Abstract: A fabric pickup device useful for a fabric handling system. The fabric pickup device includes a fluid operated cylinder and piston having four individual fabric clutches attached to the cylinder and aligned with and substantially equality spaced apart from the axis of the piston. Each clutch has a head portion having a plurality, preferably four, resilient pickup fingers spaced apart from one another. A substantially flat actuator plate is attached to the free end of the piston and is oriented perpendicular to the axis of the piston. The actuator plate has a series of apertures for receiving the individual pickup fingers. The openings in the actuator plate are sized such that when the plate is retracted by the action of the fluid cylinder, the resilient fingers of each pickup finger separate and, when the plate is extended, the finger are brought together to grip the top surface of a fabric piece.