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Dressmaker cutting table: scissors and the buttons

Lay your pieces on the fabric, pick up the scissors with the Scissors button under it, and click each piece to cut it out. If a piece won't cut, it's touching something, so slide it to a clear spot.

The buttons under the fabric

The little buttons under the fabric have no words on them, but each one shows its name when you rest the pointer on it. Here's what each one does:

The bar under the fabric shows its name, how many metres are on the roll, and its tags. The cutting room has four little buttons with no words on them, but each one shows its name when you rest the pointer on it. From left to right: Scissors picks up your scissors, Discard fabric picks them up to cut off used fabric, Toggle Seam Allowance (the eye) shows or hides the seam allowance, and Return all panels to inventory sends every piece lying out on the table back to your inventory. The round arrows at each end slide you along the fabric.

Go gently with the Discard fabric button. Fabric you cut off with it is gone for good, so read Cut off the used fabric before you try it.

Pieces all over the table? The Return all panels to inventory button sends every loose piece back to your inventory in one go. Pieces already on the mannequin stay where they are.

Cut a piece, step by step

1Lay your pieces on the fabric

Tutorial

Select the fabric you'd like to use by clicking on it in the sidebar.

To begin cutting, switch to patterns on the sidebar.

Drag your pattern pieces onto the fabric to begin cutting.

A right click sends a piece back to your inventory:

Send to inventory

Not sure where a piece goes on the dress? The pattern pieces page shows the spot for every one.

2Turn each piece to the grain

Tutorial

Aligning the grain line horizontally will result in a higher quality garment.

Use the rotation knob to rotate the pattern piece so it aligns with the horizontal grain line

In the cutting room, roll the mouse wheel to turn the selected piece, 9 degrees at a time.
The arrow on the piece you've picked changes colour as you turn it: green on the straight grain, orange on the cross grain, blinking red when it's off. A bias-cut piece blinks red until it lines up, then turns green.

The grain guide explains the arrow colours and the score.

3Pick up the scissors and cut

Tutorial

Now select the scissors and click on the pattern piece to cut it out.

Pick up the scissors with the first button. You can also click the scissors lying on the table, but they stay where they are, so they drop out of view as you move along the fabric. While you hold them, they follow your pointer and the bar under the fabric hides. Point at a piece until it gets an outline, then click to cut it out. A right click, or a quick click on an empty spot, puts them down.

If your pointer vanishes when you pick up the scissors, it's a known issue with a second screen or a gamepad.

When a piece won't cut

A piece won't cut while it touches another piece, a hole from an earlier cut, the edge of the fabric or the roll. Holes from your other dresses count too. Move the piece to a clear spot and click it again.

Unroll more fabric

Slide along the fabric with A and D, with the round arrows, or by dragging an empty part of the fabric. With the scissors in your hand, the mouse wheel slides it too. It unrolls as you go, up to the end of the roll. The table never shows more than 10 m of it at once.
The table shows one fabric at a time. Click another fabric in the sidebar to switch. Pieces you laid out on the first one wait there until you come back.

When you reach the end of what the table shows, cut off the part you've already used, and the rest of the roll slides into reach.

Fit more pieces on less fabric

A snug layout leaves more of the roll for your next dress. Start at the left end and work to the right, so the used part is easy to cut off later.

The grain line works both ways. Turn a piece end to end and its grain score stays the same, so you can turn pieces round to tuck them closer together and save fabric. The print turns with it, though: on a fabric with a clear up and down, that piece's print ends up upside down.

Which way will the print face?

Grain works the same on every fabric: the score only looks at the piece's angle, never at the fabric or its print. The print you see on a cut piece is the patch of fabric that lay under it, turned the way the piece was turned.

So a piece takes the print just as you see it on the table. Slide it over the part you want on the dress. On a fabric whose print points one way, keep all the pieces the same way up.

Cut off the used fabric

Cutting a piece uses the fabric under it straight away. The length shown for that fabric only drops later, when you cut off the used slice.

Tutorial

You can discard used parts of your fabric to make space for more pieces by pressing the discard fabric button.

To cut off fabric you've used, press Discard fabric under the fabric. The scissors then slide along the bottom edge of the roll, with a line and a label that says how much fabric will go. Click, and everything to the left of the line is cut off. Right-click to put the scissors down. Any cut pieces still on the table go back to your inventory first. The ordinary scissors never cut fabric off.
If any part of a piece you haven't cut yet lies left of the line, nothing is cut and that piece shakes. Move it out of the way, then try again.
If less than 5 cm of that fabric would be left, the rest goes too: the fabric leaves your list, and any pieces you laid on it go back to your inventory.

Be sure before you click, though:

Once you cut off a used slice, that fabric is gone for good. The bin can still turn the piece back to paper, but those metres never come back.

Only the Discard fabric button cuts fabric off the roll. The scissors from Scissors only cut out pieces, so the edge of the roll is safe while you work. Picked up the discard scissors by mistake? Right-click to put them down.

Undo a cut with the bin

Tutorial

You can always recut or dispose if you are unhappy - you will get back the piece of fabric you used!

Changed your mind about a piece? Drag it to the bin before you cut off the used slice. The cut is undone and that fabric is yours to use again.

If the piece is already sewn on, start with the steps to swap the fabric of one piece.

When you run out of fabric

Every piece you cut uses up fabric, so buy a little more than you think you'll need.

Buying more of a fabric you already own adds the metres to the same roll. You can buy a metre at a time and top up later.
Burlap is the only fabric at the International Emporium that costs 0 gold.

Short on gold? The money guide has more ideas.

Line up a print

The eye hides the seam allowance, the extra border around each piece, so you can line up a print by eye. You can also press F5 to show it and F6 to hide it. It only changes the look: the scissors still cut the full shape, and picking them up brings the border back.

The developers share a tip for matching a print across two pieces.

When the table keeps flashing

Some players see the cutting table keep flashing red after every piece is cut, most often on Flamboyant Funeral. It's on our known issues list. First, look for a piece still lying on the table, because some are easy to miss. If it keeps flashing, save and quit, then load your game again. That fixed it for several players.

Red outline on black lace or fabric?

A tip from players: dark lace, trim and fabric get a thin red outline. Moderators on the official Discord say that's on purpose, to keep black things easy to see against black. If you'd rather not see it, switch off Outlines in the settings.

Common mistakes

Laying a piece over an old hole or against the roll, then wondering why the scissors do nothing.
Cutting off used fabric while a piece you haven't cut yet still sits on that part. Move the piece first.
Looking for the buttons while you hold the scissors. Put the scissors down and they come back.
Pressing Discard fabric and clicking before you check the line. Fabric you cut off is gone for good.
Turning a piece end to end on a fabric with a clear up and down, then finding its print upside down on the dress.