Off-the-rack dressmaking in Dressmaker serves as the game's creative free mode, letting tailors craft custom designs, monetize surplus fabrics, and prepare bespoke gifts.
Unlocking Off-the-Rack Free Mode
In Dressmaker, creating garments without customer constraints is known as off-the-rack tailoring. This feature unlocks automatically once Fierce Funeral is over, regardless of whether that dress passed or failed. Once unlocked, a new plus icon tab appears at the top left of your sketchbook, allowing you to create custom garments freely.
Starting and Designing an Uncommissioned Dress
Opening the plus tab and clicking Create New Dress initiates a fresh project page positioned after your existing dresses. Off-the-rack creations feature no assigned client, no strict spending budget, and zero requirement lines, offering total creative freedom. Style the pattern components in your journal and click Draft Pattern just as you would for a client contract.
Mannequin Sizing and Tailoring for Gifts
Because an off-the-rack design lacks a client, the mannequin sizing screen displays no fit evaluation score, enabling you to confirm any silhouette shape you choose. The dummy size does not influence the final selling valuation, though larger mannequins widen skirt and bodice panels, requiring slightly more cloth. However, if you plan to present the garment as a gift, click Load Measurement and tune gears to match her body so the piece satisfies the gift quality threshold of at least 80.
Selling, Deleting, and Managing Custom Gowns
Upon finishing assembly and taking a photograph, the delivery interface presents options to Sell As Off-Rack or Gift Dress. Garment sales yield gold according to the formula: (materials + labour) multiplied by (50 + quality)% multiplied by (100 + rank)%, while granting bonus prestige scaled by garment quality. If you wish to discard an unwanted off-the-rack project, click the scrap bin on its sketchbook page to delete it permanently.
Unlike client commissions, off-the-rack project pages feature a trash bin for permanently removing unwanted open or completed garments. Client assignment sheets lack a bin icon; pressing Restart Dress merely resets garment progress on that page.
For tailors wishing to practice without spending funds on textiles, Burlap costs 0 gold per metre at the shop. Although it reduces 16 out of 22 style tags while adding 50 to Uncomfortable and 10 to Patterned, it offers a zero-cost medium to construct garments for sale or display.