Dressmaker Updates Hub

This Updates Hub is the Dressmaker timeline in one place. Cozy Lives (the Free Lives cozy label) took a three-week prototype, put it on itch.io, and spent a year turning it into a Steam shop. The full game is not on Steam yet. The store lists 21 September 2026 for Windows and macOS. Prototype 0.5.5 is the build you can download today. Use the pages below when a friend asks “is it out,” “what does it cost,” or “which zip do I grab.”

Pages in this hub

• Steam launch — date, platforms, languages, story length, Cloud, achievements, and what the full catalog adds.
• Prototype notes — 0.5.5 lace controls, Mac Open Anyway, tutorial tweaks, and itch.io versus Steam.
• Price and wishlist — $14.99, regional pricing, 10% launch discount, official 200k+ wishlists, and why APKs are a trap.
• August Tea notes — 31 August 2026: the launch day will be met, content complete, credits, ending, achievement icons, Carolina key art, remaining bugs.

Read Steam launch if you are waiting for September. Read prototype notes if you want to sew this week. Read price and wishlist if a storefront or a random site disagrees with Free Lives’ 7 September 2026 news post. Read August Tea notes for the late-August “we are not slipping” status.

Public timeline

• August 2025 — itch.io prototype goes up. A short Free Lives experiment (elyaradine, sarandipityx, raithza) becomes a download hit.
• 18 September 2025 — Steam page opens for app 4019220. The prototype gains easier sewing, more accessories and fabrics, a new skirt, and lace trim.
• 3 October 2025 — Prototype 0.5.5 hotfix. Lace controls, tutorial improvements, Mac notes, and small art/grain fixes. This is still the public itch.io file set.
• 6 June 2026 — Wholesome Direct announces a September 2026 release window with a trailer.
• July 2026 — Official news locks the day: 21 September 2026, and claims over 200,000 Steam wishlists. Third-party estimators often sit lower; this wiki prefers the studio’s figure and labels it as such.
• 31 August 2026 — “August Tea” says the launch day will be met. Content is complete. Credits compiled, ending done, achievement icons painted. Remaining work is bugs and post-launch. Carolina “Carolemellow” illustrated new key art. Guardian and Creative Bloq interviews ran around the same window.
• 7 September 2026 — “Scalding September Tea” announces $14.99, regional pricing, and a −10% launch discount. Official copy also says the content is complete, with remaining work on bugs and post-launch extras.

Between those headlines, monthly “Tea” posts covered measurements and mannequins, fabric shaders (including sequins as a niche surface), off-the-rack window sales, character art, and playtests. They are progress reports, not new prototype zips. The file you download from itch.io remains 0.5.5 until the Steam app ships.

How to read “content complete”

When a studio says content is complete a couple of weeks before launch, it means the story commissions, dress pieces, and shop systems are in. It does not mean every lace pin is already perfect, and it does not mean the itch.io zip suddenly became the 35-hour game. Remaining work is bugs plus post-launch. That is the honest sentence to repeat in Discord.

The full shop is described as about 35 hours of story commissions excluding off-the-rack dresses, with 150+ pieces, 450+ fabrics, and 350+ accessories. Languages on Steam: English, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese, each with full audio. Single-player only. Engine: Unity. Made in South Africa.

What this hub will not do

It will not pretend the Steam version is already in your library. It will not list unofficial Android ports. It will not treat a third-party wishlist scraper as more official than the July 2026 Cozy Lives post. When Steam’s store flags change (Linux, Deck, a delay), update the Steam launch page first, then this list.

If you are using the prototype as a class or a stream, keep prototype notes beside how to play. If you are buying on day one, keep price and wishlist beside system requirements. The sewing loop itself does not live here; the calendar does. Check this hub when the date, the price, or the zip name changes, then go back to the cloth.