Pink

There's been a lot of boys being born... it seems the last few carriers I have been able to create to gift for family and friends have been in hues of camo and blues, and since my last two children who have been worn were boys, lets just say there hasn't been too much pink!

A wonderful friend of mine gave birth to a baby girl and I was so excited to be able to make her a wrap so she could wear her baby if she wanted too.

The material I purchased is a ramie/cotton blend,  very beautiful pink colour which I then dyed over with a pink dye so it would go darker from the middle and then go lighter toward the tails.  Lots of fun.  

When you have a few moments to babywear...

The days are definatly few and far between when I

 get a chance to reallly wear my son.  But this past week I got to babywear him to a few destinations- and they were destinations that we had to do hardcore babywearing because of all the people. So we snapped some pictures. 
I just wanted to share that we are really loving the double hammock torso carry, this totally relieves my shoulders.  Zayden is over thirty pounds, so my shoulders arent too in love with him anymore

Winding down..

Our babywearing days have really gotten less and less as my son gets bigger and more independant, but today we did a nature walk and he loved the view and really enjoyed some wrap time 

An old friend...

We lent out our very first wrap, a orange tie dyed gauze wrap to a wonderful Mother for her and her daughter to try.  Today after having it for the duration they needed it for, she returned it and this afternoon I was quite surprised to see our youngest who it was made for get very excited to see this old friend. 

He never even showed a speck of concern of its whereabouts when it was gone, but I think it was just something he was like "oh yea! I remember that wrap!" 

While he's getting a little big to wrap in it since it is more narrow, he was determined to wrap his dinosaur in it.  It was beyond cuteness today as he brought the wrap over and his "long neck" to wrap up on his back. 



Ring Slings

I got an email today regarding the learning curve with wraps and the person was looking to learn how to make their own ring sling.  Since I used to sell them, they figured I would give instruction, but I decided to pass this person along to Jan Andrea since she is very much the expert on DIY ring slings.  Her webpage has all the information you will ever need for making ring slings.  A lot of people do like ring slings more than wraps.  For one reason, they are much more easier to use when you are starting with babywearing.  I think it took a day or so to learn how to really get the ring sling where I liked it, where as the wrap it took a few weeks of trying different things, and sometimes frustration trying to get it just right.  However with an older kid I would rather a wrap because there is more support over your entire body, but for wee squishes, I'd take a ring sling. 

So for those looking for information on ring slings, I do sudjest checking out Jan Andreas webpage. 

Slingin to Church

Our first really successful experience with babywearing in our home was with ring slings.  They were the first carriers we used that I found comfortable enough "to go the distance", so when I have the opportunity to borrow one from someone (since we no longer have any, they have all been passed on to other mammas), we take it... by opportunity to borrow on I mean I called my neighbour and told her I wanted to borrow hers *insert evil laughter here*

Step by Step- DIY your own baby wrap!- Washing, and cutting, and sewing

Part two of my step by step diy wrap instruction

part one can be found here

http://barefootbuttercup.blogspot.com/2011/04/step-by-step-diy-your-own-baby-wrap.html

After you have found your perfect fabric the first thing you need to do with it is wash the fabric.  This is very important because the fabric may shrink a little and if you wait till you are finished sewing it to wash, you are going to have a mess.  Your fabric should come with washing instructions, if it does not, ask one of the people working in the fabric shop the best way to care for your material. 

My advice for you is, if its going to be a challenge to wash it every time, you may want to consider another fabric.  Babies spit up, poop, pee, etc.  Wraps can get dirty, so washing usually happens time to time.  For the most part, natural fabrics are easiest to care for, so usually dont cause problems.

Dry your fabric in the dryer, this will help make sure it has done its strinking.

When you are done washing your fabric, you need to cut it to the width you want.  I sudgest making it between 27-32 inches wide. Rember you are going to be hemming it so I would make it about 1.5, two inches wider than you really want it.  Depending on the width of the material when you buy it, you may be able to get two wraps out of it! 

Now you will need to hem your wraps edges.  Some people like to iron their seams first making it a bit easier at the sewing machine... I am too lazy and I dont do it.  As far as thread goes, get the colour you want- most people like to get a colour that is the same colour as their fabric.  If you are dying your wrap (I will have instructions soon on how to dye a wrap soon), then you can buy a white cotton thread and it will dye up nice.  I always use Gutermann's 100 percent cotton threads.       They are very strong good quality threads.

At the sewing machine I fold the edge twice this way you are not seeing the raw edge

fold once                                   fold again

My sewing machine has markers on it so I can make sure that the seam is the same width the whole way down which is why I dont iron it first.  I sew a bit then I fold the next stretch, sew, fold, etc. 

Sew down the side of your seam near where you folded, that way it is closed. It does not really matter how long your stitches are, but a smaller stitch in my opinion always looks nicer.  It takes a bit longer, but in the end, I think its worth it.

Do this down the two long sides of your wrap and the two ends of your wrap and TADA you are finished and have a cheap affordable comfortable baby carrier! 

next in the series ~~ Dying your wrap

A strrrretchy morning

I wanted to gift a darling wonderful friend of mine a baby carrier for her and her wee little baby.  Her daughter is on the smaller side, so I figured a ring sling or a stretchy wrap might do her best since they are both new to babywearing and I always found ring slings and stretchy wraps easier to use when first starting out.  I happened to have a beautiful blue stretchy material up in our closet so I pulled it out and it was the perfect length and perfect width.  And now that I knew my sewing machine had a stretch setting on it, I was giddy with excitement.  Ofcourse, you do not need to hem a stretchy wrap if you dont want too since it doesnt fray.. but it does add that nice finished look to it.

My husband came over to me and started asking about stretchy wraps etc and what the difference was because we didnt use a stretchy for very long..mainly because our children were all around the 10lbs mark when they were born!!!!  He then asked "why dont you use yours now..."  I had to demonstrate...

This is why... LOL.  Zayden is over 30 lbs now.  And I tied him up at my chest to start...this within a few bounces is where he ended up LOL.  

Mind you he thought this spot was great because he was right in front of his lunch.  Hense why he is laughing histarically in this photo. 

But my friends daughter is only 5lbs at 3 weeks, so I know they will get a lot of use out of the stretchy wrap we made for her this morning.  Then when her daughter gets too big for that, we can move her up in babywearing and get her hooked on some other carriers :D

Step by Step- DIY your own baby wrap!- FABRICS

This is an extention of my webpage www.barefootbuttercup.com which is currently not up. sorry for any inconvience

I have been notified that getting this information on the barefoot buttercup blog would be a good idea.  So here it goes.  Over the next few weeks I will be posting all my DIY ideas and obsessions for my followers and peekers to see (I see you Carly, I know you are there)

Did you know that your local fabric store, thrift store or even department store could very well have the wrap of your dreams inside? The only problem is, its not quite a wrap yet! But it isnt hard to do!

The great thing about making your own wrap is that no one will ever have the exact same wrap as you. It would be your unique carrier for you and your child. It is something you can look at and say "hey, I made that!" And I think that is a terrific feeling! 
What should you look for in a material for making a woven wrap?
I sudgest using a cotton, or something made with natural fibers. They breathe better. You want it to be a relaxed fabric too, something flexible and not stiff, you dont want to wrap a baby in canvas or leather!! Think, "would I liked to be wrapped in this?"
Another thing to conisder is, does "the sun shine through?" When holding the material up to the light, can you see the light peeking through the weave? If so, thats good! you dont want a very tight weave (like in quilters cottons for example) ..that doesnt help it be comfortable.  You will most likley end up with pressure points. If the sun is shining through this means more comfort and breathablity... think table cloth like... and btw, woven table cloths make excellent shorter wraps!  For a woven wrap, you dont want a ton of horizontal or vertical stretch like jersey would have.  You want it to be able to be used with your child through the time you are wearing you child, and that means even when they are toddlers, maybe even preschool age.  Stretchy material is fantastic for wearing little ones who dont weigh a ton, but will sag with a bigger child and are not reccomended for back carries.  (click link to see why)
Here are some examples of what I have found in hopes to better help you find the right thing.  First lets take a peek in the fashion section of your local fabric store
 -dont go for fabrics such as quilters cottons, shiny polyesters, or satin. Although yes you CAN wrap a baby in them (because face it, you can wrap a baby in almost anything!) , it isnt as comfy as openly woven, natural materials that also go on sale quite a bit, so in the long run is better and cheaper! :D

Lets have a look at cotton gauze. Gauze usually sell for about 7$ a meter CDN, so 7 x 5 meters =35$
and sales happen frequently, so it can get even cheaper than this! 
100% gauze or crinkle cotton is an easy and practical choice. Crinkle cotton is slightly heavier than 100% cotton gauze. It is very breathable for summer, dyes easy . I reccomend buying at least five meters of the gauze or crinkle cotton. If there is too much, you can always shorten it. Better to buy too much than too little. with a wrap that is going to be thin like this, I reccomend cutting it to be around 32 inches wide, that way you have more shoulder padding.  Gauze, I find you have to wrap more careful when your children get bigger.  By this I mean you have to wrap them slower so its as tight as possible..no sloppy wrap jobs with a gauze wrap because then it can be not as comfortable.  But get a good nice carry with it and you're good to go.

Sometimes when browsing the fabric store you will come across amazing woven materials that are cotton or cotton blends or a blend of another natural fiber. The one in the picture shown below is a 55% linen, 45% cotton blend. It is a tiny bit thicker than gauze, and is breatheable, moveable, and has no stretch to it. This type of fabric will make an excellent wrap. Needs a bit more breaking in due to the linen, but works wonderfully. I would reccomend a material like this be hemmed between 27-32 inches wide and again, 5 meters long. osnaberg, woven hemp/cotton blends will work amazing as well, but like linen, they need to be broken in a bit more.  I dyed this wrap with Dylon Cold Water Dyes, which are safe for dying and are widley available in Canada at Fabric Land stores as well as other stores such as Walmart and craft and fabric distributors. 

Lets journey to the upholstry section!

****a few things to consider when looking here...

Some upholstry fabrics are treated with things like a stain gaurd, or are permanant press. They can be made of synthetic fibres just like you would find in other departments. Make sure you read your fabric label carefully. You do not want to purchase something that is treated with chemicals.. remember, you are wrapping precious cargo in your wrap. If you are unsure ask an employee of the fabric store. They will be able to assist you.

The upholstry section can be a gold mine!!! You can buy some amazing jaquard fabrics, that have no wrong side, are 100% natural fibres and are absolutly beautiful. Some can be very heavy, like in this example of a upholstry material I purchased.  As thick as this is, it is a very very comfortable wrap, in all honestly, the most comfortable wrap I own.  Even though it technically has a "wrong side".. which would be the lighter side, it is still quite beautiful on each side. So it can be worn either way.  It is not 100% cotton, however, it was an "unknown fibre"... but for the price I got it for, which was about 4$ CDN a meter, I grabbed it anyways... I did a burn test when I got home, discovered it is most likley a cotton/rayon blend. 

The pictures below show just how much thicker this wrap is from a gauze wrap.  Next to that is a photo that shows how the light shines through the weave.

This material that I have dyed using Dylon cold water dyes was also found in the upholstry section on clearance. It is 100% cotton, but called "linen look". It has made a very nice wrap. 32 inches wide, 4.5 meters long.

Get down and really look and take your time especially in the upholstry section.  Usually the bolts are stored in such chaos in some stores that a hidden treasure could be burried.  My blue woven wrap material was like that.  Hidden at the very bottom of the shelf, almost collecting dust. 

Next post will be about sewing your wrap.  Stay tuned and Happy Babywearing! 

Some of my favorite babywearing photos

Going through my albums recently brought back a lot of memories of babywearing moments that have passed through our household.  Each shares such a terrific story.  We have so much fun with the carriers that have come to life in our house.  I wanted to share some of them with you.

the first sling I ever made.  Made with fabric my Mom got at the thrift store and some sturdy hardware rings. Those puppies hold up to 300 lbs! LOL

Cinderella's first Mei Tai

dinowearing (this didnt last long) LOL

That was a long Santa Clause Parade

puppy wearing! Im a proud Grandma!
These were my "furry" sons children LOL.

Eyore wearin'

Spiderman hitchin a ride

wheeeeeeee!

dancin with Mom

Iron Mom

Planting my thrid childs Cherry Tree (he is inside the wrap snoozin away)

peek

teach em young

Step away from the wife with the wooden spoon LOL

who is this weirdo who's wearing me?

Simulator Dolls, highschool, and babywearing

Remember those simulator dolls from highschool?
Remember bring these things home thinking this was going to be a peice of cake... and if you were like me bringing it back after 24 hours of being sick from nervousness from failing your parenting class, and luggin the car seat around, lugging the stroller on the bus, bringing the big huge diaper bag etc.

Man I really wish I knew about babywearing then. 

I think I would have kept the doll for as long as I was supposed to.  Instead I wrote an essay about why I knew I would never be a parent...

I have three amazing children as I type this who make me smile everyday.  Those dolls do work showing that babies arent easy peasy, but they lack character thats for sure!  

But I just sit here laughing because if I just had a sling, or a wrap, heck even a snuggli carrier I would have been soooooo less stressed.  

Those things werent even mentioned to me as an option! 

I kinda got excited tonight too because I know full out that if my children do have to use these simulator dolls during parenting class I am TOTALLY going to be pulling out the stash that I know I will probably never be able to part with.

Christina's Ruckless Back Carry with a Mei Tai

A real sweet mamma on thebabywearer.com was tinkering around with chest straps while wrapping her child.  She created this way of wrapping her child, and at the same time, I was trying to find a way to wear my son in his mei tai without the straps slipping. Strap slippage has been a problem of mine with wraps, mei tais, pods... I guess my shoulders arent built for babywearing perhaps, but never the less, this has really made it comfortable for me to wear my son in his mei tai. Above is a video I did before I even knew what it was called and then edited it afterwards. Sorry for any confusion.  Maybe sometime when I have a good quiet moment we will re do.  

Like I said this can be done in a wrap as well as it was designed for that!!  

Will it work with all mei tais?  Maybe not, depending on the angle your straps are. My mei tai has angled straps and it seems to be a bit lower on one side, but he doesnt feel lopsided in it. But I think that it also depends on the angle.  Im not totally experienced in the mei tais.  A mei tai with straight straps I bet would rock this carry!!!

snowflakes

This morning we woke up once again to another dumping of snow.  To think yesterday we were in our sweaters only heading to the coffee shop, today, snowpants and winter boots.  But its gorgeous out, oh how gorgeous out it is. 



Zayden watching me sewing his new pod when
he was just a wee lad. 



While digging in my linen closet this morning I found an old friend.  My snowflake podagei I started to make when I was pregnant with Zayden, and then finished while he was literally on my back watching the sewing machine finish the quilted wonder.  While it never was our most comfortable carrier, it is definatly the warmest...and I had forgotten all about it. 

It took a long time to make.  I have never done any sort of pattern like this...not even patchwork really at that time, and to do a snowflake, that was just insane. Its far from perfect, but it really is pretty to us!

So we took it for a spin this morning, no jacket for Zayden because this thing has a sweet layer of quilty goodness on the inside..to be honest, I think it literally is a thick old baby quilt inside.  His little face stuck out the top and he just sat so content back there humming "Veggie Tales" songs and having a good time.  We tried it with a traditional torso carry and that wasnt working out, so over the shoulders it went, which the carrier wasnt designed for, since it has a wide blanket, but it kinda was nice because the blanket part did come over my shoulders adding nice padding.

When it starts to become a "threat" rather than the norm

It comes with a huge lump in my throat that I even have to talk about this.  The days where my third child no longer wants to be worn all the time while we are out.  He's two. I knew these days would begin, because I have seen them come before. But the difference is, with our other children, I was pregnant with the next before the child was done being worn, so I never had this feeling of loss like I do this time. 

Does it seem silly to just feel so absolutly bummed out about my son wanting down to run down the sidewalk with his siblings instead of being up on my back?  In a way I think it sounds so crazy to think this way, but on the other hand..it powerfully sucks. 

I have had babywearing in my life for six years, practically straight.  And now it looks as though those days are over...

Today while we were out I wrapped our son up for a long walk to Tim Hortons and the pet store in our area.  Getting him in the carrier was hard enough.  I knew there was no way that he could walk both there and back so I knew babywearing had to happen.  He seen his wrap and went "NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and took off into the kitchen.  I grabbed our mei tai which has been a hit for him latley and he shook his head a bit less enthusiastically but none the less he was making it clear he wanted to be FREE today.  I got him on my back anyways, and we headed out, after about thirty seconds of complaining he gave up and was content the rest of the way.  On the way home however he was furious and wanted to run with his older brother. So I let him down. 

Sometimes he would start to go up on peoples lawns or near the side of the road.  "Do you want to go up on Mommy's back?"... he would say "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" and behave. I would say "then I hope you are going to stay on the sidewalk then where its safer."

Oh my goodness I am using babywearing as a threat now!!!!!?????????

This is just so depressing for me.  Totally bummed. While I know that our babywearing days arent completly over, face it, I know that playing hard at a park leaves a two year old tired and not wanting to walk, so I know I will get to wear him probably another year at the least... but to be making it a threat? Even just this one time?  That totally bums me out. 

Like I hardly know what it feels like to not have a child "strapped on" to me somewhere while I am out LOL. 

I have a lot of people tell me that I'll manage, and I know I will, and that it is a new journey ahead, that there is far more to parenting than babywearing... that I know too. But when its been such a routine, its going to be a difficult one to let go of. 

Just felt like pouting a little this afternoon while the children napped all cute... covered in a wrap ;)

(Gotta squeeze it in somehow)

Baby Toting - CBC broadcast 1963

This was shared on thebabywearer.com this week and I just had to share it here as well.  It is a broadcast from May 10th 1963 that was aired on CBC about "baby toting"- what many of us call "baby wearing"  today.  Mrs Peterson discusses with host Anna Cameron different way she has learned to wear her baby.  I found it really awesome to watch!


http://archives.cbc.ca/lifestyle/homemaking/clips/15185/


Enjoy! Happy Babywearing!

Agapanthus

I have wanted to share this with everyone since I got it finished, but Im not giving it to the Mom till today so I couldnt post it incase she may have found out. LOL

Its for one of my sons Sunday school teachers and her newborn baby and who couldnt use a free hand now and again right?  

I just love the rich colour of this sling, and the material I am telling you I am just in awe of. Its so nice.  It was a nice find!! 

I am not sure if this Mommy has done any babywearing before, but when I look back at my many years of babywearing I know that there is always a time when it comes in handy

When trying to "name" this sling, I started looking at flowers with a rich colour similar to this, and came up with Agapanthus which is found in rocky grasslands on the southern and eastern fringes of southern Africa



agapanthus flower