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?

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



Slingin gifts

Lots and lots of babies are being born these past few months.  When I think of what to gift for Mom's, Dad's and babes, I usually think babywearing. 

My younger sister gave birth to premature twins in October of 2010. They went through a lot of illness, struggles, tears, these tiny wee dudes are tough, and are now home with their Mommy and Daddy.  I havent seen them since they were in incubators but this month I have the honor of going to see them again.  Both are around the 10 lbs mark and are smiling and full of joy!

Since they are fighters, and both Mommy and Daddy are avid hunters, I had to do them in camo.

I dont know if I have come up for an official name for them but Im thinking one "Elmer" and the other "Fudd" ???

 Be wary wary quiet, we're wearing twins.....

My babywearing journey.

I have had people tell me they "dont know how I do it." when I just fling my big huge son up on my back and tie him up and go. It looks complicated, frustrating and ..well complicated!!

No kiddin, I couldnt agree more. It does look so complicated and it was complicated for a long time for me. I remember many days of sweat, tears and anger, chuckin the wrap on the floor and huffin and puffin and giving up.

Then I thought back even further, before I even knew what a wrap was!

When I had my daughter, Alexis 6 years ago, we had a baby carrier, I had two, they were simple structured carriers, much like a Snuggli

While my shoulders HATED me, my daughter LOVED this thing.

It was easy enough to use, practical for us at the time, and served its purpose... even if my back was dying at the end of the day! LOL!

After Alexis, I had Tayven, I went to a second hand store, and not still having a lot of knowledge on what was out there, I knew that his chunky legs were not going to fit in the carrier Alexis and I used. So we found an alternative, a pouch sling. However, I didnt know the sizing had to be perfect for one of these to work... and it was too large.

he was only three months!!!!!!!! lol

So since this wasnt work for us either due to the wrong size, we decided to look into alternatives, and discovered the wonderful ring sling! However, with income being pretty low, I decided to make my own. And thats when the addiction started! LOL

This was my first ring sling I ever made. I have no idea what kind of material it was, the green side was a bit slippery, but the brown was most likley a cotton blend and was very comfy. I purchased a pair of heavy duty hardware rings at the hardware store that supported up to something like 300 lbs and sewed them in. Cosmetically the sewing was horrid, but it was safe. We wore this sucker for a long time. She has since gone on to hold other babies in other families, and will always hold dear to my heart.

And I kept on makin them. I made us quite a few, out of all sorts of material- wool suiting material, one out of who knows what, some out of double layers of heavy cotton, some out of flannel bedsheets..ooo that one was sooo comfy!!!

Then I fell upon thebabywearer.com... and boy oh boy did I discover there are TONS of ways to wear your baby! Ooo the options!!! I came across wraps, and was curious...

But wrapping with Tayven backfired hard. The first attempt I had with making a wrap I made it out of some bedsheet material, which can work, however this was a more knitted material, so stretchy, and didnt cut straight, I had no idea at the time how to sew stretchy material, and all in all, just didnt work out...

It wasnt long before I put this idea aside for a long time and went back to using ring slings.

Over the next wee while, I came across podagei's as well, and we used them occasionally however the ringsling was still Tayvens main means of transportation

When I had Zayden, I made him a special sling, one with one side tie dyed and one side black.... this sling was lost somewhere and I am still rather sad about it even though it was almost two years ago now.

So with that I decided to do a bit more research on these wraps again, and decided to start dabbling in gauze. And my love for tie dye, and it kinda just fell beautifuly into place for us.

boy I look exhausted in this picture!

The first wrap I made for us was a bright funky orange wrap. And this baby got a lot of use, and is still getting use by another wonderful babe today. While Zayden is a bit to big for it now, we decided, its better wrapping another child, than collecting lint in our closet.

And it kinda just kept going from there, barefootbuttercup which was at the time for me a business where I was selling ringslings from home, began to sell gauze wraps as well.

When Zayden got a bit bigger I decided I was going to try and learn to wear him on my back. MANY Maaannny videos on youtube, countless angry moments and sweat and tears later, and one on one help, we found one carry that would work for us and we stuck with it. After a while we then started looking for other back carriers and let me tell you I am very thankful that my son was as paitient as he was back then because there is no way I would have just sat there on my Moms back for that long while she wrapped and re wrapped LOL. Oh boy was it worth it in the end though ..I have even managed to learn how to breastfeed him while he is on my back..however have yet to try this one in public!!! o_0

This journey, looking back, has been really wonderful. At the time all the carriers I used, whether it was a front pack carrier, a pouch, ringsling, wrap, they all served their purpose, and what I wanted the carriers for was so that my child could be close to me, and we could get places we needed to go, and they did that

This year I stopped selling wraps and ring slings, while it wasnt a hard descision to make, it was still sad. But I changed the angle of barefootbuttercup to helping others with a few tips in what I have learned over these past 6 years. There is still so much I want to learn about babywearing, especially the history, other peoples stories. Its one of my hobbies, its something that makes me smile.

Today I was gifted a Natibaby Dandelion wrap for helping two wonderful women make ring slings here at my home. I must state this is thee most soft wrap I have ever felt in my life. And its my first actual wrap I have ever owned that wasnt DIY! I also recieved news this week of another carrier on its way to me, that I am sooo very excited for and feel so very blessed to be recieving!!!! these past few days have been babywearing excitement overload for my wee head! LOL! SQUEE!!!

Again, another part of our journey is starting and I cant wait to see where it takes me!

Happy Babywearing everyone! Enjoy these babywearing days! They fly by fast!

Winter Babywearing!! DIY JACKET INFO

For those who have already experienced Jack Frost nippin at your nose, this is for you, and for the rest of us who are just begining to experience winter temperatures for the time this season, I hope this blog entry can help you understand just how affordable babywearing in the winter can be, and how easy as well!

The trouble with babywearing in the winter can be jackets. Trying to wrap over the babywearers jacket can be tricky, you cant sometimes get it feeling comfortable enough, and when baby is wearing a bulky snowsuit, this can be a big problem too. Some snowsuits are made out of materials that slip and slide and just make it hard for the wrap, sling etc to grib comfortably for the babywearer and the one being worn.

There are a lot of products out on the market that can help you wear your baby UNDER your jacket. This way, your child can even just be in his/her sweater, and be comfortable with just a hat and mittens and boots. There are vests, jackets, poncho's, amauti's. Some made by bigger companies, some by smaller work at home Mom businesses. Im hoping next week to be able to go into this in more detail, but tonight I would love to talk about DIY babywearing jackets.

The easiest method ofcourse to wearing your baby under your jacket is to buy a jacket that is too big for you. That way you can fit both you and baby comfortably underneath.

The only problem I have ever encountered with this is because if you are carrying a bigger child, the shape of your body with the toddler attached changes, making the arm holes of the jacket a little strange. You can kind of see it here in this photo. -------------->

so what to do....................................

Last year I came up with a solution for this problem for me and my son Zayden. I went to a local thrift shop and for 7 dollars or so purchased a wool dress jacket that has buttons up the front and a waist belt. It is 100% wool and very warm, but thin.

So I got the jacket and split the seam in the back from the collar to the waist. Wool material can be verrry expensive so I purchased some material that was "close enough" that was on clearance at Fabric Land that week. It even has a touch of stretch. I doubled it up so it would be warm.

Here in the photo, the outline in blue, inside that is the pannel I put in. It comes right to where the waist belt lays. So when you tie the belt around you, it rests right under your childs bum. I didnt worry about lining the inside of the coat so you couldnt see where it was placed in, the way I figure it is, you want to make it most affordable, and no one is really going to see the inside of the jacket anyways ;)

I put a bit of a pleat I guess you would call it near the bottom, it is outlined in the green. This way when the baby's bum is resting against it, it fills out, and when baby isnt inside, then its not hanging there as much. This made the jacket significantly larger, so I dont wear it when my son isnt on my back, which is rare LOL.

Theres is no real need to have massive expert sewing experience for it, just a good needle that will go through thick material, and a machine thats up for the challenge.

I wish I had done a pattern when I made it, so I could help explain it better.

Now about the hood. Made with the same material as the pannel in the back of the jacket, I made this sucker big enough to fit over my son, and myself for those cooollld winter days that the wind is blowing like mad and you still need to get out. The measurments are for each pannel, I sewed them up together at the back of the hood. I also lined the hood with an old thick fleece blanket that was close in colour. Makes it extra cozy. I sewed this onto the neck of the jacket and voila, a babywearing jacket for under 20 bucks!

My son and I really love this jacket. This will be its second winter season this year. Its perfect because when we are going into a store, I can just take off the jacket and we wont be roasting the whole time we are doing whatever it is we need to do, and then when its time to go back out into the cold Canadian weather, we can throw it back on and away we go!!!

** please note that this jacket is not like an Amauti, you do need a carrier for this jacket to work. It simply goes over top. :)

Have fun this winter and happy babywearing!