Tailoring: A Beginner's Guide

So you want to be a Tailor?

Perhaps you admire those flowing robes or maybe you're just a fan of pink. If so then Tailoring is for you! In addition to being a good profession that provides armor for Warlocks, Mages and Priests, these are also the only folks that can make bags. Ok, so maybe there's one Horde leatherworking bag recipe, but I say we don't count that one.

Companion Skills

Since Tailoring doesn't require a gathering profession, there are a number of other crafts you can choose. A gathering profession would be good as an income generator, the most useful of which would be Skinning since bag and boot recipes tend to use leather. Many people choose Enchanting to go with Tailoring since Enchanting does not require a gathering skill either. As a Tailor you'll be able to create your own items for disenchanting, so that's a nice bonus.

To begin your Tailoring adventure, you'll want to find yourself a trainer. Most major cities will have a full selection of the various trainers, simply ask a guard. There are also some trainers located in towns in various newbie zones, but this is not reliable so your best bet is to take care of this in the city. Keep in mind that you should be level 5 before you seek a trainer.

Bolts of Cloth

Once you learn the first few recipes from your trainer, you'll notice that they require 'bolts' of linen. Bolts of fabric are made from the various pieces of cloth that you'll receive as loot during your adventures in Azeroth. You need to convert all of this cloth into bolts for use in your recipes. You can also get skill points making the bolts, so the best strategy here is to make bolts as much as possible while you still gain points for doing so. If you happen to end up with stacks of cloth before you gain the ability to create bolts with it, it's probably smart to store it in the bank and save it for easy points later on.

As you move through the various recipes, you'll start using higher level types of cloth. The first recipes use Linen, followed by Wool, Silk, Mageweave, and finally Runecloth. Here's a chart to show the progression of cloth types as they relate to mobs and recipes, plus the amount needed to create bolts.

To advance your training beyond 150, Alliance players will need to seek out Georgio Bolero at the Mage Quarter in Stormwind City and Horde players should visit Josef Gregorian at the Magic Quarter in the Undercity. For Artisan Tailoring (above 225) the trainers are Timothy Worthington at Theramore in Dustwallow Marsh (Alliance) and Daryl Stack at Tarren Mill in Hillsbrad Foothills (Horde). You will need to be level 35 before you can train as an Artisan, level 20 is required for Expert training.

Bags and more bags

One of the items that will be quite popular for any Tailor is a bag. At the lower levels you may not be able to get huge amounts of money for them (depending on your server), but eventually you should be able to make good money on bags. This will probably be at the Runecloth level, most players at some point will upgrade all their bags to the runecloth variety.

Specialty Bags

More recently Tailors have received recipes for specialty bags. The types of bags you can make now include soul shard bags for Warlocks, herb bags for Herbalists and enchanting bags for Enchanters. These bags tend to sell for higher amounts than comparable regular bags, mostly due to their unique nature and the rare components required to make them. But it would probably be a good idea to seek out these recipes because if you can collect the components you should be able to make even better money on these bags.

Shirts

I know what you're thinking... why does anyone need a shirt when they have chestpieces and breastplates? Well, some chest armor does a better job of covering folks up than others. For those who don't like to show so much skin, they can add a shirt underneath. Or perhaps they just like the look of a certain shirt with their chosen armor. Shirts are basically a vanity item, but sometimes they can sell more than other gear at the same crafting level. So check the Auction House and see what the going rate is for shirts. You might find that you'll get more money making a shirt for the same material it would take to make regular armor items.

Fun Stuff

What's better than a Pink Mageweave Shirt? How about a White Wedding Dress or Tuxedo! That's right, you too can outfit an entire wedding party for the next big event in scenic Moonglade on the shores of Lake Elune'ara. Ok, maybe not but you can make wedding dresses, tuxedos and other fun outfits. During the Feast of Winter Veil there were recipes for festive Green Holiday Shirts, and the Lunar Festival also had recipes as rewards for doing related quests. So if you get bored with the same old cloth armor, you can always make a pink shirt for everyone in your guild.

Mooncloth & Moonwells

At the highest levels of Tailoring you'll learn how to make Mooncloth, which is used in the Mooncloth armor set as well as the Mooncloth Bag (a 16-slot bag). Mooncloth is a special kind of cloth that you create, not a type of cloth that mobs drop. In order to make mooncloth, you'll need to collect 2 pieces of Felcloth. This type of cloth is a drop from high level demons in Azshara, Blasted Lands, Felwood and Dire Maul. Felcloth tends to have a 2-5% drop rate, so plan on it taking some effort to collect. Mooncloth is on a 4-day cooldown timer, so you'll only be able to do one or two a week. Also, you'll only be able to make it at a Moonwell. Here is a list of moonwells you can use for this purpose:

• Temple of the Moon (Darnassus)
• The Park (Stormwind)
• Auberdine (Darkshore)
• Cenarion Hold (Silithus)
• Iris Lake (Ashenvale)
• Thalanaar (Thousand Needles)

It's rumored that other moonwells around the world, such as the one at Jaedenar in Felwood, can be used as well. Feel free to experiment at any moonwells you happen to run across.

Quests

Tailors get only one crafting quest - for the Shadoweave Mask at around level 50. Alliance players can speak to Jalane Ayrole at the Mage Quarter in Stormwind and Horde players should talk to Josephine Lister in the Magic Quarter of the Undercity. They will send you to Nilith Lokrav in Searing Gorge. By doing the series of quests for Nilith, you'll receive the recipe as the final reward.

There are some quest-related patterns that Tailors can learn, which are part of certain world events including the Feast of Winter Veil and the Lunar Festival. Completing quests for these events will give you access to special recipes. Another pattern available to Tailors is the Mooncloth Boots which Meilosh in Felwood will teach you after you become Friendly to him and complete his quests. Finally there are several Tailoring patterns that can be gotten as a "gift" from Hermit Ortell in Silithus by giving him Twilight Texts. He sends a variety of items to you in the mail after receiving your texts, which may or may not be one of the Tailoring recipes.