Frequently Asked Questions

Everything we make is crafted from organic wool, sourced from Tibet and New Zealand and coloured with eco-friendly dyes produced in Switzerland. There's no plastic or synthetic filling in our felt animals — just wool, water, soap and a great deal of skill.

Our felt gifts are designed in Faringdon, Oxfordshire by award-winning British designer Sonia Spencer, and handmade by skilled craftswomen in Kathmandu, Nepal and Jaipur, India. Each piece is made entirely by hand using traditional wet felting and needle felting techniques passed down through generations.

Wet felting uses warm water, soap and friction to bind wool fibres together into a dense, durable fabric — it's how our slippers and larger pieces are formed. Needle felting instead uses barbed needles to tangle the fibres, allowing fine detail like the ears, tails and faces on our Tiny Animals.

Yes. Our skilled makers are paid fairly, work in safe conditions and have the security of consistent, year-round work — we've worked with the same workshops for many years and inspect them annually ourselves.

Very nearly — but not identically, and that's rather the point. Every piece is shaped by hand, so you'll find small variations in expression, posture and shade. No two of our felt animals are quite the same.

Spot-clean where you can: a damp cloth with a little wool detergent, dabbed rather than rubbed, lifts most marks. If a full wash is needed, hand wash in cool water with wool detergent, press out the water without wringing, reshape while damp and dry flat away from direct heat. Never machine wash or tumble dry felt — heat and agitation will shrink and harden it.

Not in normal use. Wool felt only shrinks when it meets heat and movement together, which is why hot machine washes are the one thing to avoid. Cool hand washing and flat drying will keep the shape exactly as it was made.

Felt is real wool, so moths can take an interest, though densely felted wool is far less appealing to them than loose knitwear and we are yet to ever have a customer complain of moths being an issue. If you're storing pieces away for a season, you can keep them somewhere dry and airy with cedar or lavender nearby, and give them an occasional shake and airing.

Measure the length of the foot from heel to longest toe and match it to the sole length below, rather than going by shoe size alone — felt slippers are meant to fit snugly and will soften and mould to the foot with wear.

Children's slipper sizes

Age	UK shoe size	EU	Sole length
0–1 years	1	EU 17	11 cm
1–2 years	4	EU 20	13 cm
2–3 years	8	EU 25	15 cm
4–5 years	10	EU 28	17 cm
6–7 years	12	EU 31	19 cm

Adult slipper sizes

UK shoe size	EU	Sole length
3–4	EU 36/37	22.5 cm
5–6	EU 38/39	25 cm
7–8	EU 40/41	27 cm
9–10	EU 42/43	29 cm

Yes, you can. Enter their address as the delivery address at checkout — we never include an invoice, receipt or pricing in the parcel. Everything arrives ready to give.

Yes, as long as it hasn't been packed. Call us on +44 (0)1367 244441 or email support@sewheartfelt.co.uk as soon as you can — we dispatch same-day on orders placed before 2pm, so speed matters.

Yes. Payments are handled by Shopify's secure checkout and encrypted in transit — we never see or store your card details.

Standard delivery by Royal Mail Tracked arrives 2–3 business days after dispatch and costs £3.99, or free when you spend £45 or more. We dispatch same-day on orders placed before 2pm Monday to Friday; weekend orders go out on Monday.

Yes. Royal Mail Tracked next working day is £6.99 and arrives the next business day, provided you order before 2pm Monday to Friday and everything is in stock. Royal Mail does deliver at weekends, though it isn't guaranteed — orders placed over the weekend will normally arrive on Tuesday.

We also use the DPD Pick Up service, which arrives at your chosen location the following day for you to collect.

Yes. American customers see prices in US dollars, with all customs duties and tariffs already included in the price you see — nothing to pay when your parcel arrives. DHL Express is $39.99 and arrives 1–3 business days after dispatch; the postal service is $14.99 and takes 5–10 business days, free on orders over $99.

Yes, we ship almost everywhere. Every destination has a choice of DHL Express or a slower postal service:

Destination	DHL Express	Postal Service
United Kingdom	—	£3.99, free over £45 · £6.99 next day
USA	$39.99	$14.99, free over $99
Europe (EU & non-EU)	€24.99	€9.99
Canada	£29.99	£11.99
Ukraine	£29.99	£11.99
Australia & New Zealand	£49.99	£19.99
Japan	£49.99	£19.99
Everywhere else	£49.99	£19.99

Exact rates and options for your address are always shown at checkout. Full details are on our delivery page.

For UK, US and European orders, no — duties and taxes are already included in the price you see at checkout, so there is nothing to pay on arrival. For all other destinations, any duties or taxes charged by your country's customs authority are payable by you and are outside our control.

If you're ever asked for a charge on a UK, US or European order, please don't pay it — email us a photo of the notice and we'll resolve it and cover the cost.

No — one delivery charge per order, whatever the stock situation. If something is delayed we'll email you and, where it makes sense, send the rest ahead at no extra cost.

Your dispatch email contains a tracking link, so that's the quickest place to look. If your tracking hasn't updated for five business days on a UK order, or ten on an international one, email support@sewheartfelt.co.uk with your order number — we'll chase it with the carrier and send a replacement if it's genuinely lost.

Email support@sewheartfelt.co.uk with your order number within 30 days of receiving your order, telling us what you'd like to return or exchange. We'll reply with instructions, and you post it back within 14 days of hearing from us.

Unused, in its original packaging and in resaleable condition, unless it's faulty.

You do if you've changed your mind, and we'd suggest a tracked service — until it reaches us the parcel is your responsibility. If an item is faulty, damaged or simply not what you ordered, we cover the cost entirely.

If you cancel within 14 days of receiving your order, yes — we refund the item price plus our standard delivery charge, as UK consumer law requires. If you chose an express service, we refund the standard rate. Between 15 and 30 days we're still happy to refund the item price, but not the original delivery charge.

Email us a photo at support@sewheartfelt.co.uk before sending anything back. In most cases we'll simply post a replacement, and you won't need to return the original at all.

We process refunds within 5 business days of your return arriving with us, back to your original payment method. Your bank may then take a further 3–5 days to show it. For US and European orders, any duties included in the price are refunded along with the item.

Yes — for a different animal, colour or slipper size. Email us and we'll arrange it.

Sew Heart Felt, Unit 13 RAC Estate, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 7BP, United Kingdom.

All returns, including those from the USA and elsewhere, come back to our Oxfordshire studio. We don't currently offer free international returns.

Personalised and made-to-order pieces can't be returned unless they're faulty — a statutory exception under UK consumer law.

Yes — we supply independent gift shops, garden centres and department stores across the UK and beyond. You can register for a trade account, or call us on +44 (0)1367 244441 and we'll send our current trade catalogue and terms.