Every fabric in Dressmaker carries a set of tags with scores, such as Simple, Formal, Romantic or Cute, and those tags are how a dress meets a client’s style requirements. Pick fabrics whose tags match the request, buy them by the metre in the shop, and the fabric’s look is up to you.
Below we cover what a fabric card tells you, how tags connect to requests, how many fabrics there are, and how to buy without wasting gold. Dressmaker has plenty of them: the developers say there are over 450.
Reading a Fabric Card
The fabric shop, The International Emporium in the official screenshots, shows each fabric on a card. The developers’ screenshot of Dusty Pink Silk shows what a card holds:
- Its type and colour: Silk, Pink.
- Style tags with scores: Cool 100, Simple 100, Elegant 100, Formal 100, Glamour 100, Romantic 100, Cute 100 and Eveningwear 100.
- A metre count and a Buy button: 2 metres for 100 gold in that screenshot.
Players on the official Steam forum say hovering a fabric in the shop shows its tags too, so you can compare without opening every card.
How Tags Meet a Request
Each commission lists requirements with target numbers, such as Romantic or Cute, alongside quality and a budget. Fabric tags are how you hit the style numbers, and the developers say the dress pieces themselves carry tag scores too: in their August post they describe designer Sabrina translating each piece’s “vibes into tag scores.” So both the pattern and the fabric count.
A few points players report:
- Colour requirements follow the shop’s colour categories. A plum fabric counts as purple, for example.
- Lace fabric and lace trim are different things. Lace as a fabric is not the same as the Lace Trim accessory, which matters when a request wants lace.
- Price is not quality. One player’s detailed breakdown found that cheap fabrics already reach top scores on most tags, so expensive fabric is about look rather than points. That is a single player’s analysis, so treat it as a lead rather than a rule.
Types of Fabric
The store page lists cotton, linen, wool, silk and velvet among the materials, and the developers say the game has over 450 fabrics and over 350 accessories. In their April post they described custom shaders for silk and velvet, plus sequins, so the fabrics look different on the mannequin, not just on the card.
Two things are on the way rather than in the game yet. Transparent fabrics are planned, according to the developers’ launch post, and Build 403 fixed lace trims that had the wrong tags.
How the Shop Grows
You will not see every fabric at the start. Players report that the Emporium’s stock grows as your dressmaker rank rises, and your rank rises as you sell dresses. Players also report fabric is sold in whole metres, so a pattern that needs 3.4 metres means buying 4.
Buying Without Waste
- Use the sketchbook’s estimate. The sketchbook shows roughly how much fabric a design needs, so buy close to that.
- You cannot sell fabric back. Players confirm there is no way to return fabric to the shop, so leftovers stay with you.
- Practice cheaply. The developers’ own tip for low funds is “Burlap and off the rack are your friends here,” and players report burlap costs nothing.
Fabric and Quality
Fabric choice sets a dress’s style, while cutting and sewing set its quality. Our guide to getting 100% quality covers grain and sewing, our guide to making money fast covers what fabric costs you, and every guide is on our Dressmaker hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many fabrics are in Dressmaker? The developers say there are over 450 fabrics and over 350 accessories.
What do the numbers on Dressmaker fabrics mean? They are style tag scores, such as Romantic 100 or Formal 100, which count toward a commission’s style requirements.
Do expensive fabrics score higher? Not necessarily. One player’s breakdown found cheap fabrics already max out most tags. Expensive fabric mostly changes how the dress looks.
Can you buy half a metre of fabric? Players report fabric is sold in whole metres only.
Are there transparent fabrics in Dressmaker? Not yet. The developers list transparent fabrics as planned.