FAQ

The United States have removed the duty-free de minimis threshold for imports to the US.

The US import charge is calculated and added to your order as part of your purchase. Your items will be delivered with duties already paid (using the Postal Delivered Duties Paid (PDDP) service). There will be no further import charges. There are no import charges on digital products.

For subscription boxes, the US import duty is collected as part of the shipping fee.

We have experienced intermittent issues with duty fees not applying to orders. If your order has been impacted, our customer service team will reach out to you (via our support email - support@caterpillarcrossstitch.com) to manually add these fees to your order.

We post our items using Royal Mail. Buyers are responsible for any customs or import taxes that may apply in their country. We don’t have any control over delays due to items being held by customs in other countries. The customer is responsible for any import tax or customs charges that may be applicable.

It depends on the delivery services. Some customers choose standard shipping at checkout which is cheaper but generally takes longer and there is no tracking available. If you choose the Tracked and Signed shipping option, this generally is quicker and there is tracking available.

UK items can take anywhere from 1 day to 4 weeks to arrive and for international items, anywhere from 7 days to 10 weeks to arrive. Thank you for your patience.

Please note our dispatch times are separate to shipping estimate times. During periods of Royal Mail strike action, please note that these periods may be extended in the circumstances. You can find out more about Royal Mail deliveries here.

The costs depend on your location, the weight of your order and the current Royal Mail rates. Your shipping options will be displayed at checkout, after you enter your shipping address. For all international orders, we recommend selecting the tracked shipping option. We offer 1st Class, 2nd Class, Signed For, International Standard and International Tracked.

Providing the item ordered is in stock, we will post your order within 3 working days. For all stitch-a-long and pre-order items other than the Advent calendar box, we aim to ship your order within 14 working days. 

For all 2026 Advent Calendar Box pre-orders, orders will be shipped in batches between August and October 2026, based on the order they were placed. Any items ordered together at the same time under the same order number (6 digits starting with #) will be shipped together.

We deliver to over 50 countries worldwide. The customer is responsible for any charges levied by their bank, PayPal or other debit/credit card provider for currency exchanges or purchases from the UK, if they are based overseas. For any queries relating to exchange rates or bank charges, please contact your bank or PayPal directly. We have no authorisation or control over these charges. We recommend selecting the Tracked shipping option for international orders.

If you have any open orders that have not been dispatched yet you must contact our Customer Service team at support@caterpillarcrossstitch.com to update your shipping address. If your order has already been packaged up and processed for collection or already dispatched we are unable to amend the shipping details and your order will be shipped to the shipping address provided at the time of order. Please therefore contact us as soon as possible. If you update your shipping address on your account then this will only apply to orders made after the change.

Once our postal provider has collected your order then you will receive a shipping confirmation email to notify you that your order is on its way to you.

If you have paid for tracked shipping and your order is showing as delivered please check whether it has been left in a secure location or with a neighbour. If, after checking, you are still unable to locate your package, then please contact us at support@caterpillarcrossstitch.com.

No, all details supplied are not held by us, they are securely used and processed via paypal. We can guarantee the complete security of our site and payment processing SSL via Shopify. SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is the security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral.

We reserve the right to refund and cancel any order based on the misuse of discount codes or any other conduct we deem inappropriate.

I'm afraid not. We include details on the product listing of the items' condition being seconds with small imperfections. Items in seconds bundles cannot be swapped, exchanged or returned.

Yes, we offer a 28-day money back guarantee. Please contact us at support@caterpillarcrossstitch.com and we will provide further details on how to return your unused, unopened and undamaged item to us and a refund will be processed within 10 days. The customer is responsible for the return shipping cost. Any issues with a lost order must be raised within 15 weeks since dispatch or we cannot process a replacement. Digital products, due to their instant nature of delivery, cannot be refunded.

On the final checkout page, there is a box under the total price, in which you can enter any active discount code and it will be automatically applied. Please note, discount codes cannot be combined with any other offer e.g. a bundle discount and subscription deal. The bundle offer will be applied first. Please note, any offers (where you are required to spend a certain amount before the monetary amount can be deducted) will need to be viewed in GBP currency. Unfortunately, any currency conversion will not be applicable if the amount does not meet the required spend at the point of checkout.

We have plenty of recommendations for beginner cross stitch kits. Any ongoing stitch-a-long is also perfect for beginners and a great opportunity to learn from the community. We always recommend selecting 14 count aida fabric if you are new to the craft.

Our kits come with everything you need to create the finished project. They include:

• Full, easy-to-follow instructions
• Colour professionally printed pattern
• Pre-sorted card thread holder(s)
• Finest DMC stranded cotton in the shades and lengths to fit your project
• A piece of fabric large enough to complete and display your creation on
• 1 needle

Please note that if you have ordered a stitch-a-long kit, this will not contain a printed pattern. Your pattern parts are sent to you via email on the release dates outlined in your welcome letter.

Yes. If you join part way through, you will receive an email titled 'Your downloads are ready' once your order is confirmed. This will contain the link to download any pattern parts released to date. Any further parts will then be sent to you via email on their release date.

Most of our cross stitch kits are also available as digital patterns. If you can't find what you're after, please do get in touch!

In the very early days, we did offer printed patterns for stitch-a-longs but unfortunately, the logistics of printing multiple pattern pages and shipping these to various locations to be received on the same day was very challenging.

Stitchers enjoy the flexibility of PDF patterns so they can choose to use them on a desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile device and zoom in. They can choose to print the patterns if they wish, somewhere local and cost effective for them e.g. at home, at work, at a library, office centre, supermarket or using an online printing service. This means we can have the same PDF pattern file sent to thousands of stitch-a-long members at the exact same moment!

Stitch-a-long projects are hosted over a number of months and include support, monthly (or even fortnightly) pattern files and emails, admin and time spent by our Caterpillar team on hosting the project.

When a SAL ends, the full standard kit is released and the price drops in line with our other designs.

We always include generous amounts of thread in our kits to allow for minor mistakes, and most customers find they have some to spare. If you run out of thread due to significant errors or large sections being unpicked, we’re unable to offer free replacements free of charge, but please contact support@caterpillarcrossstitch.com and we may be able to organise for you to purchase extra thread or a full replacement thread card.

However, if it appears that your kit was supplied with insufficient thread due to an error on our part, we will absolutely send the missing thread free of charge. These cases are assessed individually to ensure a fair outcome.

We do not offer commissions or personalised patterns, and we only work with select magazines and companies on collaborations.

However, we highly recommend taking a look at our sister platform www.loveitstitchit.com, where you can create and sell your own cross stitch patterns!

You will first be charged on the day you subscribe.

On the bi-monthly subscription, payments will then be automatically processed bi-monthly (every 2 months) from the day you subscribe.

On the annual subscription, payments will then be automatically processed annually (every 12 months) from the day you subscribe.

If you cancel your subscription after a payment has already been processed, you will still receive that box but any future boxes and payments won't be charged. If you need any assistance, please email support@caterpillarcrossstitch.com.

If you are on a bi-monthly subscription, you can edit your next charge date or skip an upcoming payment yourself within your account on our website. Or you can email us on support@caterpillarcrossstitch.com and we can change the next charge date for you.

If you have an annual subscription (with 15% off all 6 boxes) these cannot be skipped.

If you have an active subscription, the payment is taken automatically and a new box shipped out every 2 months - you don't need to do anything.

Please refer to the payment periods and shipping dates for our upcoming boxes on the product listing here: Caterpillar Club Subscription (please see the final image on the carousel titled 'Upcoming Caterpillar Club Boxes')

If you are placing a new subscription order, the first box you will receive is the box featured on the product listing at the point of purchase.

If you are unsure which box your order or upcoming payment corresponds to, please reach out via email (support@caterpillarcrossstitch.com) and we can confirm this for you.

Please change your shipping address within your subscription, as well as on your account. This can be done on the ‘My Account’ page by clicking the ‘Manage Subscriptions’ button. If you’re unsure, please send an email to support@caterpillarcrossstitch.com and we can check this for you.

Patterns may not be resold in any form and they may not be offered for free in any forum, such as a blog. Finished items may be donated to charity or gifted, but may not be sold without our permission - please contact support@caterpillarcrossstitch.com if you have any specific questions.

Unfortunately, we are unable to sell finished pieces. One sample of each pattern is made for photography purposes and these need to be kept for publicity.

In most cases, customers are required to make the first payment at the time of purchase. The remaining three payments are due fortnightly and will be drawn from your selected payment method. If you would like to make additional unscheduled payments before they are due, this would need to be arranged directly with Clearpay.

Clearpay accepts all risk of payment from customers and merchant settlements will not be affected by the customer’s payments. Customer payments are not visible to Caterpillar Cross Stitch.

Clearpay sends payment reminders via SMS and email prior to payments becoming due. It is also easy to view your orders and payment schedules on clearpay.co.uk or in the Clearpay App.

Refunds for customers using the Clearpay payment option will follow our Caterpillar Cross Stitch standard return policy, the refund will be sent to the designated Clearpay account and then to you the customer.

Once the refund is processed to your Clearpay account, if funds are owed to you, it will be processed to the card(s) associated with the payment instalment(s). For this reason, we cannot offer an exchange for Clearpay orders.

Once the refund is processed with Clearpay, your Clearpay payment plan is adjusted to reflect the new total order value, starting with the last payment and working backward.

Clearpay will only process refunds initiated by Caterpillar Cross Stitch.

Once Clearpay has approved an order, order details cannot be modified, and items cannot be added to the order. We encourage customers to place a new, and separate order if they would like to add additional items to their purchase.

Please contact support@caterpillarcrossstitch.com for cancellations and/or refund requests.