Sew better, sell more
Craft fundamentals first, shop strategy second — both lists come straight from confirmed mechanics.
The sketchbook is the cheapest workshop
Design and colour the dress, pin fabric swatches and appliqué ideas — all before buying cloth. A plan you discard costs nothing; a dress you discard costs fabric. Component names in the design book are clickable, so read before you build.
Measure the customer, not the mannequin
Each character is measured and the mannequin adjusted to fit them, with pattern pieces drafted from those measurements. Two customers asking for the same silhouette do not get the same pattern, so do not assume your last commission’s layout carries over.
Grain vs bias is a design decision
The official description confirms cutting on the grain or the bias, and that the choice shows in the finished garment. The cutting step asks you to find the grain or bias of each piece before laying it out, and a review notes it also rewards using as little cloth as possible — so treat the cutting table as part of the design, not a formality.
Mix fabrics panel by panel
Each panel can be cut from a different fabric, so contrast is structural: a silk bodice over wool, linen sleeves on cotton. No official source says how combinations are scored — experiment on off-the-rack pieces first.
Preview before you sew
The mannequin exists so mistakes stay cheap. Check the assembled pattern on it before committing thread. If a panel’s placement is unclear, hover it in the inventory: the game shows where it goes.
Pick your thread colour on purpose
Thread colour is selectable — click the spools in the sewing scene. Whether it changes a dress’s score is Unconfirmed, but it is a free way to keep a garment coherent.
Sew clean, because mistakes cost quality
The sewing step is where quality leaks away: a slipped seam makes the machine clunk and reduces the dress’s quality percentage. 100% quality is its own achievement, so slow down on the dress you care about.
Decorate with intent — or with 300 buttons
Decoration placement is completely free, and the game counts each accessory you place. For customers, restraint around the requested style is the safe play; for the Harder than it Seams achievement, place over 300 accessories on one dress and let restraint go.
Measure your lace in metres
Trim and Proper asks for more than 50m of trim on a single dress — confirmation that trim is tracked by length. If you are hunting it, border every edge the garment owns. If you tried on launch day, try again: a patch fixed some lace items that were not tagged as trims.
Ring the bell to set the pace
Customers arrive when you summon them, not on their own schedule. Ringing the bell is therefore your pause button as much as a doorbell — finish decorating before you call the next one in.
Save one dress for a 5,000-gold splurge
Opulence and Excess is earned by spending more than 5,000 gold on a successful dress — the dress must still succeed, so buy the expensive fabrics and accessories for a commission you are confident about, not a practice piece.
Chase 100% quality deliberately
Dresses carry a measurable quality percentage, and 100% earns 99 Problems But A Stitch Aint One. The exact inputs are not officially published, so tighten every step you control: plan, cut, sew, decorate.
The window is a second income
Finished dresses can go in the shop window and sell off the rack, alongside commission work. The developers added the feature deliberately so you could design your own dresses to sell — use it to monetise experiments and style-tag practice runs.
Answer the pigeons
Birds of a Feather, Frock Together is earned by completing every commission received via pigeon — so pigeon-delivered orders exist in the same days as bell-summoned customers. How they are triggered is Unconfirmed; when one shows up, prioritise it.
Keep a slot for the next patch
The developers said small updates will keep adding fabrics and accessories between the bigger roadmap items. If a commission needs a fabric the shop does not stock yet, check the patch notes before assuming you have missed something.
Pet the kitty
The store page instructs it directly — it is listed as a feature. Morale is a resource too.