How to Make Money Fast in Dressmaker Guide
Money is important in Dressmaker because creating expensive outfits requires plenty of fabric, accessories, and other materials. If you spend too much on every design, your balance can disappear quickly, especially when you are still learning how the game works.
Fortunately, there are several ways to build your money without constantly waiting for commissions. The most useful methods involve Off-the-Rack dresses, free Burlap fabric, leftover materials, and accessories that can increase the selling price.
How Money Making Works in Dressmaker
There are two main ways to earn money in Dressmaker. The first is through commissions, where you complete customer requests and receive payment for making an outfit that follows their requirements.
The second method is Off-the-Rack dresses. These give you much more freedom because you can choose the design, fabric, and decorations yourself before selling the finished outfit.
Off-the-Rack dresses become available after completing the third quest. Because many of the money-making methods rely on this feature, it is worth progressing through the early story first.
When you finish an Off-the-Rack dress, select the Sell option to see its final value. The selling price is influenced by several different factors:
- Materials used for the dress.
- Labor value.
- Quality of the finished outfit.
- Your Prestige level.
Quality is especially important because your sewing performance can affect the final result. Things such as staying on track while sewing and cutting fabric correctly can help improve the quality of your creation.
Your Prestige also increases as you progress through the game. Higher Prestige and better quality can provide multipliers that increase how much money you receive from your creations.
Use Free Burlap to Make Easy Profit

Burlap is one of the most useful materials for players who are just starting to build their savings. The fabric can be obtained from the fabric store for free, meaning you do not have to spend money on the main material for your dress.
Once you have access to Off-the-Rack dresses, you can use Burlap to create multiple designs and sell them. Since you are not paying for the fabric, the money earned from these dresses can become a simple source of profit.
Not every Burlap dress will sell for a huge amount, so experimenting with different designs is important. Try creating dresses with more layers, detailed skirts, and additional elements to see which combinations produce better prices.
You can also add accessories when you have enough money to purchase them. Accessories can increase the value of the finished dress, although you should still consider how much you are spending compared to the final selling price.
Turn Fabric Leftovers Into New Dresses
Fabric leftovers are another resource that should not be thrown away. When creating larger or more complicated outfits, you may end up with small unused sections of fabric around your pattern pieces.
Instead of cutting away these sections and wasting them, try using them for another design. Smaller pieces can work particularly well with dresses that use multiple tiers, layers, or smaller pattern pieces.
This allows you to create patchwork-style outfits using fabric that would otherwise be wasted. The result may not always be your most attractive dress, but it can still be sold for additional money.
This method is especially useful when you have already spent a lot of money on expensive fabric. Getting additional value from leftover material means you do not have to keep purchasing new fabric every time you want to create another Off-the-Rack dress.
Add Accessories to Increase the Selling Price
Accessories can also be used as part of a money-making strategy, although this method requires some starting capital. The basic idea is to create a relatively simple dress using fabric you already own and then increase its value by adding multiple accessories.
One example is using brooches. A test involved spending around 1,700 gold on 46 brooches and adding them to a simple dress. After selling the finished design, the dress brought in more than 3,000 gold.
This shows how accessories can potentially generate a profit when used correctly. However, you should experiment with different items instead of assuming every accessory will provide the same return.
Once you find an accessory combination that produces a good selling price, you can reinvest your earnings into more materials and repeat the process.
Recycle Patterns Instead of Wasting Fabric
Making mistakes is normal when designing clothes in Dressmaker, but you do not always need to sacrifice your fabric when something goes wrong. The recycle option can help you recover material from a pattern that you no longer want to use.
If you place a pattern piece into the recycle bin before cutting the fabric, the game can restore the section that was occupied by that pattern. This means the material can effectively return to its previous state.
Because of this, check your design carefully before cutting. If you realize that a pattern is wrong or you simply do not like the design, recycling it can save you from wasting valuable fabric.
This is a simple habit, but it can make a noticeable difference when you start working with more expensive materials.
Do Not Buy More Materials Than You Need
One of the easiest ways to protect your money is to avoid unnecessary purchases. Before buying fabric or accessories, check how much the design actually requires.
Some quests require you to use a specific amount of an item. When purchasing materials, remember to adjust the quantity slider instead of automatically buying a large amount.
Your design can also give you an idea of how much fabric is required. Use this information to estimate your costs before spending your money.
Buying only what you need leaves more gold available for future designs and commissions.
Avoid Losing Money on Commissions
Commissions are a reliable way to earn money, but they can also become a problem if you spend too much creating them. It can be tempting to make an extremely detailed outfit with expensive materials even when the customer did not ask for it.
If you are trying to build your balance, compare the expected commission payment with the amount you are about to spend. There is little benefit in making an expensive dress if the materials cost more than the reward.
Try to focus on completing the customer’s requirements without unnecessary additions. Save the expensive fabrics, decorations, and experimental designs for Off-the-Rack dresses, where you have more freedom to turn your creations into potential profit.
Best Money Making Tips for Dressmaker
If your main goal is to build your balance quickly, keep these methods in mind:
- Complete the early quests to unlock Off-the-Rack dresses.
- Use free Burlap when you have almost no money.
- Experiment with different dress shapes to find designs with better selling prices.
- Maintain high quality while sewing and cutting.
- Save fabric leftovers instead of throwing them away.
- Use small leftover pieces for layered or patchwork designs.
- Experiment with accessories to increase dress value.
- Recycle unwanted patterns before cutting the fabric.
- Check material requirements before purchasing.
- Avoid buying more items than a commission requires.
- Do not spend more on a commission than its expected reward.
- Reinvest profits into materials when you find a profitable design.
Making money in Dressmaker is mostly about understanding when to spend and when to save. Commissions can provide regular income, but Off-the-Rack dresses give you more opportunities to experiment with designs and turn inexpensive or leftover materials into additional gold.
If you are completely broke, free Burlap is a good starting point because you can create dresses without paying for the main fabric. As your balance grows, you can experiment with accessories and more detailed designs to find combinations that provide better returns.
Most importantly, avoid wasting materials. Recycle unwanted patterns, use fabric leftovers, and check the required quantities before buying anything. These small habits can help keep your balance healthy while you work toward those more expensive and extravagant Dressmaker creations.
Dressmaker