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Most Difficult to Make – Meet the Maker Day 29

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In the post about design I talked about pattern making and the process of bringing a design to life. Perhaps the most detailed and difficult to make piece in our collections are the arabesque tap pants.

Meet the maker, most difficult to make. Image of lace.
meet the maker - most difficult to make

I hand cut the lace and match/mirror the pattern and scallops have to be cut at a precise point to create the miter on the final garment. After these are sewn on the silk behind is cut away, so when on the body this reveals the skin behind. (Because this hand cutting is so laborious it’s not a task I give to our contractor who sews the garment but one I handle directly)

Arabesque tap pant, showing one of the products that is most difficult to make.

That’s just the lace, these also have a tiny baby hem and stretch velvet waistband that needs to be attached so as not to pucker and with the right amount floating above the back cutout.

Arabesque tap pant.

So this particular piece, but also the entire silk range is challenging to make in that the materials require experience & skill needed to apply the lace and finish such delicate materials. The designing & patternmaking of this piece is also particularly challenging because it’s non-stretch and needs to be designed to fit over the hips but sit on top of them securely, so the stretch velvet waistband and cut out are part of how the design is both functional and aesthetic.

To see the original post on instagram – click here

We’re collecting all of my March Meet the Maker posts here on the blog for ease of reading and all of you who might not be on instagram or facebook. It was a great opportunity to share a bit more about our brand and hope it helps you get to know me and BTS a little better!

Packaging – Meet the Maker Day 28

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An example of our packaging.

There is something really lovely about packaging and wrapping orders to ship – smaller items get our 100% recycled and recyclable plastic mailer and larger orders are shipped in boxes with a stamped logo. Each order gets wrapped with tissue, ribbon (which I mentioned in previous post is extra runs from production of ties, straps, etc) we also include a card introducing more about us and we have a variety with various lookbook images and switch these up based on season!

We ship smaller items in our 100% recycled and recyclable plastic mailer and larger orders in boxes with a stamped logo.

In selecting our packaging we’ve really hit a challenge in balancing single use plastic in shipping materials – ultimately it reduces the amount of damaged merchandise and carbon use in shipping to ship most of our packages in flat mailers. We opt for 100% recycled and recyclable mailers which allow customers to reuse them if they do need to return or exchange items. Larger orders get shipped in recycled cardboard mailers which can also be reused, recycled, or repurposed.

We work hard to create packaging that minimizes waste and uses recycled and recyclable materials.

One thing we didn’t discuss in length on this instagram post that I’d like to address here, is the reason we still use polybags. Polybags are the plastic bags that many ecommerce brands use to warehouse and ship inventory in, they protect finished clothing from dust, bugs, water (from overhead sprinklers in some warehouses), or even smoke in the event of a fire. As a direct to consumer brand we inspect and pack all items in polybags until shipped to customer – with a retailer there is often another layer of unpacking and repacking that creates another layer of waste.

Still as a conscious brand we are always looking for more earth friendly & sustainable ways of doing business, so a few years ago we looked into compostable corn based polybags. The reason we don’t currently use them and most break down over time and in extreme weather conditions, and you can imagine the concern that this could melt or disintegrate leaving a mess in either warehousing or shipping, so ultimately we opted to wait for better options and continue to store items in traditional polybags. We think this small bit of plastic waste is better than potential risk to many pieces of finished clothing that might become waste if damaged in storage or transit.

To see the original post on instagram – click here

We’re collecting all of my March Meet the Maker posts here on the blog for ease of reading and all of you who might not be on instagram or facebook. It was a great opportunity to share a bit more about our brand and hope it helps you get to know me and BTS a little better!

Design Process – Meet the Maker Day 20

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For me the design process is a mix of merchandising and creative, but it’s also analytical. The real magic happens in the patternmaking where an idea is translated into fit.

Layla's design process is a mix of merchandising and creative.


By merchandising I mean what does our customer not know they want from us because we haven’t made it yet, it’s a bit of an art of knowing. Traditional fashion merchandising is trend driven but for a slow fashion brand this looks like, how do we create staples, core pieces and what is the twist. Is it fitting a piece into an existing collection or added an entire new collection in a new fabric? This happens before sourcing.

Sourcing & design are next, but really the vision is already there for what will make the piece(s) stand out.
Next it’s draping/ patternmaking once a material is selected and this is where the idea created in merchandising is really brought to life. As a trained designer I pattern and drape all of my own designs so there it streamlines this step in the design process. Imagine how hard it is to get a haircut you like bc you have to use the right words and how even with pictures and words you have to have a good stylist… that’s what translating a design into a pattern is like when the designer is working with a pattern maker, it has to be a good fit. Because intimates is specialized and I’ve had specialized training I save a ton of time (and money) doing this myself.
Design Process – How it’s produced
Next is grading, when a pattern and sample in one size is translated into multiple sizes. This is a specialty so I take my pattern and a grade rule for how each size should fit to a grader. Once I know how many of each size to produce the pattern is then printed onto a marker or blueprint of many sizes all jigsawed together to reduce waste that is used in production. My sample and the pattern are used to guide production in bringing the design to life in a range of sizes.
There is lots of math, lots of planning, and a lot less drawing than most people expect

To see the original post on instagram – click here

We’re collecting all of my March Meet the Maker posts here on the blog for ease of reading and all of you who might not be on instagram or facebook. It was a great opportunity to share a bit more about our brand and hope it helps you get to know me and BTS a little better!

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Between the Sheets Inc - purveyors of luxury lingerie, designer loungewear, and luxurious lifestyle products brings you a blog about our brands, collections, and life's simple luxuries.

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