Sending fabric from Canada for stitching: is it worth it?

When sending your own fabric makes sense

• You already own it. Many people in Canada have unstitched suits bought on trips, during sales or as Eid gifts, waiting for a tailor. The stitching page for Canada is made for exactly this.
• It is part of a set. A family wedding where everyone has the same fabric, or a suit that matches a sister’s, needs that particular cloth.
• It carries meaning. A dupatta from your mother or fabric from a trip home is worth the extra step.
• You know the brand’s fabric. If you buy a label’s lawn every season and love how it washes, keep using it.

When Fabric + Stitching is the easier route

If you are starting from an idea rather than a piece of cloth, let us source it. With Fabric + Stitching for Canada, we suggest a fabric for your design and climate, share photos and a description with the quote, and agree it with you in writing before cutting. You skip the trip to the post office, the customs declaration and the wait while your parcel travels to Pakistan.

It also suits anyone outside the big centres. Finding a good unstitched suit in a smaller city can mean a long drive or another online order, and then a second international shipment; one route instead of three journeys is often the sensible choice.

How Stitching Only works from Canada

• Photograph the fabric in daylight and attach the images to your enquiry. Our guide to photographing fabric for a quote shows which shots help.
• Wait for our confirmation. We check that the fabric is suitable for the design, that there is enough of it, and how and where to send it. Do not post anything before this.
• Post it yourself. The first shipment is arranged by you unless your quote says otherwise. Use a tracked service and describe the contents plainly on the customs declaration, with an honest value. More tips are in how to post your fabric.
• Production starts when it arrives. The 5 to 7 working days of production count from the fabric reaching us, provided the quote is approved and paid in full.
• The finished outfit comes back with delivery and any import duties, taxes and customs or courier fees already included in your quote.

Checks to make before you post

Most problems with customer fabric come from quantity and colour. Lay the pieces out and compare them with the label: is there a full shirt length, dupatta and trouser piece? If the design needs longer sleeves or a longer kameez than the pack allows, our article on a suit that is short of fabric explains the options. A quick colour-fastness test on a scrap is worth doing for deep reds and indigos.

Think about lining as well. If a pale lawn needs a lining and the pack does not include one, mention it in your enquiry so it can be planned into the quote.

Costs, currency and changing your mind

Your written quote covers the stitching, any lining or embellishment agreed, and the return shipment to Canada including import charges; the cost of posting your fabric to us is yours unless the quote says otherwise. The quote currency for Canada is agreed when you enquire, and payment is made in full in advance by bank transfer, Wise or a card payment link.

If a paid Stitching Only order is cancelled before cutting, nothing is deducted for fabric, since the fabric is yours; once cutting has started, no refund is possible. The payment and cancellations page sets this out. When you are ready, ask for a Stitching Only quote, or compare routes on the Ottawa page.