DIY baby wraps
Today I finally got to the fabric store to buy fabric to do some DIY baby wearing projects.
Fabric usually comes in 60" width. I bought 5 yards of a sturdy yet stretchy white cotton jersey at $5/yd (at a local fabric store), for a total tax incl price of under $27. I was tempted by some patterned fabric that was $10-15/yd, but I thought for my first try I had better spend less. Plus white allows for dyeing, as I'll mention later.
The first step in my plan is to wash and dry the fabric--just in case. I don't want to discover after the fact that it shrinks a ton.
So I have my dried fabric and I've measured it to see whether it shrunk and if so how much. Regardless of whether it shrunk or not, I cut a 20"-22" strip, ~5 yards long. Since it's jersey, the cut side will roll instead of fraying, so no hemming needed. If I want to get fancy, I can taper the ends. Voila! Insta-Moby! Some people call this a "faux-by wrap". Moby retails for around $50 here, plus tax. Assuming a sale, even, if I stop here and shove the rest of the fabric in a drawer, I've saved $20.
Now I have a choice of two paths. If I want to stick to pure no-sew (which I will probably do if the width-shrinking is significant), I can take the remaining 38" or so, cut another 20"-22" strip, and I have a second "faux-by wrap" to give away or keep as a back-up. Assuming I have at least 9" leftover, I can cut this in half widthwise and have two child-sized carriers to wrapping dolls and stuffed animals. Real doll Mobys cost about $25, so if I use my fabric to make two real carriers and two doll carriers, I've made over $150 worth of carriers for about $27. The second real and doll carrier would make a lovely package gift for a family expecting a baby with an older child who might want to pretend. Or, because I've gotten white fabric, I can dye the fabric different colors--maybe do one set tie dye. Or I could try putting an applique design on.
If the fabric doesn't shrink significantly, and if I'm feeling bold enough to try some sewing, what I can do instead is turn the leftover fabric into a ring sling or pouch, a child-sized "faux-by", and a child-sized ring sling or pouch. A ring-sling or pouch for someone of my height needs to be 36"-40" wide of fabric that is about 2.5 yds long, so that's half the fabric, and then I can use the other half to make the child-sized carriers.
The big issue with making a ring sling is getting the rings. The intarwho is filled with the dire warnings of what will happen if you try making a ring sling with rings from the craft store, which I get. It's not a problem for a child's toy, of course, because dolls and stuffed animals aren't that heavy and if they fall out, the consequences aren't that bad. I don't really understand why people claim that rings from the hardware store won't work though. If you buy a ring that is meant to be used to, say, hang a 100 lb weight, how will it possibly not be able to bear a 15 lb kid? This site (which is an excellent DIY carrier guide) says that hardware store rings are ok on that end, it's more that they might contain harmful metals that your child could ingest when sucking or chewing on the ring. IDK. I don't really want to order rings from the internet. If I do, they will cost $6.50~$11, depending on whether I get them shipped here or sent to a US friend/family member. Still a lot cheaper than buying a sling new, though.
A pouch has the plus of not requiring rings. Additionally, to be comfortable, pouches are best fitted to an individual wearer, so DIY is even better than buying outright.
My cousin is very crafty so I plan to show her some of the patterns I've found. I would ideally like to have either a pouch or a sling as an alternative to my wrap (especially because I would really like to learn how to nurse hands-free, aka nurse-vana, and I've heard it's a bit easier in a sling than in a wrap).
I'm hoping I can at least get one faux-by cut in the next week or so, so that I have something lighter than my woven wrap (which is black to boot) to wear the new baby.
Pippa made her own DIY improvised baby carrier by taking the detachable sleeping hood from the Boba, snapping it to make two arm straps, and basically wearing it like a mei tai! She came up with that idea all by herself and just requested my help getting a doll into it. It's She also likes to put dolls into her backpack and carry them. She is so keen on pretending to take care of babies lately. She even takes her babies to the potty. Hee hee.
Fabric usually comes in 60" width. I bought 5 yards of a sturdy yet stretchy white cotton jersey at $5/yd (at a local fabric store), for a total tax incl price of under $27. I was tempted by some patterned fabric that was $10-15/yd, but I thought for my first try I had better spend less. Plus white allows for dyeing, as I'll mention later.
The first step in my plan is to wash and dry the fabric--just in case. I don't want to discover after the fact that it shrinks a ton.
So I have my dried fabric and I've measured it to see whether it shrunk and if so how much. Regardless of whether it shrunk or not, I cut a 20"-22" strip, ~5 yards long. Since it's jersey, the cut side will roll instead of fraying, so no hemming needed. If I want to get fancy, I can taper the ends. Voila! Insta-Moby! Some people call this a "faux-by wrap". Moby retails for around $50 here, plus tax. Assuming a sale, even, if I stop here and shove the rest of the fabric in a drawer, I've saved $20.
Now I have a choice of two paths. If I want to stick to pure no-sew (which I will probably do if the width-shrinking is significant), I can take the remaining 38" or so, cut another 20"-22" strip, and I have a second "faux-by wrap" to give away or keep as a back-up. Assuming I have at least 9" leftover, I can cut this in half widthwise and have two child-sized carriers to wrapping dolls and stuffed animals. Real doll Mobys cost about $25, so if I use my fabric to make two real carriers and two doll carriers, I've made over $150 worth of carriers for about $27. The second real and doll carrier would make a lovely package gift for a family expecting a baby with an older child who might want to pretend. Or, because I've gotten white fabric, I can dye the fabric different colors--maybe do one set tie dye. Or I could try putting an applique design on.
If the fabric doesn't shrink significantly, and if I'm feeling bold enough to try some sewing, what I can do instead is turn the leftover fabric into a ring sling or pouch, a child-sized "faux-by", and a child-sized ring sling or pouch. A ring-sling or pouch for someone of my height needs to be 36"-40" wide of fabric that is about 2.5 yds long, so that's half the fabric, and then I can use the other half to make the child-sized carriers.
The big issue with making a ring sling is getting the rings. The intarwho is filled with the dire warnings of what will happen if you try making a ring sling with rings from the craft store, which I get. It's not a problem for a child's toy, of course, because dolls and stuffed animals aren't that heavy and if they fall out, the consequences aren't that bad. I don't really understand why people claim that rings from the hardware store won't work though. If you buy a ring that is meant to be used to, say, hang a 100 lb weight, how will it possibly not be able to bear a 15 lb kid? This site (which is an excellent DIY carrier guide) says that hardware store rings are ok on that end, it's more that they might contain harmful metals that your child could ingest when sucking or chewing on the ring. IDK. I don't really want to order rings from the internet. If I do, they will cost $6.50~$11, depending on whether I get them shipped here or sent to a US friend/family member. Still a lot cheaper than buying a sling new, though.
A pouch has the plus of not requiring rings. Additionally, to be comfortable, pouches are best fitted to an individual wearer, so DIY is even better than buying outright.
My cousin is very crafty so I plan to show her some of the patterns I've found. I would ideally like to have either a pouch or a sling as an alternative to my wrap (especially because I would really like to learn how to nurse hands-free, aka nurse-vana, and I've heard it's a bit easier in a sling than in a wrap).
I'm hoping I can at least get one faux-by cut in the next week or so, so that I have something lighter than my woven wrap (which is black to boot) to wear the new baby.
Pippa made her own DIY improvised baby carrier by taking the detachable sleeping hood from the Boba, snapping it to make two arm straps, and basically wearing it like a mei tai! She came up with that idea all by herself and just requested my help getting a doll into it. It's She also likes to put dolls into her backpack and carry them. She is so keen on pretending to take care of babies lately. She even takes her babies to the potty. Hee hee.