How to use ThimbleKit

Step 1: Create your account

Tap “Start free”. Sign up with Google, or with your name, email and a password. Then name your workshop, pick what you make, and choose the currency you charge in.

What you make decides the measurement fields you start with. You can rename, add or remove fields any time in Settings.
Step 2: Add a client

Tap the + button, then “Add client”. A name is all you need. Add their WhatsApp number too, so you can message them and send links with one tap.

No need to copy your whole notebook on day one. Add clients as they come in.
Step 3: Save their measurements

On the client’s page, fill in what you took at the fitting. Each set is kept with its date, so next time you can see how their sizes changed.

Client far away? Tap “Ask them to fill in”. They get a link with a picture for each measurement, and nothing is saved until you check it.
Step 4: Create the order

Tap the + button, then “New order”. Pick the client, write what you’re making and when it’s due. Add the price, any deposit they paid, and photos of the style or the fabric. Making something for display or to sell, with no client yet? Choose “Workshop piece” instead.

If that week is already full, ThimbleKit tells you before you promise the date.
Step 5: Send the tracking link

On the order, tap “Send to” and the client’s name. WhatsApp opens with the message and link already written; just press send. From then on, your client can see the stage, the due date and what’s left to pay, without calling you.
Step 6: Move it along and record payments

As the work moves, tap the button for the next stage, like “Move to Ready”. The client’s link updates by itself. To tell them more, like “Your fabric arrived, cutting starts Monday”, tap “Update” and the note shows on their link. When money comes in, tap “Record a payment”; the balance updates, and you can send them a receipt on WhatsApp.

The stages are yours to rename in Settings: “Cutting”, “Joinery”, “Baking”, whatever fits your craft.

Then, every day

Open ThimbleKit in the morning. “Needs you today” lists late orders, ones due soon, measurements to check and balances still owed. The owner also gets one short email each morning when something is due.

Say the order instead of typing it: On a new order, tap “Tap and say the order” and talk it through, or paste the client’s chat. The form fills itself in, several pieces included, for you to check before saving. More in help
See your month: Money shows what came in this month against last month, who still owes you, and a reminder already written for each of them. More in help
Open it like an app: In your account menu, tap “Add to home screen”. ThimbleKit then opens from your phone’s home screen. More in help
Bring your team: Invite apprentices and staff from Team. Give an order, or one piece of it, to someone with “Assign”, and each person sees theirs under “Mine”. Money and settings stay with you. More in help
See how it’s going: Insights shows the last few months: money in, orders made, how many went out on time, and the weeks ahead against what you can take. More in help
Your records are yours: Download clients, measurements, orders and payments as spreadsheets from Settings, any time. More in help

Getting paid

From the price you agree to the money in your account, without chasing screenshots. The client sees the same numbers you do, on the same link.

Step 1: Send a quote

On the order, add the materials, your workmanship and any other charges, like embroidery or delivery. Tap “Send the quote”, set the deposit you need to start, and WhatsApp opens with the link. Your client sees each line and the total, and accepts with one tap.

Material the client brings is listed but never charged. Once they accept, the same link becomes their invoice, showing what’s paid and what’s left.
Step 2: Let them tell you they’ve paid

Your bank details are on their link and their invoice. After they transfer, they tap “I’ve paid”, enter the amount and add the receipt screenshot. No more digging through WhatsApp for screenshots.

Nothing is added to the order until you confirm it, so a mistyped amount never reaches your books.
Step 3: Check your account and confirm

The owner gets an email straight away, and it shows on the home screen under “Needs you today”. Check your bank, then tap “Confirm received”: the payment is saved with its receipt and their balance updates. If a different amount came in, correct it first. If nothing came, tap “Not received” and they’ll see that on their link.

Confirm from the order page and ThimbleKit offers to send them a receipt on WhatsApp.

Add your bank accounts in Settings and choose which ones clients see. More in help

Several pieces in one order

Twelve styles for one client, or a top, skirt and trouser from the same fabric. Keep them in one order, with one balance and one link, and still follow each piece on its own.

Step 1: List the pieces

On a new order, tap “More than one piece?” and add each one: a gown, a top, a trouser. Give each its own workmanship price if you like, and say which of the order’s materials it’s made from. The fabric is entered once, so six yards for four pieces is never charged four times.

Priced pieces add up to the workmanship on the quote, one line each. Leave them unpriced and set one amount for all of them instead.
Step 2: Move each piece on as it’s done

The order shows its pieces, each with its own stage. Tap one to move it on: the gown can be ready while the trousers are still being sewn. Photos and links can belong to a piece, so everyone on your team knows which style goes with which. When the last piece is ready, the order is ready too.

Moving the whole order moves every piece with it, so a simple job stays one tap.
Step 3: Your client sees what’s ready

Still one link, one balance. On it, your client sees every piece, what it’s made from and how far along it is: “2 of 4 ready so far”. Your notes on each piece stay in the workshop.

A twelve-piece order counts as twelve pieces when ThimbleKit warns you about a full week. More in help

Running the workshop

Fittings, repeat orders and repairs, paying the people who sew with you, knowing what you kept, and remembering the days your clients dress up for.

Step 1: Book fittings

On an order, tap “Book a fitting” and pick the day, a time if you like, and the piece it’s for. Your client sees it on their link, and it shows on your home screen the day before with a WhatsApp reminder written. Afterwards, mark it done, or that they didn’t come.

The owner’s morning email lists the day’s fittings too.
Step 2: Make it again

A client wants last year’s style again, or the same for a sister? On the old order, tap “Make it again”. The style, pieces, materials and prices come across with their latest measurements, and the photos can come too. Change anything before saving.
Step 3: Log quick repairs

A zip, a hem, taking in a waist: tap + then “Repair or alteration”. Say what needs doing and the price you agreed. It starts in progress with no measurements or quote, and still gets its tracking link and receipt.
Step 4: Pay your staff by the piece

In Team, open “Pay by the piece” and set each person’s rate. Give a piece (or a whole order) to someone, and once it’s ready it adds to what you owe them. Change the amount for a harder style, then mark it paid when you pay. Staff see only their own.

On Pro and Business.
Step 5: See what you kept

On Money, add what goes out: fabric, transport, rent, power. The month then shows what you spent, by kind, and what you kept of what came in. Staff pay you mark as paid is added for you.

On Pro and Business.
Step 6: Remember your clients’ big days

On a client’s page, add their birthday, anniversary or wedding. Three weeks before, your home screen shows it with a WhatsApp message written, offering to make something for it.

Showing your work

New clients want to see what you’ve made before they call. Your showcase is a page of your finished work with “from” prices, and every request from it lands in the app.

Step 1: Add your finished work

Go to Showcase and tap “Add a piece”. Add a photo, a name and a “from” price, and put pieces in groups like Bridal or Menswear. You can also add a piece straight from a finished order’s photos.

Hide a piece any time without deleting it, for when you’re too busy for more of that style.
Step 2: Share your page

Your showcase has its own link. Put it in your WhatsApp status, your Instagram bio, or send it to anyone who asks to see your work. People browse by group, and message you on WhatsApp from the page.

Switch on the ThimbleKit gallery and your pieces also show where people browse makers by craft and city.
Step 3: Turn requests into orders

When someone taps “Order this” on a piece, or asks for something made, the request waits on your Showcase page and under “Needs you today”. Message them on WhatsApp to agree the details, then tap “Make it an order”: they’re added as a client, and the piece’s photo becomes the order’s style.

The Free plan shows up to 20 pieces; Pro and Business show as many as you like. More in help

Making for a whole group

A wedding party in matching outfits, a choir’s robes, a team’s jerseys: many people, the same thing made, one date. Instead of adding everyone yourself, share one link and let each person add themselves.

Step 1: Set up the group

Tap the + button, then “Group order”. Name it, say what you’re making for each person and when it’s needed. Give one price, or a few options like “Full outfit” and “Cap only”, and choose the measurements to ask for. An option can ask for fewer: a cap only needs the head.

Add photos of the style and the fabric. They’re the first thing people see when they open the link.
Step 2: Share one link in the group chat

Copy the join link into the group’s WhatsApp chat. Each person adds their name, number, the option they want and their own measurements, with a picture for each one. Everyone gets their own order and tracking link, and nobody is added twice.

Measurements people send wait for you to check, like any measurement link. Rather measure them yourself? They can leave the boxes empty.
Step 3: Run everyone from one page

The group page shows who has joined, been measured and paid, and where each order is. Pick people to move them to the next stage together, record one payment that covers several of them, or send reminders on WhatsApp for missing measurements, balances or collection. Download everyone’s measurements as a spreadsheet for the cutting table.
Step 4: Give the organisers their own page

Add up to five coordinators to the group, like the bride and her chief bridesmaid, or the office and a class rep. Each gets a private link that shows who has joined, been measured and paid, and how far along everyone is. They answer the group’s questions without calling you.

They never see anyone’s measurements or phone numbers, and amounts only if you switch them on. Take someone off and only their link stops working.