Thanks for playing! Your review is really helpful to me because you played from the beginning (unlike most people who returned), so you're able to tell me whether or not earning gold was too easy/hard. I've adjusted the numbers a bit based on your review, so that as soon as you switch characters, the chapters' costs won't skyrocket.
The client system scales with difficulty based on how many items of clothing you've purchased. So the more you have available to create clothing with, the more complex designs that can show up. It should balance itself out with the experience you earn though. The more experience you have, the higher amount of gold you'll receive from each client. I may have lowered it too much for you to feel like it wasn't enough. I'll tweak it again :)
I'm glad you enjoyed your playthrough and that you've been following my progress! I'm very happy with how far I've come along as well.