by early October — after that we're quoting January.

Always, and we push for it. One pre-production sample takes 5-10 business days and is billed at the single-unit price, which we credit back when the order goes ahead at 25 pieces or more. Nothing enters full production until you've approved that sample or a digital proof in writing — that approval is what protects both of us when a color reads differently on your screen than it does in thread.

Yes. Send the names in a spreadsheet, spelled exactly as you want them stitched or printed — capitals, accents, nicknames and all. Personalization is $5 per piece and adds 3-5 business days. Names lock at proof approval, because after that the thread is already in the fabric; personalized pieces aren't returnable for a change of mind, though we remake at our own cost if we misspell one or it arrives faulty.

Yes — send a CSV with each person's name, address, and gift note, and every parcel ships separately with its own tracking number and a free handwritten note of up to 200 characters. Split shipping is $7 per US address and £6 per UK address on top of the order total. We can commit to the ship date but not to the carrier, so for a team event we get everything moving about a week early.

Yes. You get an itemized PDF carrying our business details and VAT number, your company name, your PO number, and your VAT or EIN, with VAT broken out line by line so your finance team can reclaim it — a sales receipt does neither of those jobs. Ask any time before we ship and it goes out the same day; US buyers who need a W-9 have one within a business day. Worth knowing in general: a studio under the VAT registration threshold can't charge or invoice VAT at all, so there's nothing to reclaim on those orders.

We take POs from registered companies. Your first order is a 50% deposit to reserve yarn and studio time, with the balance due before we ship. After one completed order we'll open Net 30 on invoices over $1,500, subject to a quick credit check. The deposit isn't distrust — it's what keeps a small studio from buying $600 of yarn for an order that quietly evaporates.

Yes. We keep your digitized logo, thread and ink codes, and batch notes for 24 months, so a reorder skips the setup fee and usually runs faster than the first one. One honest caveat on yarn: dye lots shift between production runs, so a repeat batch can read half a shade off. If exact matching matters, say so on the first order and we'll buy the whole quantity from a single dye lot and hold it for you.

Around 300 crochet or hand-embroidered pieces a month across the whole studio, and up to 2,000 printed pieces. Past that we'd either be turning you down or quietly farming it out to a factory, and we won't do the second one without telling you first. If your number is bigger, come to us early — split across two months, a lot becomes possible.

Close, but not identical — that's the nature of hand work. Expect up to about a quarter inch (5 mm) of variation in finished size and small differences in stitch tension between pieces; we inspect every one and pull anything that drifts further than that. If your team truly needs 100 pieces that match exactly, say for a trade show giveaway, our printed line is the honest recommendation.