When Fashion Design Meets Simulation: Dressmaker Release and Features

See You Sewn, Dressmakers!

Pincushions and patterns abound, a new job simulator is on the horizon! Do you have an eye for fashion? Or maybe you're just looking for something new? Either way, the upcoming seamster simulator Dressmaker might be right up your alley!

What is Dressmaker, Exactly?

Dress Maker is an upcoming job simulator game developed by indie studio Cozy Lives and to be Published by Free Lives. If you're aware of Free Lives as a publisher, known for more adult-rated and violent games like the action platformer Broforce (Rated T for Teen), you might think Dressmaker is quite the leap for them. But with the potential and heart the project had, it was greenlit and is now being developed by a team at Free Lives under the label of Cozy Lives!

As a tailor, fulfill the dreams of your local clients for every occasion or put out new fits to set trends, the choice is yours! A realistic dress making system awaits you, based on the real-world experiences of the initial developers who wanted to create a detailed and realistic yet accessible system for those with an eye for fashion. Whether you just play it as a sandbox for fashion design or just try to become as successful as possible, there's a little something for anyone interested!

Dressmaker Features Upon Release

A Realistic Dressmaking System

A whole studio with your trusty sewing machine, mannequins, and a shop front awaits you with Dress Makers heavily detailed and realistic tailoring and sewing system. Cut patterns carefully (or not so carefully!) to create a wide array of dresses, from bouncy and bountiful ballgowns to fitted and formal frocks.

With your own storefront and studio, take orders or take charge of trends and sell your garb to the public, with a town of people to visit and patron your little shop. Create your own patterns and preview your own designs on a mannequin before selecting fabrics and sewing everything together, with every detail being lovingly handcrafted by you. Follow existing styles or push the limits of the simulation and the townspeople's preferences, the choice is yours!

Fashion & Creativity Unleashed

Fill your shelves with tons of absolutely luxurious fabrics to fit your personal preferences or those of the public, collect finishing touches to make your mark on each dress sewn, and take full creative control and let your imagination run wild!

You can collection loads of little accessories and finishing touches to adorn your pieces like buttons and bows, or collect a variety of new fabrics to cut, sew, sell, and just experiment with. Overall, Dressmaker is being built to be a sandbox-style job simulator, giving you the freedom to follow commissioned orders to a T or let your mind wander and sell your premade fashions to window-shopping customers.

Clothe Clients & Complete Commissions

If you need some inspiration to get started or love to take someone's ideas and make them into a tangible piece of reality, clients will visit your shop for custom dress orders. Take their orders and pick their brain for their personal style, intended occasion, must-haves, etc., and sketch a design in your sketchbook to begin bringing their order to life.

Every client is different, and you get to decide if the customer is always right. Some clients may need a simple slip for a breezy summer day and others will request a ruffled and layered royal gown for a ball, but it's your job to make their vision (and their specific demands...) a reality to build reputation and make some coin to further your dreams!

Even with creative freedom, you have to work to make your customers happy and build your reputation! As you build the prototype dress and the final product, follow guidelines for specific aesthetics or requests and the overall quality of the gown to get the best possible outcome for each and every client.

The Original Demo & Developer Log

Dressmaker started as a very small passion project, and after a viral surge in public responses to a few simple social media posts, a prototype was thrown together (In just three weeks!) and posted to itch.io, gaining over 100k downloads and tons of attention and love!

While this prototype is no longer updated, and per the developers, has missing features and lots of bugs and some rough edges, it is still available so people can play with the early version of Dressmaker while the team puts all their effort to the final product!

Steam & Release Information

Currently, Dressmaker is planned to release to the gaming platform Steam on September 21st, 2026. The game is planned to be compatible with Windows, MacOS, and SteamOS + Linux, although there will not be a native Linux version.

There is currently no specific pricing information.

Steam Minimum System Requirements

Note: System requirements can change between now and launch, and will be available on the Steam page if they change. The game only currently has listings for Minimum System Requirements, and may be updated with Recommended System Requirements in the future.

Will you be diving into Dressmaker in September, or are you already waiting for it? Let us know, and The Sims Community will keep you in the loop with everything new and existing life simulation games!