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Start here: your first hour in Dressmaker

Welcome to the shop! This guide follows Rose's first commission, Librarian Workwear, from the front desk to delivery, in the same order as the tutorial.

What you start with

You start a new game with 400 gold, 3 m each of Charcoal Cotton and Cool Grey Linen, and 5 each of Pearl Shank Button and Gunmetal Shank Button.
You also get the starting patterns, and every fabric and accessory of Rank 0 is already at the International Emporium.

First commission, step by step

Rose asks for Librarian Workwear, with a budget of 200. This is what she asks for:

Librarian Workwear requirements

Quality: 60
Professional: 40

1Measure Rose

Tutorial

Drag the measuring tape onto the client's body to take measurements.

Move the tape to measure the bust, waist, and hips. Hold still for a moment to record each measurement.

All measurements recorded! Click Confirm to accept the commission.

2Design the dress in your sketchbook

Tutorial

Change your design by clicking the arrows next to each component.

You can also click the component name to see available options.

Drag fabric onto the page to test how your design and fabric fit the client's needs.

These tags are just an estimate! The real fabric used affects the final result.

When you are happy with your design, click Draft Pattern.

The pencil only colours in your drawing, so play with colours as much as you like.

3Size the mannequin

Tutorial

Drag the measuring tape onto the mannequin.

Turn the gears to adjust the mannequin's proportions. Match the ghost outlines for the best fit.

Great fit! Click Confirm when you're satisfied with the mannequin sizing.

4Buy fabric at the International Emporium

Tutorial

You should try buy fabrics appropriate to your client's desires - try and find ones that are tagged as professional.

You can filter the available options by clicking the filter button.

Get at least 5 meters of fabric... just to be safe. You can always use it later!

The Emporium tutorial only sends you back to the front desk once you own 5 m more fabric than when you walked in. Any fabric counts, even the free Burlap.
Burlap is free (0 gold per metre), so you can buy it even with an empty purse. It lowers 16 of the 22 tags and raises Uncomfortable by 50 and Patterned by 10.

5Cut the pieces

Tutorial

To begin cutting, switch to patterns on the sidebar.

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

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

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

In the cutting room, roll the mouse wheel to turn the selected piece, 9 degrees at a time.
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.
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.
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.
In the tutorial's cutting lesson, if none of your fabrics is longer than 1 m before every piece is cut, the game tops up each fabric you own to 1.5 m, for free.

6Pin and sew on the mannequin

Tutorial

Drag the cut out fabric pieces from your inventory onto the appropriate spot on the mannequin.

If you are happy with the layout of the pieces, you can sew them together by clicking the sew button.

Drag the mouse left and right to rotate the piece.

Press space to sew.

SpaceSew
ADRotate (at the sewing machine)
WSChange Speed (at the sewing machine)

Seam gone wobbly? At the sewing machine, press R to start it again.

7Add accessories

Tutorial

Click to select an accessory piece, and click on where you want to position it on the dress.

You can drag the items to rearrange, or drag them back to the inventory to remove.

8Finish the dress and hand it over

The Finish Dress button appears once every pattern piece is on the mannequin and every seam is sewn.
The requirement lines have nothing to do with the Finish Dress button. The game only checks them when you deliver the dress.

Once the last seam is sewn, you'll see the first card below. Press Finish Dress and take your photo, and the second card appears. Choose Complete Commission to hand the dress to Rose.

Sewing Complete!

You may add accessories, or click below when the dress is finished.

Finish Dress

Dress Complete!

Complete CommissionKeep workingSell As Off-Rack

On this very first dress, the second card has no Sell As Off-Rack button, so you can't sell Rose's dress by mistake.

Only Complete Commission completes a commission. If you sell or gift its dress instead, the commission stays open with no dress, and you'll need to sew a new one.
If the dress misses a requirement line, Complete Commission asks you to confirm first. You can still deliver it, but the debrief will count it as failed.
You get a commission's budget when you deliver the dress, even if the dress fails. The exception is 18 story commissions, where a failed dress reopens the commission and you get another try.

Keys and mouse

These are the keys you'll use most, as the game shows them. The controls page has the full list.

CTRLZoom
QERotate
ADRotate (at the sewing machine)
SpaceSew
WSChange Speed (at the sewing machine)

Sewing Assist

You'll find Sewing Assist as a switch in the pause menu, on its Gameplay tab. Press Esc to open it.
Sewing Assist only turns the fabric toward the seam for you. You still do the sewing yourself, with Space or by holding the right mouse button.

Money

You get a commission's budget when you deliver the dress, even if the dress fails. The exception is 18 story commissions, where a failed dress reopens the commission and you get another try.
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.
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.
Burlap is free (0 gold per metre), so you can buy it even with an empty purse. It lowers 16 of the 22 tags and raises Uncomfortable by 50 and Patterned by 10.
You can't sell fabric or accessories back, so it pays to buy just what you need.

There's more in the money guide.

Easy to miss

A trim length line only counts accessories of its own type, Lace Trim or Trim, and only their length. Other accessories and fabric don't add anything. See what the lace and trim lines mean.
An "at most" tag line passes when the dress has that many points or fewer. No points of that tag at all? That passes too. See the "at most" lines.
A colour line looks at every cut piece. A fabric in a colour that isn't allowed breaks it, and so does a two-colour fabric if even one of its colours isn't allowed. See the "Avoid" lines.
The Finish Dress button appears once every pattern piece is on the mannequin and every seam is sewn.
You won't see Complete Commission while the sketchbook is open on an off-the-rack dress. Each open commission keeps its own dress, and the one you finish is whichever page is open in the sketchbook. So turn to that commission's page first.

After the first commission

Story commissions come one at a time. When one is over, ring the bell for the next.
Every whole friendship star you earn with a client unlocks the patterns listed for that star, up to 5 stars.
Each new rank brings that rank's fabrics and accessories to the International Emporium.
Off-the-rack dresses unlock once Fierce Funeral is over, whether the dress succeeds or fails.
Gift Dress opens once Art Appreciator is over, whether the dress succeeds or fails.
The messenger pigeon unlocks once Pigeon Adoption is over, whether the dress succeeds or fails.