Dressmaker Clients, Commissions & Unlocks

Last updated: 2026-09-28 · 11 min read

The ten people who walk through your shop door are not a quest list. They are the game's entire progression system: every dress piece you own beyond the starting set was given to you by one of them, at a specific friendship level, after you finished a specific commission. Serve Prudence badly and the corsetry pieces stay locked. Serve her well and the whole silhouette opens up.

Why Clients Matter

A commission pays coin and reputation, but the thing that actually advances your shop is the friendship level underneath it. Reach a new star and the client hands over a themed group of patterns — usually two or three pieces belonging to the same garment family. Because the groups are themed, each client's reward path reads as a wardrobe: corsetry from one, eveningwear from another, tailored menswear-style pieces from a third.

That is why a low-budget commission is rarely worth skipping. A few hundred coin for a dress is unimpressive on its own, but if it carries that client to the next star and the next star carries a piece you need for a much bigger commission later, the small job pays for itself several times over.

FIG. 01 — Handover is where a commission becomes a relationship. The evaluation on screen feeds the friendship level that unlocks the next set of patterns.

The Client Table

Every client with their commission count, measurement set and how many patterns their friendship levels unlock. Measurements are shown as the game's internal mannequin values, not centimetres.

FIG. 02 — A gown assembled entirely from unlocked pieces. Each section came from a different client's friendship level, which is why the unlock map below is worth reading before you chase a single commission.

Pattern Unlock Paths

Below is what each client gives you, star by star. This is the page to check when a commission needs a tag you cannot supply: find the tag in the pattern table, note the piece, then find which client and star level grants it here.

Reading The Unlock Groups

A client's groups are themed rather than random, and the theme tells you what kind of client they are. Corsetry pieces arrive together at one level, eveningwear at another, tailored outerwear at a third. Once you have seen a client's first two groups you can usually guess the direction of the rest, which is useful when you are deciding whose story to advance next.

Two patterns repeat across the reward structure and are worth calling out. Several clients hand over a bodice and a matching skirt at the same level — those arrive as a pair and are meant to be used together, and splitting them across two designs usually wastes the pairing. Separately, the final star of most clients is empty or nearly empty, so there is usually no reason to push a friendship to its maximum unless you want the achievement tied to that client's full commission chain.

The measurement columns in the table above explain a problem that catches people out mid-game. Bust, waist and hip values differ noticeably between clients — the range across the ten runs from a very narrow figure to a much fuller one — and the game regenerates both the mannequin and the flat pattern pieces for each. A silhouette you have saved will not simply transfer. Save the design as a starting point, then redraft it against the new client's measurements before you cut.

Adora

Alice

Dorothy

Edith

Fiona

Marie

Priya

Prudence

Rose

Vivian

Ordering Your Dressmaker Clients

There is no correct order to serve Dressmaker clients in, but there is a practical one. Start with whichever client has the gentlest early commission, because the goal of the first few jobs is to build the grain habit rather than to maximise income. Dressmaker clients with simple workwear requests are the cheapest place to practise alignment, and the friendship credit from a clean handover is the same regardless of how modest the budget was.

After that, work the Dressmaker clients whose unlocks you actually need. The pattern reference lists every piece and its unlock source, so the efficient route is to find the piece that supplies the tag you are short on, then serve the client who grants it. Serving Dressmaker clients in the order the story presents them is fine, but it is not the fastest path to a specific pattern.

Two more notes on handling Dressmaker clients efficiently. Each of them has a gift quest, and the gift is the quickest way to close a friendship level when you are one star short and do not want to wait for the next commission to come round. And because each client's measurements differ, a design you have saved from one of the Dressmaker clients will need redrafting for the next one rather than simply reusing.

Gifts And Friendship

Alongside their commissions, every client has a gift quest — a request that is not scored against the usual requirement thresholds. Gifts are the quickest way to push a friendship level when you are close to a star boundary and do not want to wait for the next commission.

Friendship also rewards the quality of what you hand over, not only whether it passed. A dress that clears its thresholds cleanly contributes more than one that scrapes through, which is the practical reason to spend a little longer on grain alignment even on an easy commission.

Because each client's unlocks are independent, the most efficient route through the game is not to grind one favourite. It is to keep every client moving, since the patterns a late commission needs are usually locked behind a different client's early stars. The commission table groups everything by client so you can see at a glance who is owed attention.

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