Dressmaker: How to Make Money and Unlock Every Achievement

Last Updated on 6 November, 2026

Running a successful dressmaking shop in Dressmaker involves more than choosing attractive fabrics and putting together a beautiful outfit. You must manage commissions, understand how design requirements affect a dress, get the most out of your materials, and build relationships with customers to unlock new patterns.

There are also 32 Steam achievements to collect. Most come from completing customer commissions and preparing outfits for special events, but a few require deliberate crafting challenges or specific decisions during conversations. This guide covers the workshop mechanics, useful shortcuts, money-making methods, commission progression and every achievement, including the one dialogue choice you should not miss.

Before You Start

Most Dressmaker achievements are tied to the game’s 53 main storyline commissions, customer relationships and special occasions. You can complete the story without earning every achievement, so keep an eye on optional requests and the extra challenges that are not part of the main commission chain.

One achievement is missable: Sucker for Punishment. It depends on a particular answer during a conversation with Vivian. Choose the leech when she asks about animals. The conversation is easy to overlook.

The other major completion tasks can be handled as you progress or after finishing the main story. You can continue making dresses, selling them off the rack, accepting pigeon requests and working on crafting challenges after the credits.

Money and Commission Tips

Money becomes easier to manage once you understand the difference between customer commissions and off-the-rack sales. Commissions provide an assigned design brief and a payment for the work, while off-the-rack dresses let you create something independently and sell it through your shop.

Sell dresses off the rack for extra money

Off-the-rack sales are a useful way to turn spare materials into income. After completing the opening dresses, check the next page of your Sketchbook for the option to create a dress without a customer commission. The unlock is reported to become available after the first three dresses.

You can use this system to recover value from materials you bought but no longer need. Make a quick design using the unwanted fabric, finish the dress and sell it. The return depends on the dress, so do not assume every sale will recover the entire purchase price.

Use spare and free materials strategically

Burlap is a free material, but a dress made with it does not necessarily produce the best off-the-rack return. Scrap fabric from other commissions can be more profitable because material value contributes to the sale price.

If you buy too much fabric, consider using it in a separate off-the-rack design. Selling the finished dress can recover some of the cost and may leave you with a profit.

Understand what affects the selling price

The game does not publish a complete off-the-rack pricing formula. Community testing points to four main factors:

• Material: More expensive fabric contributes more value.
• Labor: The amount of work or time invested appears to affect the price.
• Quality: The quality multiplier can reach 150%. Cutting on grain and achieving 100% sewing quality help improve this value.
• Prestige: Your shop rank contributes another multiplier, also reported to reach 150%.

Quality and prestige make a difference, so a well-made dress can earn more than one made with the same materials but weaker construction.

Preview a dress price without selling it

When you want to check the value of a dress, use the Sell option to display its price, then cancel the transaction. This also helps you estimate the potential return on a dress before committing it to a sale.

Get paid for commission work

Commission payments can arrive in two stages: an initial payment before you begin making the dress and another after delivery. This is a useful cash-flow advantage when you need to buy fabric and accessories for a new request, although the exact arrangement may depend on the commission.

Measuring, Designing and Choosing Fabric

The initial design stage determines whether your dress can satisfy a commission’s requirements. You do not have to hit every target immediately, but the patterns, fabrics and accessories you select will influence the final results.

Reuse customer measurements

You do not need to measure a returning customer from scratch. If you have already taken their measurements, use the load-measurements option beneath Confirm to restore the saved figures.

This saves time when a customer returns with another commission and helps you avoid errors.

Read minimum and maximum requirements correctly

Some commission requirements have a maximum value. When a brief says Max, stay below that value. You can even leave the attribute at zero when the requirement does not specify a minimum.

Do not treat every number as a target to reach. A maximum is a ceiling, and exceeding it can make an otherwise suitable dress fail the requirement.

Understand the design preview bars

The design screen uses several visual indicators to show how your choices are likely to affect the finished dress:

• Yellow line: The target value you are trying to reach.
• Solid dark-green bar: The value the current design is expected to achieve.
• Striped green bar: A possible range. The final result depends on how much of the selected fabric you use.

Patterns, fabrics and accessories can change several attributes at once. Some contribute positive values, while others reduce a trait. When comparing an item, gold highlights indicate a positive effect, red indicates a negative effect, and gray means there is no change to that attribute.

Let fabrics do more of the work

Fabric choices usually have a larger effect on commission attributes than accessories. You do not need to force every requirement into the initial sketch by adding decorations. Start with a pattern and fabric combination that moves the important traits in the right direction, then use accessories to refine the result.

When you add a fabric or accessory to the design page, it receives a star and moves toward the top of the corresponding list during pattern cutting or decoration. This is useful when a commission requires a particular material and you need to find it again.

Filter and compare materials

Use the inventory filters to narrow fabric and design choices instead of scrolling through everything. If you want more of a fabric you already own, select that fabric in your inventory to bring up the same material and make it easier to find again.

Some patterns have several design variations. Look for the small dots beneath the pattern name to see whether additional options are available.

Pattern Cutting and Fabric Management

Pattern cutting affects both material efficiency and dress quality. You can fit pieces together to save fabric, but the direction and alignment of each piece still matter.

Cut along the grain when quality matters

Align pattern pieces with the fabric grain whenever you want the best grain quality. Turning pieces simply to squeeze more of them onto a fabric roll can reduce the quality score. For routine commissions, you may decide that saving material is worth a small quality trade-off, especially when you can improve the sewing score afterward.

For the 99 Problems But A Stitch Ain’t One achievement, however, aim for 100% quality. Cut the pieces on the straight grain and keep your sewing accuracy high rather than sacrificing grain alignment to save a little fabric.

Rotate and arrange pieces carefully

The direction of a pattern piece matters. Check its orientation before cutting so you do not end up with an upside-down piece. You can rotate selected pieces with the mouse wheel, and the on-screen preview helps you check how each pattern will sit on the finished mannequin.

Hover over a pattern piece to see which part of the dress it belongs to. This is helpful when several similar pieces are waiting to be cut.

Control how much fabric you unroll

Use A and D or the arrow keys to unroll more or less fabric when you want to control how much material is exposed. This can help reduce unnecessary trimming and make it easier to fit the pieces you need.

Recycle a cut piece if you make a mistake

You do not have to keep an unsatisfactory pattern cut. Drag the piece from the side menu to the recycle area to remove it and return to the previous step. Use this when you choose the wrong fabric, cut a piece in the wrong direction or decide to rearrange your layout.

Sewing, Assembly and Decorations

Once the pieces are cut, sewing accuracy becomes the biggest factor in the finished garment’s construction quality. Take your time around corners, and do not rush the final assembly.

Enable Sewing Assist if needed

If controlling the fabric through the sewing machine is difficult, turn on Sewing Assist in the game settings.

Slow down as you approach corners. Short, deliberate taps can also help you follow a curved seam without drifting away from the line.

Be careful when removing seams

Unsewing a piece after the garment has been assembled may require you to sew it again. Avoid removing a completed seam unless you are prepared to repeat that part of the work.

If the game will not let you unsew a particular section, check whether an accessory or another pinned object is blocking it.

Arrange sleeves and small details efficiently

Sleeves can get in the way when you are assembling or decorating a dress. Remove them temporarily or leave them until the main body is finished.

Zoom in before working on tiny details such as buttons, lace and narrow trims. Smaller adjustments become easier to control when the dress fills more of the screen.

Use the decoration controls

Several small controls make decorating much faster:

• Shift while placing accessories: Duplicate an accessory so you can repeat the same decoration without returning to the inventory each time.
• Move existing pins: You can reposition pins already placed along lace and trim rather than removing the entire decoration.
• Remove a complete trim or lace line: Select it and use the X button that appears in the square at the top of the screen.
• Use short trim placements: Small distances give you more control than long strokes, especially around curved areas.
• Accessory Rotation Gizmo: Enable it in the settings to adjust decorations along the X, Y and Z axes. The Ctrl+R shortcut can also toggle the gizmo while working in the Accessories tab.

Adjust the camera and mannequin

Use WASD to pan around the dress when the view is enlarged, and use the mouse wheel to rotate the mannequin. This makes it easier to reach areas on the back or sides without fighting the camera angle.

Photo mode also lets you change the mannequin colour, background and lighting. To change the thread colour during sewing, click the spool in the sewing interface.

Gifts, Relationships and Unlocking Patterns

Customer relationships are tied to pattern progression. Giving a customer a dress as a gift increases your relationship level with that person. Reaching higher levels unlocks additional patterns that you can use in your Sketchbook.

Pay attention to the customer you are gifting. A dress that suits their preferences is more useful for relationship progression than choosing a random design without considering their requested style.

Gifts are also a way to make progress with customers outside their main commission chain. If you need a particular pattern for a future design, check whether raising that customer’s level will unlock it.

All 32 Achievements: Completion Roadmap

The 32 achievements fall into five broad groups: ten customer commission chains, 14 event dress collections, two pigeon-related achievements, one missable dialogue choice and five crafting challenges.

Most of the story and pigeon achievements track commission completion, while the dressmaking challenges check the finished garment itself. Event achievements are separate from customer achievements: finishing a customer’s main story does not automatically complete every event dress set they contributed to.

Customer Commission Achievements

Ten achievements require you to complete a customer’s full series of major commissions. Keep working through each person’s requests until the final dress is delivered.

These are the major customer chains, not a list of every dress you may make for each person. Some requests also contribute to event collections, but the customer achievement and event achievement have separate progress requirements.

Event and Celebration Achievements

14 achievements are tied to preparing all the dresses for a special event. These collections bring together requests from several customers, so do not assume that finishing the most prominent commission is enough. Complete every outfit associated with the occasion.

The achievement generally appears after the event’s full dress set is completed and the next day’s newspaper report arrives. The commission listed above marks the story point at which the set is complete. Keep delivering the event outfits as they become available rather than leaving several of them until much later.

These are event milestones, not replacements for customer chains. For example, completing the Spring Fete dresses contributes to the event achievement, while Marie’s G.O.A.T. achievement still requires her full sequence of major commissions.

Pigeon Commissions and Berty

Dorothy’s first dress, Pigeon Adoption, introduces Berty and unlocks the pigeon commission system. The You’ve Got Mail achievement is tied to completing that first dress and acquiring the pigeon.

After Berty arrives, check the perch for new requests. When the pigeon is waiting, another commission is available. If Berty is asleep, advance the main story and check again later.

Birds of a Feather, Frock Together

This achievement requires the eight tracked pigeon commissions below. They are separate from the ten major customer chains, so completing all customer stories does not automatically finish this achievement.

Some pigeon requests have a prerequisite commission. Berty may skip a customer who still has an outstanding dress, so clear that person’s current request before waiting for another pigeon message. Continue checking the perch as the story progresses.

The One Missable Achievement

Sucker for Punishment

Requirement: Select the leech option when Vivian discusses animals.

Vivian’s animal conversation is part of her pigeon-related commission Exotic Moth. When she asks which animal you associate with her, choose Leech. The achievement unlocks when you make the correct choice.

The animal question appears later in her commission progression, after Love Labyrinth. Read the available responses carefully when the conversation arrives.

Five Dressmaking Challenges

The remaining five achievements focus on the quality and construction of a dress. You can work on them during ordinary commissions, but it is easier to prepare a dedicated garment once you have enough money and decoration options.

99 Problems But A Stitch Ain’t One

Requirement: Achieve 100% quality on one dress.

Cut each pattern piece on the straight grain and aim for 100% grain quality. Then sew every seam carefully. Slow down as you approach corners and make small adjustments to keep the fabric aligned with the seam line.

Sewing accuracy is a major part of the final result. Even if an early seam is imperfect, better sewing performance on later sections can improve the overall sewing percentage. For this achievement, aim for full grain quality and a perfect sewing score on the same dress.

Sew Long

Requirement: Complete the Ruffle Skirt for the first time.

Raise Priya’s relationship level to three stars to unlock the Ruffle Skirt pattern. Use it in a commission or on an off-the-rack dress and finish the garment to unlock the achievement.

Make sure you select the Ruffle Skirt. Alice’s Gathered Tiered Ruffle Skirt is a different pattern and does not satisfy this achievement.

Harder than it Seams

Requirement: Place more than 300 accessories on one dress.

This challenge counts individual decorations such as jewels, brooches, bows, tassels, bells and buttons. You need more than 300 placements on the same garment, not 300 accessories spread across several dresses.

It is easier to attempt once you have sufficient money and a dress with a large surface area. Small items can be repeated using Shift while placing accessories, which reduces the amount of manual work.

Trim and Proper

Requirement: Use more than 50 metres of trim on one dress.

Choose a large skirt or layered design and add more than 50 metres of qualifying trim. A full skirt gives you plenty of room to lay long sections along the hem and around the layers.

Not every lace or decorative line counts. Use an item classified as trim, and check the remaining amount as you place it. Buying around 51 metres gives you a little room above the requirement.

Opulence and Excess

Requirement: Spend more than 5,000 gold on one successful dress.

The cost comes from the materials used for that garment, including fabric and accessories. Expensive brooches and other high-value decorations can push the total above 5,000 gold more quickly than relying on fabric alone.

Because this challenge can consume a large amount of money, save it until you have a healthy balance and a wider selection of materials. Preview the material cost before finishing the dress so you do not fall short of the threshold.

Combine all five challenges on one dress

You can plan a single garment around all five crafting achievements. The New Dress option in the Sketchbook becomes available after Fierce Funeral, giving you a way to build a dress without using an active customer commission.

1. Start with the Ruffle Skirt. Reach three stars with Priya, unlock the pattern and use it as the skirt for your dedicated dress.
2. Protect the quality score. Cut every pattern piece on the straight grain and sew carefully to achieve 100% quality.
3. Pass 300 accessories. Use a mix of brooches, buttons and other individual decorations. Keep the total above 300, not exactly at 300.
4. Use more than 50 metres of trim. Choose qualifying trim and lay it around the skirt or its layers. Do not count ordinary lace unless the game classifies it as trim.
5. Spend over 5,000 gold. Use expensive fabric and accessories, and check the displayed material value before completing the dress.

Finish the garment and sell, gift or hand it in as appropriate for the challenge. The important part is that the required quality, accessory count, trim length and material spending all belong to the same dress.

Final Achievement Checklist

Use this checklist to track the full set of 32 achievements. The customer and event achievements mostly follow commission progression, while the pigeon, dialogue and crafting tasks need separate attention.

• Complete all ten customer commission chains.
• Finish all 14 special event dress collections.
• Complete Pigeon Adoption and acquire Berty for You’ve Got Mail.
• Complete all eight tracked pigeon commissions for Birds of a Feather, Frock Together.
• Choose Leech when Vivian asks about animals for Sucker for Punishment.
• Reach 100% quality on a dress.
• Complete the Ruffle Skirt for Sew Long.
• Place more than 300 accessories on one dress for Harder than it Seams.
• Use more than 50 metres of trim on one dress for Trim and Proper.
• Spend more than 5,000 gold on one successful dress for Opulence and Excess.

Most of the achievement work can be completed while running the shop normally. Keep customer orders moving, check the pigeon perch, and reserve a separate dress for the expensive crafting challenges. The one decision that needs special attention is Vivian’s leech conversation. Take that opportunity when it appears so it does not remain the only unfinished achievement at the end.