Dressmaker makes me smile
In case you didn’t know, sewing is freakin’ awesome. Plucking a blueprint from your mind’s eye before carefully picking the fabric, constructing the form, cut-pin-sewing all the pieces and, eventually, having your creations fill out your wardrobe is near cathartic in its level of pure satisfaction delivered straight to your brain’s hedonic hotspots. Dressmaker understands this satisfaction, but what makes the game so charming is that it never really feels like the dresses are the point: They’re a gateway to meet people.
In Dressmaker, you run a little dressmaking business, taking commissions from the people who wander into your shop — after the town has gone without a dressmaker for years, the horror! — and gradually getting to know the town around you. You meet many lovely ladies, each brimming with tailored personalities, stories and reasons to expand their wardrobe. Through them, the town’s ongoing drama unfolds, largely centered around the women vying for the attention of the baron.
The strange storytelling mechanic is that you are not really part of that story. You are simply the person making the dresses, and the game wears that well. Hearing the town’s gossip through the loose lips of the lovely ladies that make up your customer base lends a tantalizing, voyeuristic quality to Dressmaker. The game doesn’t ask much of you: Just listen in and gussy up. And Dressmaker certainly gives you the tools to make drop-dead gorgeous gowns .
The clothing creation system is intuitive without being overwhelming, in part due to the very digestible, stepwise unlocking system the game seamlessly integrates. Even early on with limited materials, there are plenty of fabrics, textures, colors and designs to choose from, with the array only growing as you progress. The finished garments always look genuinely lovely, and the game presents a flawless and particularly charming presentation of 2D illustrated character portraits and visual-novel style dialogue combined with fully 3D sewing models and animations.
For anyone who comes to Dressmaker specifically because they love sewing, the actual gameplay might feel a little simple. You press and hold to sew, following a dotted line as you put pieces of the garment together. Personally, I am very glad it is this simple. I have absolutely no desire to turn a cozy dressmaking game into a test of my hand-eye coordination. The easy integration of ruffles — which are otherwise the bane of my existence — is much welcomed.
Dressmaker gives you the option to fully engage with its sewing mechanic, but it’s not required. There is an auto-sew option which alleviates your wrist from having to hold down your mouse, and I appreciate it immensely. Sewing games do not necessarily need to be inaccessible to people whose hands cannot comfortably perform the same repetitive movements for extended periods of time.
The relative simplicity also means that I never found myself getting particularly bored with the actual dressmaking. Besides, each commission and woman is different enough that each dress is quite a different undertaking. The process never dragged on, and soon enough I would finish my commission and look forward to seeing who walked through the door next.
The rhythm works very well: Meet someone, hear their story, make a dress, unlock new fabrics and patterns, receive a new commission and put those new assets to use.
Especially well-tailored is the way Dressmaker handles unlocking new clothing options. Rather than dumping every possible dress, fabric and design into your lap at the beginning, new options become available as you progress and build friendships. The game frames these discoveries as being inspired by the characters you meet, which is such a small but lovely touch. Your relationships influence your creations. It makes dressmaking feel connected to the world around you, rather than existing as a disconnected crafting minigame.
Dressmaker’s characters were clearly handled with the same thoughtfulness; the genuine, diverse cast — hosting different body types, faces and styles — is a true pick-me-up, with every face walking through the door guaranteed to be a beautiful one. There is no single body type that the game treats as the default canvas for its clothes, which makes every act of design feel even more intentional and joyful.
I love that Dressmaker is a game about making things for people. I loved the characters I met, and they made me want to keep sewing. Each dress became a reason to bring someone into my shop, not just for the coinage, but to listen to their stories and become a little more woven into the fabric of the town myself. What began as a solitary craft gradually became something communal. Dressmaker is more than just making dresses; I was participating in the small, ordinary exchanges that turn a collection of strangers into a community.
Digital Culture Beat Editor Estlin Salah can be reached at essalah@umich.edu .
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