Dressmaker off the rack dresses, selling and gifts
Between commissions you can make dresses of your own design and sell them, or give them to a client. The store page describes it as a way to “display your own designs in your shop window and sell pre-made dresses off of the rack.” Listed on the Dressmaker Steam store page
When off-the-rack dresses open up
The answers differ, so here are all three:
A developer
“You can make “off the rack” dresses after the third commission.” Answered in a developer's answers on r/CozyGamers
A player on Steam
“you can make an off the rack burlap dress to sell as soon as you've finished the very first dress in the game (the tutorial one, for Rose)” Posted in a Steam discussion about when off-the-rack dresses open up
A recorded playthrough
An off-the-rack card first appears on screen after the third commission is delivered, which lines up with the developer. Seen in Cem Black's recorded first playthrough on YouTube
Both can be true if the burlap dress the player describes is available earlier than the rest of the off-the-rack menu; nothing official says so either way. If money runs short early, a Steam tips guide calls burlap a free material to make off-rack dresses from. Written in a Steam community tips guide A player in another thread says the same. Posted in a Steam discussion about failed commissions paying nothing
Selling
Any finished dress can be sold from the same box that completes a commission, and the box shows the price before you commit. On the economy, the developer adds: “You technically are limited by gold and what you've unlocked, but the game's economy opens up quite a lot, especially if you sell dresses on the side.” Answered in a developer's answers on r/CozyGamers The achievement for spending over 5 000 gold on one successful dress, Opulence and Excess, is on all 32 achievements.
Gifting and friendship
A little way into the story the game announces: “You may now also gift dresses to the clients you've met.” Seen in Cem Black's recorded first playthrough on YouTube Each client’s preferences and measurements then sit in the Sketchbook, so a gift can be made to fit. Each client also has five friendship stars; what gifts do to them is on the ten clients.
Budgets and pay: what is not settled
- Does going over budget matter? The card prints a budget and nothing on screen says what happens past it. No official answer yet.
- When are you paid? A player on Steam: “They don't pay upfront, they pay on delivery”. Posted in a Steam discussion about failed commissions paying nothing A community tips guide says the opposite. The one official word is from the first patch, which fixed failed commissions paying nothing: if the client accepts the dress, you should be paid. See patch notes.
- Budgets by card. The budget is on every open card and missing from delivered ones; the ones on record are on the commission finder.