Crafting new boots is one of the earliest tutorial objectives in Windrose, but the game doesn't make it obvious that you can't just walk up to your regular Workbench and make them. The boots — specifically called Survivor's Boots — require a completely different crafting station, and that station has its own placement rules that trip up a lot of new players.
Quick answer: Build an Armor and Clothing Workshop, place it under a roof and within your Bonfire's range, then interact with it to craft Survivor's Boots using 2 Rough Hide and 2 Coarse Fabric.
Armor and Clothing Workshop requirements
Before you can craft any clothing or armor — boots included — you need to build and place an Armor and Clothing Workshop. This is a separate station from the standard Workshop where you craft tools and basic materials. To build it, gather the following:
- Wood ×5 — chop down trees on the starting island.
- Coarse Fabric ×10 — craft this at your regular Workshop using Plant Fiber, which drops from bushes and other foliage you collect by hand.
Open the Building Panel by pressing B on PC to enter build mode. The Armor and Clothing Workshop appears under the crafting station options. Select it and place it in a valid location.
Roof and Bonfire placement rules
The Armor and Clothing Workshop has two placement conditions that the game doesn't spell out clearly. First, it must sit underneath some kind of roof. Second, it must be within your Bonfire's range — the circular area of influence around your camp's central fire.
You do not need to build a fully enclosed house. The quickest way to satisfy the roof requirement is to place a Hut Frame, which you can find under Prebuilt Structures in the Building Panel. A Hut Frame provides walls and a roof in a single buildable piece, and it's more than enough to get the workshop functional. Some players have reported success with even simpler setups — a single wall segment with a floor piece used as a roof overhead — so the game checks for overhead coverage rather than full enclosure.
If the workshop won't place or won't function, double-check that you're inside the Bonfire's highlighted radius. Move closer to the fire if needed.
Crafting the Survivor's Boots
Step 1: Walk up to your placed Armor and Clothing Workshop and interact with it. This opens the clothing and armor crafting menu, which is entirely separate from your regular Workshop recipes.
Step 2: Select Survivor's Boots from the list. You'll need these materials in your inventory:
- Rough Hide ×2 — dropped by furry animals. Boars and Sows roaming the starting island are the most reliable early source. Hunt a few, and you'll have plenty.
- Coarse Fabric ×2 — the same material you used to build the workshop, crafted from Plant Fiber at the regular Workshop.
Step 3: Confirm the craft. The Survivor's Boots will appear in your inventory, and the tutorial objective completes immediately.
Common reasons the craft doesn't appear
If you're staring at a Workbench and wondering why there's no boots recipe, you're at the wrong station. The standard Workshop handles tools and basic materials like Coarse Fabric, but all wearable gear goes through the Armor and Clothing Workshop. This is the single most common point of confusion for new Windrose players.
Another frequent issue is forgetting about build mode entirely. If you haven't pressed B to open the Building Panel, you won't see the option to place the Armor and Clothing Workshop at all. The game walks you through earlier crafting steps at the regular Workshop, but doesn't explicitly remind you to switch to build mode for this objective.
With the Survivor's Boots equipped, you've cleared one of the first real hurdles in Windrose's tutorial progression. The Armor and Clothing Workshop will remain useful throughout the game for crafting upgraded gear, so keeping it accessible near your Bonfire saves time later. If you're continuing the early quest line, Clay is another key resource worth tracking down — it's used heavily in Alchemy-related crafting recipes that open up shortly after this point.