Note
that you can reduce the quality of a pelt by combining it with a skinning knife.
Everything else falls in between these the main reasons for tailoring.
Some people say that you should work on Patchwork armor first, but I never bothered with it.
Basically to get good at Tailoring you have to kill spiders, spiders and more spiders. If you’re low enough in level you might as well find some spiders that give you experience while your making your silken goods. Being a Level 24 Bard as I was when I took up the trade, I decided to head to East Karana and hunt the Crag Spiders (If you’re too low for them, try the Carrion Spiders there as well). Crag Spiders have a good tendancy for dropping up to 8 silks at a time saving you a lot of hassle (Don’t forget to check the merchants in the zone, people sometimes unload all their silks on them, I bought 26 silks off a merchant once, it was really nice). These spiders have a mean poison spell (15 damage per round), and there are very few guards in that area of the zone so be careful out there. If you're familiar with Upper Guk, there is a nice concentration of heart spiders but they will train so only go there if you're familiar with the zone.
So, this said, let’s start with silk swatches. Every time you get two spiders silks combine them to make a swatch. They stack nicely and aren’t very heavy at all (0.1). Once you hit level 17 silk swatches won’t raise your skill anymore, but don’t let this phase you, you’re joust going to have to keep making them until you finish the silk part of your training. (If you think this is redundant, try blacksmithing, and see how much you hate making metal bits)
The Raw Silk Stage. Here is where you begin to realize your first real, albeit minor, profit in tailoring. Basically unless you’re making silk to order (Or give to the ladies, like I do), don’t make anything that requires more than 1 silk swatch, it’s pointless when you could try twice and raise your skill. So just run around collecting swatches, and combining them with patters (If you followed my advice and are hunting in East Karana, you’ll have to run back to the OTHER SIDE of West Karana to find patters at the collection of buildings near Tower 2). Continue making Raw Silk until you hit a skill of around 39 or so.
The Studded Armor Stage. Now you're ready for the dreaded studded armor. There is no profit in making Studded and it’s rather time consuming unless you have a blacksmith friend to make your studs for you. This stage is a pain, but you need to get to the Cured Silk Phase to start making money again.
To make studded armor you need Medium Quality Pelts. The best place I found for medium pelts is in the Deserts of Ro, the Oasis, and the Commons. Pumas and plains cats give both puma skins and medium quality pelts. I found about 1 in 4 pumas will yield a medium pelt. If you're lucky you can find a merchant loaded with medium pelts. Check the Inn and Fishing Village in N. Ro, the Gypsy Merchants and the Inn in Oasis (near P2), and the inns in East and West Commons. The Freeport area is a good place to work on studded because of the availability of medium quality pelts nearby and ore for blacksmithing the studs. Refer to the Blacksmithing Guide to make your studs if you don’t want to buy them. Take your Large Sewing Kit, Studs, Patterns (Mask preferably, buy 1 pattern for every stud) and move to the deserts to find your pelts. Masks only require 1 stud so with 50 studs you should get about 10-15 skills increases depending on your intelligence. Keep on hunting and sewing with the Studded Armor until you hit a skill of 57. Breath deep, ignore your empty wallet, and head back to hunting, guess what, SPIDERS!!
The Cured Silk Stage. Cured silk armor requires a pattern, silk swatches and something called a Heady Kiola. Heady kiola becomes trivial for brewers at a skill of 46 and all components can be found in most taverns. Refer to the Brewing Guide to make your Kiolas if you don’t want to buy them. The kiola is stackable so you can make or buy a bunch at once; make tons of silk swatches, then start making your cured silk. Masks require only 1 kiola and 1 silk swatch so these would be the best bet for skill increase. I suggest not attempting any other items until you feel more confident in your success rate otherwise you lose too much. Keep at the cured silk, basking in your newfound wealth, until you hit skill level 82, where these will become trivial to someone of your skill (and sore feet from running around).
It's time for Reinforced Leather Armor! To make Reinforced you need steel boning, which is made by Blacksmiths. Refer to the Blacksmithing Guide to make your own. Once you get a bunch of steel boning pack up a bunch of patterns. I suggest to work on your skill by making either wristbands or gorgets. Both require only 1 steel boning. Buy 1 of each pattern per steel boning made. Now it's time to find High Quality Pelts. These are very abundant in the Karanas, so head to West Karana and check out the village merchants there. Try the small village near Qeynos Hills and the one near T2. If these are empty I found a nice supply in North Karana at the Gypsy camp and also in East Karana at the village near the Beholder zone (Gorge) entrance and the village to the right as you come off the wooden bridge at the fork in the road. I've also found some in Oasis, North Ro, and the Commons. Again you can see how much traveling you need to do. Reinforced will go trivial somewhere around 108.
To make Wu's you need to be a potter (or buy poison vials from one). Wu's requires 1 glove pattern, 1 silk swatch, 1 vial of viscous mana, 1 greater lightstone, and 4 heady kiola. An enchanter using a poison vial and a pearl makes the vial of viscous mana with a spell that requires 200 mana, so unless you have an enchanter friend who will be happy to convert these for you, be prepared to pay them several plat for each one they make.
Save all of your High Quality Bear Skins till you get your skill in tailoring up real high (80+). HQ Bear Skins come off Black and Brown bears only. Grizzly and Kodiak bears will yield Grizzly Skins. I'm not so sure about young Kodiaks but I don't think they drop quality skins either. The best concentrations of black and brown bears are in West Karana, Rathe Mountains, and the Commons. You can hunt them in Qeynos Hills, but be careful of that Holy Winstalker she protects the woodland creatures. Usually in these zones you can pick up some by auctioning for them and paying a respectable price (5-10pp). Once I get a bunch of HQ Bear skins, I'll take my sewing kit, patterns, and skins to a high level zone such as Mistmoore, Lower Guk, Sol A, Sol B, and even Butcherblock, etc. and auction. If you try to auction a 10-slot backpack in a low level zone for 50pp everyone will laugh at you (Although with all the Twinking going on, maybe you’ll get lucky). This item is for the high level rich people. They acquire a lot of items and desperately need more room to store it. Usually when I find a buyer they want 8-10 at a time, 8 for their bank vault and 2 to carry. So if your skill in tailoring is low and you risk losing a HQ bear skin to make a backpack, chances are you will fail and that is a potential 50pp you just threw away; 4 failures is 200 possible plat down the drain.
Cured silk armor will be your best consistent moneymaker so I suggest working your skill up to at least 90 in order to have a good success rate at making cured silk armor. Wu's Fighting Gauntlets and Backpacks become trivial at 88, so you can begin to make these with good success as you approach skill 88. Wu's Gauntlets and the 10 slot backpacks will be your best single item moneymakers. I would sell Wu's for 50pp and the backpacks for 50pp as well, although some people are willing to pay 100 each for these. I highly recommend that you not attempt to raise skill by making Wu's or backpacks; there is too much to lose when you fail.
Good tailors can rake in the profits making cured silk armor, Wu's gauntlets, backpacks, and yes, reinforced armor. I make Reinforced Leggings, Sleeves, Gloves, and Tunics and sell them for 10pp each. Your best customers are Druids; they can only wear leather and Reinforced is better than the best leather they can buy. There are much better things they can wear at higher levels though, so your target is the mid level druids who don't mind spending 10pp. I cater to mostly level 15-30 druids and best places to sell are in Greater Fay and the Karanas. Caps, Boots, and Gorgets don't sell that well cause there are other items such as Savant's cap, Bear hide boots, and Studded Leather Gorget (from Blackburrow) that's easier to get and cost less. Sometimes I come across some people who want reinforced for status (few people have it cause there's not many high level tailors around). There are so few tailors who can make reinforced as many give up at lower skill levels. I am one of the few master tailors on my server (Fennin Ro).
Tailors also make shadow silk, which is required for Necromancer quests from the Temple of Solusek Ro. There are 3 different types to make: Shadow silk, large shadow silk, and Inky Shadow Silk. Shadow silk requires 1 silk swatch, 1 shadow wolf pelt, and 1 scroll of gather shadows (purchased from a Necro guild). Large shadow silk requires 2 pelts, 1 scroll, and 1 swatch. Inky shadow silk requires 1 pelt, 2 scrolls, and 1 swatch. I don't make these and go around finding Necros, who need them, but many have sought me out and I've made it for free if they brought the items to me. Most give me a nice tip even though I don't charge. It's also trivial for me at 122 so I have no idea when these become trivial. I've seen shadow wolves in south Karana, the commons, and Nektulos forest. I'm sure they can be found in many other zones but I've never really kept an eye out for them.