Marta Alto taught costume design at San Francisco State. She then did custom sewing for a major department store where she and met Pati Palmer. She ran its sewing school in four stores. Marta traveled for Palmer/Pletsch teaching sewing Ultrasuede, tailoring, and fit classes throughout North America and Australia. She is co-author of Fit For Real People and other books with Pati Palmer and the duo developed the Palmer/Pletsch Tissue-Fitting Method and continue to refine and improve it through hands-on classes.