If you are just getting started with Dressmaker, there are quite a few small things that can make designing and creating dresses much easier. In this post, I will share the tips and tricks I have learned, from making money and handling commissions to measuring customers, choosing fabrics, cutting patterns, sewing, and decorating.
Some parts of Dressmaker can feel a little confusing at first, especially when you are trying to meet commission requirements or get the best possible quality from a dress. I found that knowing a few simple tricks can save you a lot of time, materials, and money.
So, whether you are struggling with pattern cutting, sewing, fabric selection, or simply want to progress faster, I have put together everything below to make the whole process a bit easier for you.
Dressmaker Beginner Guide – Tips for Making Money
One of the easiest ways to make some extra money is by creating dresses off-rack and selling them rather than making them for a commission.
You can sell these dresses directly, and the quality and materials you use will affect how much money you receive.
Use Scrap Material to Make Money
Burlap is a free material that you can sell for a little money, but using your scrap materials can be much more profitable.
So, if you have a bunch of leftover material sitting around, don’t immediately ignore it. You can turn it into a quick dress and sell the finished product.
Accidentally Bought Too Much Fabric?
If you accidentally buy a lot of material that you don’t actually need, don’t worry.
You can make a quick off-rack dress using that material and sell it. This can help you recover the money you spent and, depending on the materials and dress quality, potentially make some extra money as well.
How Dress Selling Prices Are Calculated
The selling price of an off-rack dress is affected by several things:
- Material: More expensive materials generally give you a better selling price.
- Labor: This is believed to be based on the time spent creating the dress.
- Quality: Quality can provide a multiplier of up to 150%.
- Prestige: Your rank in the game can provide another multiplier of up to 150%.
So, if you want to make more money, don’t just focus on using expensive fabric. Your quality and prestige can also make a big difference.
Check a Commission Dress Price
If you want to see how much a commission dress would sell for, there is a little trick you can use.
Press Sell to see the price, then simply cancel instead of actually selling the dress.
Just be careful not to accidentally confirm the sale!
Unlocking Off-Rack Dresses
From what I have seen, you need to complete the first three dresses before you can start making off-rack dresses.
After that, you can open your sketchbook and turn to the next page to access them.
Use the Pigeon
The pigeon can be unlocked fairly early in the game and lets you invite certain characters into your store.
This gives you another way to interact with characters and create dresses for them.
Measuring, Designing, and Choosing Fabric
There are a few useful tricks during the measuring and designing stages that can save you a lot of time.
Load Previous Measurements
You don’t have to measure the same person again every time.
After measuring someone, you can use the button underneath Confirm to load their measurements again.
This is especially useful when you are making multiple dresses for the same character.
Pay Attention to “Max” Requirements
Some commission requirements will have a maximum value.
When you see something marked as “max,” you simply need to stay below that number. You can even keep the value at 0 if the requirement allows it.
You don’t always need to aim for a specific positive value.
Don’t Stress About Hitting Every Requirement During Design
When you are first drafting your design, you don’t necessarily need to hit every requirement perfectly.
Your fabrics can contribute a lot toward the final values, so don’t worry if your initial design doesn’t completely satisfy every requirement.
Understand the Design Bars
When drafting your dress, you will see different colored sections that help show where your values are going.
The yellow line shows where you want the value to be.
The dark green bar represents what you will definitely have.
The striped green bar shows a possible range depending on how much of the fabric you use.
This is useful because it lets you see how your material choices can change the final result.
Watch Out for Negative Values
Some patterns, fabrics, and accessories can actually give you negative values for certain traits.
So, don’t automatically choose something just because it looks good. Check the stats it contributes before adding it to your design.
Gold, Red, and Gray Trait Bars
When selecting a pattern, fabric, or accessory, you may see different colored bars highlighting certain traits.
Generally:
- Gold = something you want.
- Red = something you want to avoid.
- Gray = no impact.
Keep an eye on these colors when trying to meet a commission’s requirements.
Quickly Find a Fabric You Already Own
If you want to use more of a fabric you already have, you don’t need to spend ages searching through your inventory.
Simply tap the fabric in your inventory and it will bring up that specific fabric.
This is a small trick, but it can save you quite a bit of time when you are working with lots of materials.
Check for Extra Design Options
Some designs have additional options available.
When you are choosing a design, look for the small dots underneath the design name. These indicate that the design has more variations or options for you to choose from.
Pattern Cutting Tips
Pattern cutting is another part of Dressmaker where a few small tricks can make things much easier.
You Can Skip Straightening Patterns
If you want to maximize the amount of fabric you can use, you don’t necessarily have to straighten out your patterns.
You can position them in a way that makes better use of your available fabric.
The downside is that this can reduce your quality, so make sure you compensate by getting your sewing percentage as close to 100% as possible.
Recycle Cut Patterns
Made a mistake or don’t like the fabric you used?
You can recycle your cut patterns.
Simply drag the pattern from the side menu and the option should appear, allowing you to get rid of the unwanted cut pattern instead of being stuck with your mistake.
Unroll More or Less Fabric
When cutting patterns, you can use A and D or the arrow controls to unroll more or less material.
This is useful when you want to adjust how much fabric is available without immediately trimming it.
See Where Patterns Belong
You can now hover your mouse over a pattern for a moment to see where that particular pattern belongs on the mannequin.
This is extremely useful when you have several similar-looking pieces and aren’t sure where they need to go.
Pattern Direction Matters
Pay close attention to the direction in which you cut your patterns.
If you accidentally cut a pattern upside down, it can cause problems later.
So before committing to a cut, make sure the pattern is facing the correct direction.
Rotate Patterns With the Mouse Wheel
You don’t have to rely only on the arrow buttons to rotate patterns.
You can also use your mouse wheel to rotate them, which can be a little quicker when you are trying to position several pieces.
Sewing and Assembly Tips
Sewing can be one of the trickier parts of Dressmaker when you are still learning the controls.
Fortunately, there are several settings and tricks that can make it easier.
Turn On Sewing Assist
If you are struggling with sewing, go into the settings and turn on Sewing Assist.
This helps move the fabric for you while sewing.
You still need to pay attention, especially around corners, but it can make the process much easier.
One useful technique is to slow down around corners or stop briefly.
You can also use a simple tap, tap, tap rhythm instead of trying to hold the movement continuously.
Be Careful When Unsewing
Be careful when you decide to unsew a pattern while assembling your dress.
If you unsew something that is already part of the assembled dress, you may need to sew it again afterward.
So before unsewing something, make sure you actually need to remove it.
Something Won’t Unsew?
If you are trying to unsew something and it doesn’t seem to work, check whether another object is pinned on top of it.
An accessory or another piece can sometimes block you from selecting the part you want to unsew.
Enable the Accessory Rotation Gizmo
If you want more control over your decorations, you can enable Accessory Rotation Gizmo in the settings.
This gives you access to the full X, Y, and Z rotation controls, which can be extremely useful when placing advanced decorations.
Deal With Sleeves
Sleeves can sometimes get in your way while assembling the dress.
If that happens, you can temporarily remove them or simply leave them until the end.
This can make the rest of the assembly process much less annoying.
Use Small Distances for Trims
When working with trims, smaller distances generally work better than using large distances.
This gives you more control over the placement and helps you create cleaner-looking details.
Zoom In for Small Details
Don’t forget that you can zoom in.
This is particularly useful when working with tiny accessories, lace, trims, and other small decorations where it can otherwise be difficult to see exactly what you are doing.
Your Sewing Percentage Can Improve
Making a mistake while sewing can lower your quality, but don’t assume that your final percentage is permanently ruined.
If you perform better during the rest of the sewing process, your sewing percentage can increase again.
So, if you make a mistake early on, keep going and try to finish strongly.
Duplicate Accessories
When adding accessories, holding Shift can duplicate the accessory you are placing.
This is especially useful when you need to place multiple copies of the same decoration.
Remove an Entire Lace or Trim
If you want to remove a complete lace, trim, or similar decoration, click it once.
An X should appear inside a square at the top. Click that to remove the selected decoration.
Basic Camera Controls
You can use WASD to pan the camera up and down.
You can also use your scroll wheel to rotate the mannequin.
These controls are simple, but getting comfortable with them makes designing and decorating much easier.
Extra Dressmaker Tips
There are a few other things that are easy to overlook.
Can’t Finalize Your Dress?
If you are unable to finalize a dress, there is a good chance that you have missed a pattern or something hasn’t been sewn correctly.
Go back through your dress carefully and check that every required piece is present and properly assembled.
Always Use Filters
Make sure you use the filtering system whenever possible.
You can filter by design type and fabric, which makes finding exactly what you need much quicker.
This becomes increasingly useful as your collection grows.
Gifting Dresses Helps You Level Up
Gifting a dress to a character increases your level with that character.
As you reach higher levels with them, you can unlock new patterns for your sketches.
So, if you are trying to expand your collection of designs, don’t forget about gifting.
Customize Photo Mode
Photo mode gives you several customization options.
You can change the:
- Mannequin color
- Background
- Lighting
This is useful if you want to take better-looking screenshots of your finished creations.
Change Thread Color
You can also change the thread color while in sewing mode.
Simply click the spool to access the thread color option.
Ctrl + Shift + C
There is also a Ctrl + Shift + C shortcut that appears to activate cheats or additional tools.
From what has been observed, this can allow you to import and export designs.
Because this may be an experimental or development-related feature, use it carefully and keep in mind that its behavior could change.
What to Do If You Find a Bug
If you run into a bug while playing Dressmaker, one of the best things you can do is report it through the game’s Discord.
Reporting bugs gives the developers more information about problems players are experiencing and can help them investigate and fix them in future updates.
Those are all the Dressmaker tips and tricks I have learned so far. There are a lot of small mechanics in this game that aren’t immediately obvious, but once you know them, designing and creating dresses becomes much easier.
My biggest advice is to experiment with your fabrics, learn how the quality system works, use filters whenever you can, and don’t be afraid to recycle a pattern if you make a mistake.
And most importantly, have fun designing. Dressmaker gives you a lot of freedom with patterns, fabrics, accessories, and decorations, so take your time and create something you actually like.