How to become a Tailor or Dressmaker
Official title: Tailor/Dressmaker
Also called: Dressmaker, Gown maker, Tailor (made-to-measure garment), Tailor (ready-to-wear garment), Wardrobe Supervisor, Gown maker
Tailor/Dressmaker fabricates, fits, alters and repairs tailored or hand-made clothing. He/she produces made-to-measure clothing such as suits, overcoats, and dresses from textile fabrics, and other material, according to customers’ and clothing manufacturers’ specifications.
Main tasks
- Making overcoats, suits, skirts, shirts, blouses, lingerie, corsetry and similar garments often to clients’ individual requirements
- Selecting textile fabrics, leather or fur pelts matching the desired size, colour, texture, and quality of the garment; cutting to shape them to garment pattern and arranging them on pattern according to the design of the garment
- Making garment style changes, such as tapering trouser legs, narrowing lapels, and adding or removing padding
- Selecting and modifying commercial patterns to customers’ and clothing manufacturers’ specifications and fit
- Fitting, altering and repairing tailored clothing, dresses, coats and other made-to-measure garments according to customers’ requests
- Making and caring for costumes used in theatrical, television and motion picture productions
Pay · Outlook · AI and this job
- Median pay: $25,176 a year. The middle half earn $17,400 to $42,000 a year.
- Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Related jobs
- Garment and related pattern-maker/cutter
- Upholsterer and related worker
- Shoemaker/Cobbler
- Leather goods maker/assembler
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Questions people ask
How much does a Tailor or Dressmaker earn in Singapore?
Median full-time pay is $25,176 a year (Ministry of Manpower (via data.gov.sg)). The middle half earn $17,400 to $42,000.
Will AI change the work of a Tailor or Dressmaker?
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- Ministry of Manpower (via data.gov.sg): Resident Occupational Wages (Occupational Wage Survey) (June 2024 (data.gov.sg update 2026-04-01)), Singapore Open Data Licence v1.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
Updated 4 October 2026