Dressmaker is the dangerously addictive sewing game I knew it would be

I am what you might call a “hobby collector”, which essentially means that I pick up new things, hyperfocus on them for maybe a couple of weeks, and then move on to the next thing. This creates something of a graveyard of former hobby materials cluttering up my shelves and cupboards, metaphorically glaring at me every time a new hobby gets adopted. That's why I enjoy simulation games: all the hobbies, none of the weird sentimental item-based guilt.  

And Dressmaker is the perfect, delightfully dangerous example of this. 

Dressmaker by Cozy Lives is a game that does exactly what it says on the… Steam capsule. You create gorgeous dresses from scratch, from designing them to sewing them together, fulfilling weird and wonderful requests from visitors to your new shop. I fell in love with the Itch.io demo when I played it in September 2025, and now the full game is out on Steam. My general productivity is taking a bit of a hit because I can't seem to stop playing. 

Small town drama

Take it from someone with plenty of experience living in small British towns: one thing Dressmaker does incredibly well is capturing the true depth and complexity of small-town gossip. Every character who enters the shop is connected, and every one of them wants to tell you everything they know. In most towns, people tell their secrets to the local barman, but apparently the haberdasher is the go-to gossip-keeper in this town. 

There's Priya, niece of the recently deceased Duke, who wants badass dresses to intimidate would-be suitors hoping for a piece of her brother, the new Duke. Then there's Prudence, who is an absolute gold digger and one of those suitors. Those two love to moan about each other to you while making their orders, and it's honestly kind of thrilling to be their confidant. 

If you want something a little on the weirder side, there's a vampire who may or may not want to steal your cat, and a very quiet young girl called Alice who is apparently haunted by two spectres that you can see but don't seem particularly concerned about. 

There's no end to the weirdness and gossip in this little town. 

Dangerously moreish

I've said that Dressmaker is dangerous, and to a hobby collector like me, it absolutely is. I've now spent hours and hours making dresses virtually, and it has given me a false sense of confidence. My brain, as it does whenever I find a new hobby, has started questioning how hard it would be to do in real life.  

However, there is a huge and very expensive difference between buying a $12 game on Steam and buying an old Singer sewing machine and hundreds of yards of fabric. Not to mention the fact that I realistically have no idea what I'm doing. In Dressmaker, I'm just following instructions shown on screen. In real life, there is no glowing line telling me where to sew or a gauge showing me how well a fabric meets the requirements of a design. 

One thing I'd love to see is an actual seamstress designing dresses in Dressmaker and then going on to recreate them in real life. I've seen some gorgeous designs since the game was released, and I'm really curious to know whether they can actually be transferred into the real world. 

All shapes and sizes

Dresses in Dressmaker are designed in parts, with you mixing and matching different elements depending on the brief you're given. Designs range from traditional to ultra-modern, with even a few vaguely futuristic elements thrown in. Once you start increasing your friendships with each character and unlocking new designs, there are so many options that you'd struggle to make the same dress twice. 

But dresses aren't the only things that come in different shapes and sizes in Dressmaker, and the measuring process is one of my favorite parts. 

It would have been easy for Dressmaker to do what other games like it have done and have a single body shape for every dress, but that isn't the case. Instead, every character has their own bust, waist, and hip measurements, and the adjustable mannequin needs to be tuned for their sizing whenever you make a dress for them. 

As a woman, I've grown very accustomed to seeing certain body shapes underrepresented in video games, with skinny characters often taking center stage. Dressmaker shows off bodies of different sizes and changes how a dress looks depending on the measurements. 

Larger sizes require more material, even with exactly the same design, and this touch of realism really adds something special that's hard to explain if you've never tried to find a pair of jeans that fits right off the rack as a woman. 

Better than I could have imagined

Even in its demo form, Dressmaker was an absolute stand-out for me, and it's come a long way since that build. There are hundreds of fabrics of all different types to choose from, accessories to add, countless combinations of dress parts, and a whole host of strange yet lovable characters who want the seamstress's help.. I knew the full game would be good, but it has completely exceeded any expectations I had. 

However, you should go into this knowing how utterly addictive and moreish Dressmaker really is. It isn’t just “one more dress” level addictive, because there are interwoven stories playing out in the background that keep you coming back to find out what happens next. Climbing the ranks and unlocking new designs, fabrics, and accessories provides a constant stream of little achievements that keep you playing for hours. 

Dressmaker gave me a blissful day where time seemed to melt away, but it also made me miss an appointment, almost be late to pick my daughter up from school, and forget to eat. Not that I can hold any of that against Cozy Lives; if anything, I mean it as a massive compliment. They have done amazing work with Dressmaker and, at the risk of sounding like an indie game hipster, I just want to say one thing: 

I called it. 

Dressmaker is out now on Steam, and the early prototype demo version that I played is still available on Itch.io if you want to try it out before committing to making the full purchase.