Tailoring

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Tailoring is a skill in Project Zomboid that is used to repair and fortify clothes to increase their protection against scratches, bites, and bullets.

In-game tailoring screen of overalls, with some ripped sheet patches and multiple holes.

Basic requirements

Equipment

The equipment below is required to start tailoring:

• 1 needle.

• 1 unit of thread.

• Material (Cloth, Denim, or Leather)

Optionally:

• 1 pair of scissors is required to rip clothes made with denim or leather in order to obtain denim strips and leather strips.

Note that the suture needle cannot be used for tailoring.

Fabrics

There are 3 types of fabrics currently in Project Zomboid. They are all obtainable through ripping or cutting clothes.

Icon	Item	Fabric type	Base defense (Scratch/Bite/Bullet)	Rarity of clothing with this fabric
	Ripped Sheets	Cotton	- / +1% / -	Very common
	Denim Strips	Denim	+1% / +1% / +1%	Common
	Leather Strips	Leather	+1% / +2% / +1%	Uncommon

Tailoring

To start tailoring, right-click a clothing and right-click Inspect to display the condition of the clothing. Holes can be patched and paddings can be added by right-clicking the corresponding body part.

• Some items like shoes and bulletproof vests cannot be repaired.
• Adding padding will increase the defense of a clothing item.
• Simply patching a hole will not fully restore its condition.
• Denim or leather padding gives more tailoring exp than ripped sheet padding.

Tailoring level

To maximize XP gain, you should read the tailoring books first.

• Tailoring Vol. 1 (Levels 1-2)
• Tailoring Vol. 2 (Levels 3-4)
• Tailoring Vol. 3 (Levels 5-6)
• Tailoring Vol. 4 (Levels 7-8)
• Tailoring Vol. 5 (Levels 9-10)

Getting XP is quite easy. To earn XP, it is possible to:

• Rip clothes (0.25XP is awarded only when a thread is obtained).
• Add padding to or patch any holes of a clothing item.
  • If the player wants to train tailoring by doing this, it's best to use ripped sheets instead of leather or denim strips to avoid wasting the stronger fabrics. Ripped sheets are also very common, making them perfect for training.
  • If the limiting factor is a lack of thread, rip up spare clothing to get a small amount.

The XP gains for adding and removing padding and patches are as follows:

• Adding: 0.25 or 0.5 XP (equally likely)
• Removing: 1 XP if the patch is gotten back, 0.25 XP otherwise

Benefits

The player is provided with some benefits as they increase their tailoring skill level:

• [Leather Strips|Leather strips]] provide the most defense.

Icon	Item	Level 0 Bite/Scratch/Bullet (Defence)	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	Ripped Sheets	1%	1%	1%	1%	2%	2%	3%	3%	4%	4%	5%
	Denim Strips	1%/1%/1%	1%/1%/1%	1%/2%/1%	2%/3%/2%	2%/4%/2%	2%/5%/2%	3%/6%/3%	3%/7%/3%	4%/8%/4%	4%/9%/4%	5%/10%/5%
	Leather Strips	1%/2%/1%	1%/2%/1%	2%/4%/2%	3%/6%/3%	4%/8%/4%	5%/10%/5%	6%/12%/6%	7%/14%/7%	8%/16%/8%	9%/18%/9%	10%/20%/10%

• The chances of getting thread from ripped clothes will also increase as the player levels up their tailoring skill.

• The chance of getting a padding or patch back upon removing it starts at 10% at 0 tailoring and increases by 5% per level up to 60% at 10 tailoring.

• At level 8 tailoring, you will be able to repair holes completely with the right kind of fabric, restoring the clothes' original defense, condition, and insulation. However, clothing items that can't be repaired like firefighter pants or military boots will still not be repairable.