Dressmaker Money and Fabrics Guide: Off-the-Rack Sales and Style Tags

Last updated 15 October 2026 · Every tip below links to the source it came from.

The Steam page lists the fabrics Dressmaker uses: cotton, linen, wool, silk and velvet. Besides commissions, you can sell ready-made dresses off the rack, which several player guides recommend for making money.

How off-the-rack prices work

Seerolz credits a player on the Dressmaker Discord with the price factors: material cost, labour (time spent), a Quality multiplier of up to 150% (grain and sewing) and a Prestige multiplier of up to 150% (shop rank). tuxedoClowns estimates the formula as:

(materials + sewing time) × (quality bonus + prestige bonus − 100) / 100

In his example, 500 g of cloth at 150 Quality and 110 Prestige sells for about 805 g. This is a player's estimate, not an official number. He also found that stacking expensive accessories such as brooches (Shift-click to repeat) raises the sale price a lot.

Burlap: free practice fabric

Burlap is free. Chaseit calls burlap off-rack dresses "100% profit" and good for prototyping a design. The catch, according to yzsk, is that burlap's only style tag is Uncomfortable, so it drags other tags down.

Cheap fabrics max most style tags

yzsk went through the game data (build 410) and found that "for 18 of the 22 style tags, the best number any fabric gives is already for sale when you start the game, usually on a 10g cotton or wool." Examples from that guide:

• Black Wool Pinstripes (10 g): Gothic 80, Patterned 100, Professional and Warm
• Amethyst Cotton (10 g): Casual, Cool, Daywear and Simple
• Aqua Blue Cotton (10 g): Cute and Playful
• Strawberry Fields Cotton Print (15 g): Flowers 100
• French Floral Black Lace (30 g): Risqué and Eveningwear

The same guide says tag scores are weighted by part: bodice 35%, skirt 40%, sleeves 15% and collar 10%. Rules like "Sequin: at least 10%" are measured by fabric area.

Don't waste fabric

• Leave the excess on the roll. A recycled piece only returns its fabric if the excess hasn't been cut away (dreamcatcheross).
• To fix one stat late in a design, re-cut a small or hidden piece, such as lace, a ruffle or an underskirt, in a different fabric (dreamcatcheross).
• Fabrics and accessories you've added to a design show up starred at the top of the list later (Seerolz).

Sources

1. Dressmaker on Steam (official store page, Cozy Lives / Free Lives) (Official, read 15 Oct 2026)
2. "Thing's I've Learned" by Seerolz (Steam Community guide, read 15 Oct 2026)
3. "How to make money in DressMaker" by tuxedoClowns (Steam Community guide, read 15 Oct 2026)
4. "You don't need expensive fabric for tag scores" by yzsk (Steam Community guide, read 15 Oct 2026)
5. "Dressmaker 100% Achievements Guide" by chaseit (Steam Community guide, read 15 Oct 2026)
6. "Expanding On The Tutorial (With Images!!)" by dreamcatcheross (Steam Community guide, read 15 Oct 2026)

Player guides reflect the game version at the time they were written; patches can change numbers. Dressmaker Game is an unofficial fan site and is not affiliated with Cozy Lives or Free Lives.