Why there are no free fabric samples, and what to ask for

Why many made-to-order makers skip swatches

Samples make sense for a shop that sells the same cloth by the roll to a great many buyers. A maker who buys fabric for each order is in a different position, and a few practical reasons tend to apply.

• The fabric is bought for your order. There is often no large stock to cut swatches from, and cutting into a length bought for one outfit can leave it short.
• Posting abroad is slow and costly relative to a small piece of cloth, and it adds a round trip before your outfit can even be started.
• A swatch is not always the cloth you get. Dye batches vary, so a snippet from one roll can differ slightly from the next.

What a swatch tells you, and how to find out otherwise

Think about what you would actually do with a sample, and ask for each answer directly. Our guide to choosing fabric from photos explains how to read the pictures once they arrive.

• You would check the colour: ask for a daylight photo with something white beside the cloth.
• You would hold it up to the light: ask whether it is see-through and whether the design needs lining.
• You would feel the weight: ask for a comparison with a fabric you know, such as “lighter than a cotton shirt”.
• You would rub it between your fingers: ask for the fibre, the finish and how it creases.
• You would think about washing it: ask how it should be cared for.

Learning the feel near home

Feel is the one thing a photo cannot carry, and you can learn it without a sample. Visit a fabric shop near you and handle a few standard cloths: a fine cotton lawn, a crisper cambric or poplin, a chiffon, a linen. Once you know how they feel, a description such as “similar to cambric but softer” means something in your hands. The fabric guides describe the common cloths, starting with lawn.

If you want to touch the exact fabric before anything is made, choose it yourself. With Stitching Only you buy and handle the cloth, confirm with us that it suits the design, then post it to us in Pakistan.

Agreeing the fabric before cutting

Whichever route you take, the fabric and colour are agreed in your written quote before anything is cut. If a suggestion is not right, say so and ask for another. Colours can look slightly different in the cloth than in a photo, and a small difference in shade is not a fault, so if a particular shade matters, tell us before you pay. To see what we would suggest for your outfit, ask for a Fabric + Stitching quote.