Embroidering plain fabric before it is stitched

Why placement comes first

Embroidery on uncut fabric works like a printed placement panel in a lawn suit: it only looks right if it ends up where it was meant to. A neckline design needs your neckline depth, the shape you want and your shoulder width. Sleeve work needs your sleeve length and how wide you want the cuff. A hem border needs the kameez length and how flared the hem will be, because an A-line kameez has a much wider hem than a straight one.

That is why ordering the embroidery and the stitching together is so often the easier path: the cut and the work are planned on the same design. If the fabric will be stitched somewhere else later, you need to give us the finished garment’s measurements, and the stitching then has to follow the embroidery closely.

Fabrics that take embroidery well

Not every plain fabric takes embroidery equally well. These are the things we look at in your photos.

• Weight and weave: stable, medium-weight fabrics such as cambric, khaddar or linen usually hold stitches well. Very fine or loosely woven fabric may pucker under dense work.
• Stretch: fabrics that stretch a lot can distort as they are worked.
• Condition: thin areas, faded spots or old stains can show more once the area around them is embroidered.
• Enough length: embroidery on the hem or sleeves only works if the pieces underneath are long enough for your measurements; our guide to checking you have enough fabric explains how to measure.

Briefing the design

A reference photo is worth more than any description. Show us embroidery you like and say what you like about it: the thread colour, the density, the motif or where it sits. Our guide to machine or hand embroidery explains the general difference between the two, which may help you describe what you are after.

We do not promise a named technique before we have seen the fabric. Instead, tell us the look you want, and the written quote states what can be done on your fabric and design.

Ordering it with the stitching

With Stitching Only, you send your plain fabric and we cut, stitch and embroider it as one outfit. The embroidery level is chosen with the rest of the design: delicate work at the neckline or sleeves, detailed work at the neckline, sleeves and hem, or statement work for Eid and parties. Production takes 5 to 7 working days from the day your fabric arrives and the quote is paid.

Start on the Stitching Only quote form. The unstitched suit stitching page explains the route, and country pages such as fancy work in the UK and in the UAE describe embroidery on outfits we stitch.

Ordering the embroidery only

If you want the embroidered length back unstitched, the order follows the same two shipping stages as Stitching Only.

• Photos and placement: upload photos of the fabric, the embroidery you like and the finished garment measurements on the quote form.
• Confirmation and quote: we confirm the fabric is suitable, what is possible, the placement and how to send it, in a written quote.
• Payment: you approve and pay in full by bank transfer, Wise or a card payment link.
• Both ways: you post the fabric to us in Pakistan, we embroider it, and we ship it back with delivery and any import duties, taxes and customs or courier fees included. The timing is set out in your quote.
• Lace and borders: these are added only to outfits we stitch; on fabric sent for embroidery alone, we offer embroidery.