Dressmaker Style Tag
Formal
Find patterns, fabrics and accessories that contribute to Formal, then work toward the score you need.
For occasions with rules — ceremonies, weddings and receiving lines.
How this site reads the style. The game ships no description for any of them.
What is behind this style
- Strong sources
- Patterns · Fabrics · Accessories
- Asked for by
- 10 briefs
- Contributors in the catalogue
- 117 patterns · 205 fabrics · 27 accessories
How to raise Formal
Four things decide it, and none of them is a formula you have to work out here.
Cut patterns that add it
A pattern declares Formal as a trait of the cut, before any cloth is laid on it. The strongest are listed below with their weight.
Choose fabric that supports it
Cloth carries the style through the parts of the dress it covers, so the same fabric counts for more on a larger piece.
Place accessories that contribute
A bow, a button or a length of trim adds its own weight where it sits, and each further one on the same style counts for less than the last.
Check the whole dress
The score a brief reads belongs to the finished dress rather than to any one of its parts. Measure it once the dress is built.
What Formal score do you need?
The quick values are the scores this build's briefs actually state for Formal.
One brief asks for Formal to stay low instead of reaching a score. It is marked in the brief list below.
Patterns that add Formal
The six strongest cuts for Formal, by the weight the game gives the pattern itself. Two patterns on the same weight are ordered by how much cloth they take.
6 of 117
Ordered by the weight the game gives it, strongest first.
Fabrics that contribute to Formal
The six strongest fabrics for Formal, in three orders. Two fabrics on the same weight are ordered by price.
6 of 205
Ordered by the weight the game gives it, strongest first.
Accessories that help raise Formal
The six strongest decorations for Formal, in three orders. Two on the same weight are ordered by price.
6 of 27
Ordered by the weight the game gives it, strongest first.
What pulls Formal down
Some pieces carry Formal as a negative weight, so a dress built around them loses points instead of gaining them. These are the strongest of them.
- BurlapFabricFormal -10
- Apron BodicePatternFormal -5
- Ruffle Apron BodicePatternFormal -5
- Straight Long SkirtPatternFormal -5
The figure is the weight the game gives that piece on its own. What a whole dress loses also depends on how much of the dress the piece covers.
Need a cheaper or earlier option?
The lists above show the strongest choices. These are the single cheapest and the single earliest in each catalogue, drawn from everything that carries Formal and not only from the six.
Lowest cost
A pattern costs no money, so the pattern here is the one that takes the least cloth.
Pattern
Fabric
Accessory
Available from the start
What a save already has on its first day.
Pattern
Fabric
Accessory
Briefs that ask for Formal
Every published brief whose requirements state a Formal score, the hardest first.
One of these briefs pays for Formal to stay low rather than to reach a score. It is marked, and a higher score does not help it.
7 requirementsAlso asks for Elaborate
Formal 80 or more
Try it in the solver
5 requirementsAlso asks for Elaborate · Romantic
Formal 75 or more
Try it in the solver
4 requirementsAlso asks for Gothic
Formal 50 or more
Try it in the solver
5 requirementsAlso asks for Elaborate · Eclectic
Formal 50 or more
Try it in the solver
4 requirementsAlso asks for Elegant · Daywear
Formal 50 or more
Try it in the solver
5 requirementsAlso asks for Elegant · Simple
Formal 50 or more
Try it in the solver
5 requirementsAlso asks for Elegant · Romantic · Elaborate
Formal 50 or more
Try it in the solver
4 requirementsAlso asks for Eveningwear · Romantic
Formal 40 or more
Try it in the solver
6 requirementsAlso asks for Professional · Daywear
Formal 25 or more
Try it in the solver
4 requirementsAlso asks for Patterned · Eclectic
Formal scores the briefs ask for
How many briefs state each score, so a target can be read against what the game actually demands.
- 25 or more1 brief
- 40 or more1 brief
- 50 or more5 briefs
- 75 or more1 brief
- 80 or more1 brief
1 further briefs ask for Formal to stay low and are not in this list.
Pick a source for Formal
Sort the strongest patterns, fabrics and decorations that carry Formal by how hard they push, what they cost and how soon you can have them.
Looking for
Order
Price
A pattern costs cloth rather than coin, so a price ceiling applies to fabrics and decorations.
Enter your Prestige and every gate is checked against where your save actually is.
33 of 33 sources
Every source that carries Formal is here, sorted by how hard it pushes. A piece that never appears can still belong in a Formal dress — it just does not move the style on its own.
What affects Formal?
Three things carry a style, and they do not carry it the same way.
Patterns
Some patterns add Formal directly, as a trait of the cut itself.
Fabrics
A fabric contributes through the parts of the dress it covers, and through how much of each part it covers.
Accessories
Decorations add their weight where they are placed, and several on the same style count for less each time one is added.
Two numbers that are not the same
Source value
The Formal figure printed on a pattern, a fabric or a decoration. It belongs to that piece and says how strongly the piece leans that way.
Final style score
What the finished dress reads once every part and every weighting is counted. Only a dress has one, which is why no piece on its own can promise a score.
A finished score is not those three added together. It depends on every pattern, fabric and accessory in the dress and on how much of the dress each one covers, which is why the number belongs to the finished garment rather than to any list on this page.
See the full style-score explanationWorking toward Formal?
This page says what carries the style. These four do the building, the measuring, the repairing and the aiming.
- Build toward FormalLay out a whole dress and aim it at the score you need, before you cut into anything.Build toward Formal
- Calculate my Formal scoreRead the Formal score a dress actually reaches, piece by piece.Calculate my Formal score
- My dress is short on FormalFind the smallest change that closes a gap when a dress misses the score.My dress is short on Formal
- Reach Formal on purposeSet a floor or a ceiling for Formal and get the patterns, fabrics and decorations that satisfy it.Reach Formal on purpose
Styles that share a brief with Formal
The styles the same briefs also score, most shared first.
Formal questions
How do I get Formal in Dressmaker?
117 patterns, 205 fabrics and 27 decorations carry Formal. Any of them counts toward it, and the finished score belongs to the dress rather than to one piece.
Which patterns give Formal?
117 patterns carry Formal. The strongest is Junon Skirt, which counts 25 of it.
Which fabrics carry Formal?
205 fabrics carry Formal. Snow Petal Lace is the strongest, at 50.
Which decorations carry Formal?
Coral Tiara Lace Trim is the strongest of the 27 decorations carrying Formal, at 3.
How do I reach Formal 50?
Set the goal to 50 in the style calculator and it searches for dresses that reach it, naming the piece behind every point.
Why did a second decoration give less Formal than the first?
Because the game scales repeated pushes at one style down. The first decoration adds its full weight, the second adds a fraction of its own, and each one after that a fraction of the fraction.
Can an item lower Formal?
Yes. 4 pieces count Formal below zero, and Burlap does it hardest at -10. On a dress they take those points away rather than adding them.
Does a fabric always give the same Formal score?
No. Cloth counts through the parts of the dress it covers and through how much of each part it covers, so one fabric moves Formal by different amounts in two different dresses.