Sewing Bee Fabrics Tutorial
How To Make Your Own Baby Wrap
20/9/15
When I was pregnant for the second time with only a 20 month age gap, I knew I would need a plan! Toddlers have a knack of suddenly deciding to practice the forward roll they learnt on the stairs, or wanting to see what happens when you hit glass really hard! So snuggling a newborn on the sofa was not going to be an option this time and my sanity wasn't going to cope with trying to get a sleeping baby settled in a basket with a shrieking toddler near by. So my pregnancy reading came up with the same suggestion time and time again - use a sling! Wrap the baby to you and you can still run after your toddler. Genius! It also left my hands free to make food - essential with a hungry toddler around. The other bonus - once you get the hang of it - easy, discrete breastfeeding on the move.
Now my little girl is 4 1/2 months old, I can honestly say it made my life so easy. It's so popular in fact that my baby actually gets excited when she see's me putting it on. So did I buy one? No. They were either horrendously boring looking or came with an exciting price tag to match the pattern! I love that I made my own. Wherever I go I get people asking where I got it or telling me that they love it.
What You Will Need:
I liked the idea of a baby carrier with a bit of stretch to it. It doesn't offer as much support for heavier, older babies / toddlers, as a non-stretchy wrap, but jersey fabric made from 95% cotton with 5% spandex gives enough support to be very safe while allowing enough give in the material to position a newborn to easily breastfeed comfortably. The spandex also means the cotton returns to it's normal shape easier whereas 100% cotton jersey can be more prone to distorting when over stretched. This is exactly the same composition as the popular Boba wraps, which say they are suitable up to 35lbs / approx. 18 months, so you can see that it is something you can use for a long time if you wanted.
You will need 5 metres of 95% cotton 5% spandex jersey (available HERE)
How To Make It:
You want to cut your wrap material about 20-25 inches wide (the average jersey is about 56 inches wide so you'll easily get 2 slings out of your material (or 1 sling, matching cot sheets, matching onsies, flannels and then some left over!)
Then cut off the selvage (the rough bit on the jersey fabric edge)
And it's as simple as that!!!! Jersey doesn't fray so you don't even need to do anything to the edges.
I could quickly try to tell you how to wrap the baby, but there are already such fantastic resources out there showing you how to do it. For example, on the Boba wrap or Moby wrap websites or lots of youtube videos, which will explain it much better than me. If you are still unsure, then do get in touch with a local sling library to make sure you are wrapping your baby safely.
You can even use it for a project that does need sewing!
We hope you enjoy our tutorials and love hearing what you think so please leave us a comment or send me an email to linda@sewingbeefabrics.co.uk
Happy Sewing!
What a great post, I would love to be more crafty and actually be able to make something i could be proud of. keep up the good work, some day i might become more crafty.
That looks so smart! I always see moms around with a baby and a toddler and it looks chaotic! I’m not a mommy yet but I would love to have two kids as well so this is a pre-pregnancy learning information 🙂
Thank you! It’s the one thing I couldn’t live without having 2 little ones. Fingers crossed you get a chance to try it out 😀
If only all things could be so simple! I have shared with my toddler group. Thanks!
Thank you for sharing!
I have come to the same conclusion, if we have another baby soon I will need to go down the “baby wearing” route. Thank you so much for sharing your DIY version of a baby wrap. I am definitely bookmarking this for the future just incase I need it 🙂
Thank you. My little one is 5 months old and has been in a pram maybe 3 times despite us being out most days…so much easier! Definitely give it a go!
I love making my own clothes. Never thought about blogging about it 😀
Love love love this DIY baby wrap have bookmarked for future reference.
Thanks for sharing hun
Charlotte x
Oooh you should!!! I would love to see what you’ve made.
I have a 14 month gap between my youngest two and I wish that I had of babywore as it would have made life so much easier as my baby wanted held nonstop as he had reflux and colic. I would not be able to make my own though as I am terrible at anything like this, although yours looks amazing xx
Thank you. I don’t know how you did it without a sling!!! I think I’d have developed a lot more grey hairs!
Good idea. It’s nice to be able to pick your own fabric or reuse a favourite. I’d never really thought about making a baby wrap.
This looks great. I wish I’d gone for a proper sling when N was a baby, because I wasn’t keen on the carrier I had.
i really really wish I had used one of these with my 2 and I never did. They looks so warm, comfy and cosy for baby. I always thought they were to hard to wrap but after looking at a few videos they seem easy to follow. My 2 are too old now 🙁 x
That is so awesome! Great tutorial!!! I’d much rather make one than shell out oodles a dollars for something I could easily make myself!! Baby carrying is so special to me 🙂 Great post here!
Wow! I had no idea it was so easy! You’re right, pretty wraps usually aren’t cheap. How clever!
Wow, this is fantastic. I dont have a baby (all mine are much older now) but my friend does, I’ll be linking her to this post! This looks and sounds quite simple to make and I love the fabric you made your baby wrap with! Thank you so much for sharing. xx
Slings are awesome! I borrowed mine and it’s been great. I wish I was crafty enough to make one but I’m not. I can barely make a bed.
Very clever craft to share. I’m sure lots of Moms will find it very helpful and hopefully they’ll have the time to try it out themselves!