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Fashion Design Tools of the Trade – Meet the Maker Day 4

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Fashion Design Studio

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!

If I were just a designer/pattern maker these would be my tools, but alas I am also your customer service agent, photo editor, brand manager, package shipper and more… so to keep it simple I’m just going to share some of my design, pattern-making, and sample making tools of the trade here.


This is a nice time to introduce you to “Mirna” my mannequin, she was something I saved up for during my first job in industry. She was made in NYC by Superior, I special ordered a form that has more of a bust (traditional dress forms the bust is connected across the high points of chest so it’s hard to drape intimates in them. Also a lot of dress forms don’t have legs) so she is very versatile form that can be used in place of a bust form and leg form. Without a form like this I would struggle to make patterns for the wide range of pieces in our collections.

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!



Flat Lay: Table Appeal – Meet the Maker Day 3

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Did you know most clothing sold at retail stores needs to have hanger appeal? Underwear is one of the few categories that has to have flat lay nicely in what is commonly referred to as “table” appeal- so making the underwear pattern fit a shaped body while lying flat is some of the finesse of patternmaking and production.

flat lay Between the Sheets Petal Play Bikini
Flat lay of Petal Play floral paisley lace bikini


Making sure seams lay flat along leg and waistline means marrying the right amount of elastic to fabric and the perfect amount of stretch. Then you have fabric and stitch tension on machines that have to be adjusted to create the proper amount of stretch on the body without snapping. The tolerance for mistakes in intimates is smaller than any other type of fashion production – if your T-shirt is an inch or two bigger or smaller at any part you might not notice but you will notice on a pair of underwear, bralette, or bodysuit.

flat lay of Between the Sheet Airplay Mesh Bralette
Airplay mesh bralette in ivory.

All of that to create a beautiful flat lay 😉 Do you think you’ll walk into a store and look at racks or tables of clothing the same way?

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!

How I Got Started – Meet the Maker Day 2

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Meet the Maker Layla L'obatti

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!

In the intimate apparel industry there are a number of large companies (like the one I previously worked for) that specialize in producing intimates collections for designer brand names that they license, mostly by contracting with overseas factories. These factories are responsible for sourcing materials and manufacturing the garments with the risk they would have to eat the cost of any overstock in materials and mistakes in production. Ultimately they made a very small percentage of the wholesale cost of goods, so you can imagine the reality of what that meant for the actual workers that made the goods.


“Fashion” is rooted in capitalism, classism, and has lost its roots in heritage, culture, and craft. It is an art to create a piece of clothing from disparate bolts of fabric and make it look like it has not been touched by human hands, but every garment you see has been sewn by hand. There is no machine that can knit/cut materials as fluid as fabric without an operator behind it..


My decision, to quit my job and look to produce a collection here in USA, was driven by my personal discomfort with the way that the garments I worked on were produced. As a designer I am driven to create, but that creation is not just in the design of the garment & selection of fabrics but the ethos behind it.


Even after I started my own company it took a few years of designing collections on a seasonal calendar & selling wholesale before I decided to opt out of the traditional model in favor of slow sustainable growth for myself and my company. I exited my wholesale business to focus on selling directly to my customers & became a certified Bcorp. In reinventing my business my long term goal is to change how we consume, our relation to consumption, to creation, and ultimately how that relates to ourselves. I truly hope we are on the brink of a shift in consumption.

Have any questions for me? Leave a question on this post or any of our March Meet the Maker posts!

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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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