For players who spend more of their time in character creators than in actual gameplay, a new title from Free Lives has arrived to turn that hobby into a full-time profession: Dressmaker, a cozy dressmaking game that tasks you with measuring clients, cutting fabric, and stitching together bespoke gowns in a Victorian-inspired town. In the handful of hours since it became available, the game has already proven itself a labor of love, blending charming storytelling with meticulous craft simulation that lets players indulge a lifelong fantasy of plunging their hands back into a childhood fabric basket. The experience is built around a simple premise — fulfill an endless stream of commissions for local ladies — but the depth of its systems, from fabric budgeting to bias-cutting, reveals a developer who clearly adores the craft.
A Town Full of Commissions
The narrative kicks off with a Duke’s funeral, and the ladies of the town descend on your shop to commission new attire — some to mourn suitably, others to catch the eye of the Duke’s only son. Requests range from intimidating black ensembles to glamorous outfits that are decidedly inappropriate for a funeral, and as the story unfolds, the briefs grow more nuanced: warm yet professional, cute but not too cute. Commissions span sporting events, balls, weddings, and pet shows, with each completed job unlocking new cuts, styles, and fabrics. Renown unlocks more materials and accessories, and the only thing standing between you and endless creation is, as in real life, money to buy more cloth.
“It’s fun to put colors together, and shapes. Even in a video game, it’s nice to imagine textures, how they might look in the light or feel in your hands.”
Free Lives
Fabric Is Money
That attention to tactile imagination is the game’s defining trait. Where most titles let players select from preset outfits, Dressmaker treats clothing as glorious, extraneous detail. You measure each client with a tape measure, match the mannequin to the correct proportions — and can even adjust its skin tone — then build the pattern by choosing sleeves, collar, bodice, and skirt from a growing roster of options. Each style contributes to the dress’s overall character, whether romantic, gothic, workwear-y, or cute. You can sketch a rough idea with colored pencils and stick fabric swatches onto the design to preview how they read against one another.
The game’s cleverest mechanic lives in its economy. Once you commit to fabrics, you spread them across a table and place your pattern pieces down to cut them out — and here is the catch: you don’t want to waste fabric. If you buy five yards, you have five yards to work with, and no more. Using that roll on another dress later means less material here, so players are encouraged to squish patterns together and cut pieces correctly, either straight or on the bias depending on the piece. The game doesn’t force you to understand tailoring jargon, but proper alignment of cut arrows yields a better-quality dress. Fortunately, there’s infinite grace for mistakes: pieces can be returned to a scrap basket at any time and, unrealistically but welcome, fuse back into the roll as if they were never cut.
Looking Ahead
After cutting, you pin the pieces onto the mannequin and run them through a sewing machine, carefully following the guidelines rather than zigzagging across the fabric. A seam ripper is available for any errors, and everything remains undoable until the dress is complete. You can pin on lace, buttons, brooches, or ribbons before the final garment takes shape.
“Dressmaker is a game for people who spend most of their time in character creators on clothing.”
Free Lives
Dressmaker pairs a cute, fluffy story with funny writing and lovely character art against enough progression hooks to keep players engaged. The reviewer did note a few minor technical blips — lace that refuses to pin where desired, and a wish that restarting a dress would refund purchased fabric, since running out of money mid-commission can derail a project. Still, these quirks don’t overshadow the game’s core appeal.
For the reviewer, the true magic is dressmaking itself. Pausing the piece several times to reopen the game, they crafted gothic lace-covered monstrosities and countless cute peasant-style frocks, each new unlock revealing more of the developer’s love for the craft. Elevated scoop ruffle bodices, gathered ballgown skirts, butterfly sleeves, plum silk, meadow green cotton, ebony lace, and ecru wool — the sheer level of detail and imagination on display is, the reviewer admits, a fantasy they never realized they wanted to indulge: to pretend, for a while, that even their most bizarre creations were glamorous.
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