Story and commissions
Meeting clients, taking their work and clearing it. This is the track that opens the rest of the game, and it is the one a new save is already on.
- Driven by
- Finishing commissions and moving the narrative along.
Progression & unlocks
How Progression Works in Dressmaker
Dressmaker progression isn't one single level. Characters, Patterns, Fabrics, Accessories and Prestige follow different progression tracks.
Start with the tracksAlready stuck on one item?Unlock Finder
Read from the extracted build 25482629: 10 clients, 88 commissions, 178 patterns, 352 fabrics and 331 accessories.
The two chains
Story / Commissions
Meet clients, take their work, open their content.
Character Relationship
The rungs that hand over patterns.
Pattern unlocks
117 patterns arrive from a relationship rung.
The two chains
Money / Off-the-Rack
Dressmaking that pays for the next metre.
Prestige
One rating the whole save shares.
Fabric & Accessory unlocks
412 catalogue rows sit behind a prestige level.
Gifting
Part of the character-facing track, not a track of its own.
01 · The tracks
Dressmaker has more than one progression track
There is no single level that eventually unlocks everything. There are four tracks, they answer different questions, and pushing the wrong one produces no visible progress at all.
Character relationship
Per-client progression. Each relationship has its own rungs, and each rung hands over that client's patterns. Nothing else in the game moves these.
- Driven by
- One client's own content: their commissions, their interactions, their gifts.
Prestige
Global progression. It gates 412 catalogue rows across cloth and trim and adds a percent per level to every sale price.
- Driven by
- Dressmaking and selling, tracked as progress rather than as a payment.
Availability
Some rows are not on a ladder at all. They are starting, already available, or shipped as content no save can reach — and no amount of progression changes that.
- Driven by
- Nothing. This track is where a lock is not a gate.
The four are not stages of one ladder. 117 patterns hang off the relationship ladders and 412 cloth and trim rows hang off prestige, and those two numbers never convert into each other.
02 · Patterns
Patterns are unlocked by character relationship levels
The build carries a level-unlock table per client, and every one of the 117 pattern unlocks is a rung of somebody's ladder. That is the canonical source, and it is the only one the site publishes.
Meet the client
They appear through the story and start offering work.
Complete their content
Commissions, interactions and gifts all move the same relationship.
The relationship rises
Progress is per client, so this work moves nobody else's ladder.
Reach the required level
Most patterns sit at rungs 1 to 4; a couple wait until 5.
A pattern is handed over
The pattern becomes selectable at the workbench from that point on.
Where the 117 pattern unlocks sit
Read across the whole roster rather than one client: this is the shape of the ladder every pattern hangs on.
- Relationship level 11
- Relationship level 22
- Relationship level 33
- Relationship level 44
- Relationship level 55
Levels are 5 deep on eight of the 10 clients, and four deep on the other two — which is why a pattern's gate is always stated as a client and a rung rather than as a number on its own.
A finished commission is not a pattern
It is tempting to read the build as a quest-to-pattern table, but the game does not work that way: a commission awards relationship, and a rung awards the pattern. One commission can cross a threshold, or it can leave the ladder exactly where it was, and an excellent outcome can move it further than a normal success. Anything that printed a one-to-one quest list would be wrong for every client whose ladder has a rung two commissions away.
03 · Commissions
Do commissions unlock patterns?
A commission does not hand over a pattern. It moves the relationship that the pattern is attached to, and the rung is what opens the pattern — so the same work that earns you a brief today can be what puts the next pattern on the bench tomorrow.
Indirectly.
A commission is cleared
88 published briefs, each attached to one client.
The relationship changes
Progress is awarded to that client and nobody else.
Did it cross a rung?
The question the ladder asks, and the only one that matters here.
A pattern unlocks
The rung's patterns become available at the workbench.
Nothing new yet
The relationship moved, the ladder did not. Keep going with the same client.
This is why a player who is short of patterns should look at which client is closest to their next rung, rather than at which brief is easiest.
04 · Outcomes
Why an excellent result matters
Some commissions award more relationship progress when the work is better than the brief asked for. That makes the quality of the dress a progression input, not only a payment one.
- A normal success moves the relationship by its usual amount.
- An excellent outcome can move it further, which is how one commission sometimes crosses a rung that a plain success would not.
- Crossing the rung is what matters — the extra progress is only worth anything when it puts you past a level.
This page does not publish a fixed bonus per brief. The export shows that a larger relationship award exists in the game's own scripts, and that is all it shows; a number printed here would be a claim about every commission in the build, and it is not true of every commission in the build.
05 · One ladder
Priya's relationship ladder
One client, rung by rung, with the patterns each rung hands over. Priya is the client whose ladder gives the most in this build, which is why the example reads as clearly as it does.
Relationship level 1
4 patterns
Relationship level 2
3 patterns
Relationship level 3
3 patterns
10 patterns so far
Relationship level 4
3 patterns
13 patterns so far
Relationship level 5
1 patterns
14 patterns so far
You are not farming patterns. You are advancing Priya — and the patterns are what that looks like when it lands.
06 · Gifting
Where gifting fits
Gifting is part of the character-facing track rather than a track of its own. It feeds the same relationship the client's own commissions feed, and the game states the outcome on the system's own screen: friendships, gift dresses, and new patterns unlocked.
A client
All 10 clients in this build take gifts.
Their commissions
The other half of the same relationship.
A gift dress
Made to the recipient's own taste rather than to a brief.
Relationship
Both routes move the one ladder.
Patterns
Handed over by the rungs, as everywhere else.
The site does not publish a universal value per gift. The export does not carry one, and a page that invented "one dress equals one level" would be describing somebody's save rather than the game — which is why the exact figures belong to a specific recipient's page and not here.
07 · A boundary
Prestige is not Character Relationship
These two are the pair most often treated as one ladder. They are not, and the difference decides which half of the game a player should be playing.
Relationship
Prestige
Scope
One client.
The whole save.
What it hands over
117 patterns.
412 cloth and trim rows.
Driven by
That client's commissions, interactions and gifts.
Dressmaking and selling, whoever the work was for.
Scale
5 levels, per client.
One level, 51 gates deep in this build.
Owned by
The client's own page.
The money and prestige guide.
A relationship is who you know. Prestige is how far the save has come. Progressing one moves the other not at all.
08 · Cloth and trim
Fabric and Accessory unlocks
Cloth and decorations do not hang off relationships. They carry a prestige gate instead, and the middle of each catalogue is where the gates get dense.
Catalogue
From the start
Behind a level
Gates
Fabrics
From the start: 156
Behind a level: 196
1–51
Accessories
From the start: 115
Behind a level: 216
1–51
Three rows, and the state each one is in
- Status
- Starting item
- Requirement
- Available from the start
- Status
- Progression unlock
- Requirement
- Prestige 51
- Status
- Progression unlock
- Requirement
- Prestige 51
Not every fabric is gated, and not every gated fabric is far away: 156 of the 352 published fabrics are in the starting set, and the shallowest gate in the build sits at level 1. The deepest sits at 51.
10 · Vocabulary
The six states an item can be in
These are the same six words the pattern, fabric and accessory pages use, in the same order. A player who reads "Progression unlock" on a swatch reads it here too.
Available
Player's save- Decided by
- The player's own save
A gate the reader has already reported meeting. The lock on screen and the requirement disagree, which points at a display or version problem rather than at progression.
Starting item
311- Decided by
- A new save
In a new save from the first minute. Nothing to do.
Relationship unlock
117- Decided by
- A client's ladder
A rung of one client's ladder. The answer names the client and the level.
Progression unlock
412- Decided by
- Prestige
A prestige gate on cloth or trim. The answer names the level.
Not normally obtainable
326- Decided by
- Nothing
Shipped content with no player route. The answer is that there is no answer.
Needs verification
21- Decided by
- The export
The export documents no acquisition at all. The site says so rather than guessing a ladder.
Only two of the six are things a player can act on. The other four are the page saying where a row came from, which is why none of them is ever described as a level to grind.
11 · Decisions
What are you trying to unlock?
Six answers, each naming the track that owns it. None of them require you to understand how this site is organised.
Choose a goal
More patterns
Where to go
Focus on character relationships
Patterns are handed over by relationship rungs, so the shortest route is whichever client is nearest their next level — not whichever brief is quickest.
- Pick a client whose patterns you want.
- Clear their commissions and interactions.
- Reach the rung, and the pattern is on the bench.
A specific pattern
Where to go
Look the pattern up
One item has one exact answer: who hands it over and at which rung. That is the unlock finder's job, and it is a shorter read than this page.
More fabrics
Where to go
Check your prestige
Cloth is either in the starting set or behind a prestige level, so a fabric you cannot buy is almost always a global progression gate rather than something a client owes you.
More accessories
Where to go
Check your prestige, then the catalogue
Decorations follow the same rule as cloth. If the row you are looking at is not in the unlock database at all, it is hidden developer content and no level will reach it.
A client's content
Where to go
Follow that client's ladder
Their page carries their rungs, their commissions and every pattern they hand over, so the next thing to do is written on it rather than here.
I don't know
Where to go
Search the item
If you cannot name what you are missing, there is nothing to map. Type it in and let the tool answer for that one row.
12 · The map
The Dressmaker progression map
Both chains in one picture: the one that runs through people, and the one that runs through money. They meet at nothing, which is the point.
Through people
StoryCommissionsCharacter relationshipPatterns
Gifting
Feeds the same relationship the commissions feed, from the side.
Through money
MoneyOff-the-RackPrestige
FabricsAccessories
Read it as a map rather than as a checklist: nothing on the left unlocks anything on the right, and a player who has finished the story has finished one chain and not the other.
13 · A boundary
Finishing the story is not finishing progression
Rolling credits completes one track. It does not complete the others, and it does not mean every row in the catalogues is now yours.
Story progressUnlock progress
- Relationship levels: every client's ladder is advanced on its own, and the story does not hold them for you.
- Prestige: a global rating that the story does not hand over — it comes from dressmaking and selling.
- Roster-wide gates: sections of cloth and trim sit behind levels nobody reaches by finishing a narrative.
So the honest answer to "I finished the story, why is this still locked?" is that story completion and unlock completion are two different measurements, and the game only reports one of them.
14 · A boundary
Money is not progression
A large balance lets you buy what is already available. It does not buy a rung, and it does not buy a level.
- A relationship rung is earned from a client's own content. No amount of coin moves it.
- A prestige gate opens through dressmaking and selling, not through spending.
- What money does buy is the cloth and trim that are already unlocked — which is the difference between affording a dress and being allowed to make it.
That distinction is the whole of the money and prestige guide, which owns the economic half of this map.
15 · A boundary
Quality and Style do not unlock anything
Two more things that look like progression and are not. Each of these four belongs to a different system, and only two of them are gates.
Quality
How well the dress was made. It scales the sale price and satisfies brief requirements.
Style Score
Whether a dress suits the brief it was made for. A commission requirement, not a key.
Relationship
Which patterns are on the bench. This one is a gate.
Prestige
Which cloth and trim are on the shelf. This one is a gate too.
A hundred-quality dress is worth more and satisfies more briefs. It opens nothing that was closed, and a player who is short of patterns will not find them here.
16 · Triage
Quick progression diagnoser
Four questions in the order a stuck player should ask them, and the page that owns each answer.
What are you waiting to unlock?
Do you know which client it belongs to?
No
Search the pattern by name. The finder answers with the client and the level.
A fabric or an accessory
Cloth and trim carry a prestige gate or they are in the starting set. Look the row up: the answer will be a level, or that it is not obtainable at all.
Something I used to have
If it was available before and is not now, progression is the wrong explanation — nothing in this game moves backwards down a ladder. That is a state problem, and it has its own page.
17 · Where you are
Progression checklist
Eight things to be able to answer, in the order a save tends to meet them. It is a checklist and not a completion meter: the game does not report a percentage, and this page will not invent one.
- Met every client
- Advanced the relationships you care about
- Reached the pattern unlocks you were after
- Raised prestige
- Unlocked the fabrics you want to work with
- Unlocked the decorations you want to work with
- Completed the commissions that matter to you
- Tried selling a dress of your own design
Nothing above is required and nothing above is scored. The last two are the ones players most often leave untouched, because neither is attached to a brief.
18 · Symptoms
Why am I not unlocking anything?
Five reasons the bench stops filling up, in the order they are worth checking.
You are working for the wrong client
A relationship is per client. Commissions for somebody else's brief move somebody else's ladder, and the pattern you want does not care how busy you were.
You are raising prestige and want a pattern
Prestige does not gate a single pattern in this build. If the thing you are missing is a pattern, the ladder you are climbing is the wrong one.
You are working a relationship and want a gated fabric
The reverse mistake, and just as common. Cloth and trim answer to prestige, and a client will never hand one over no matter how far their ladder goes.
The row is hidden developer content
326 of the rows in this build have no player route at all. No level reaches them, and looking for a way in is the one case where the right answer is to stop looking.
It was available and now it is not
Nothing here moves down a ladder. A row that was in your hands and is not is a game-state question rather than a progression one.
FAQ
Progression questions
The questions this page is built to answer, in the shortest form it can give them.
How do I unlock more patterns in Dressmaker?
Raise the relevant client's relationship level. Every one of the 117 pattern unlocks in this build is a rung of a character's ladder.
Do commissions directly unlock patterns?
Not directly. A commission moves a relationship, and crossing the required rung is what unlocks the pattern — which is why one commission can unlock two patterns or none at all.
Does gifting unlock patterns?
Gifting belongs to the same character-facing track as commissions and feeds the same relationship. Pattern unlocks are still rungs, so that is the measurement to watch.
What does Prestige unlock?
412 fabrics and accessories in this build sit behind a prestige level. No pattern does.
Does Prestige unlock patterns?
Not according to the pattern unlock structure in the export. Patterns are attached to character relationship levels, and the two ladders do not convert.
Why can't I unlock a fabric even at high Prestige?
Some rows ship as hidden developer content with no normal route into a save. There is no level to reach, which is why the site refuses them by name instead of naming a gate.
Does finishing the story unlock everything?
No. Story completion and unlock completion are different measurements: relationship ladders and prestige are separate tracks that the narrative does not complete for you.
How can I see the exact unlock condition for one item?
Search it in the unlock finder. It answers with the client and the rung, the prestige level, or the fact that the row is not obtainable.
An item I already had disappeared.
That is not progression — nothing in this game moves backwards down a ladder. The locked-item troubleshooter owns that case.
Scope
What this page does and does not claim
Three limits a reader should know before quoting anything above.
- The counts are read from the extracted build 25482629 through the same index the unlock database and the client pages use, not counted by hand: 178 patterns, 352 fabrics, 331 accessories and 10 clients.
- Two refusals are deliberate. No quest-to-pattern table is published, because the game awards relationship rather than items and an excellent outcome can cross two rungs at once. No gift-to-level value is published, because the export does not carry one.
- Hidden developer content is named and never recommended. It is excluded from every catalogue on this site, and this page mentions it only so that a player who has found one of its names stops looking for a gate.
Part of the complete Dressmaker guide: every step of making a dress, in the order the game asks for them.