Kinda OT... Slings/wraps/carriers?

IIRC, Irene had put a link showing ideas on how to make your own wrap...
I found he http://www.mamatoto.org/documents/MakeAWrap.pdf a basic home
made wrap that you just buy the material and go, and it also has a few ways
to wear it.

Last night, I went out to the Walmart and picked up 5m (it said 5.5 yards,
but they only sell by the meter, and 5m is something like a few inches off
of 5.5y)
It's a little stretchy, a horribly fuscia color - but I don't care - and it
doesn't seem to fray on the edges when stretched. It was also on sale for
less than $2/m

Now I have a question... It's a fairly stupid one, but firstly, my material
is 57" long. The directions for making a wrap says a minimum of 20" wide
for your wrap. Can I sneak away with making this material into 3 wraps that
are 19" wide?
Also, why on earth is this thing so long? 5.5 yards seems like a helluva
lotta material, and with this much material, will I be able to find my baby
in it if I attempt to use it? Are they really supposed to be THIS long? I
wouldn't consider myself to be over weight by any means, and I'm wondering
if I'm going to end up turning out like a bright fuscia marshmallow man of
some sort.

Anyways, 19" - can I sneak away with that? 19" wide and 5.5 yards long
still seems very large, for some reason, and I have yet to cut the material.
Not sure why on earth I'd need 3 of these floating around the house, but I
might possibly be able to see if my cousin could use one, as she just had
her second daughter 2 weeks ago, and her older daughter is also 5 weeks
younger than my DD1. She's also the only one I know who has girls and I
could think of *possibly* wearing this color!

xkatx wrote:
IIRC, Irene had put a link showing ideas on how to make your own wrap...
I found he http://www.mamatoto.org/documents/MakeAWrap.pdf a basic home
made wrap that you just buy the material and go, and it also has a few ways
to wear it.

Last night, I went out to the Walmart and picked up 5m (it said 5.5 yards,
but they only sell by the meter, and 5m is something like a few inches off
of 5.5y)
It's a little stretchy, a horribly fuscia color - but I don't care - and it
doesn't seem to fray on the edges when stretched. It was also on sale for
less than $2/m

Now I have a question... It's a fairly stupid one, but firstly, my material
is 57" long. The directions for making a wrap says a minimum of 20" wide
for your wrap. Can I sneak away with making this material into 3 wraps that
are 19" wide?
Also, why on earth is this thing so long? 5.5 yards seems like a helluva
lotta material, and with this much material, will I be able to find my baby
in it if I attempt to use it? Are they really supposed to be THIS long? I
wouldn't consider myself to be over weight by any means, and I'm wondering
if I'm going to end up turning out like a bright fuscia marshmallow man of
some sort.

Anyways, 19" - can I sneak away with that? 19" wide and 5.5 yards long
still seems very large, for some reason, and I have yet to cut the material.
Not sure why on earth I'd need 3 of these floating around the house, but I
might possibly be able to see if my cousin could use one, as she just had
her second daughter 2 weeks ago, and her older daughter is also 5 weeks
younger than my DD1. She's also the only one I know who has girls and I
could think of *possibly* wearing this color!

Well, I'm not a wrapping expert, so anything I say, you'll need to take
with a grain of salt. But, I would probably err on the side of a
wider wrap than necessary than narrower. So, you could still easily
make 2 wraps out of that. And yes, it does seem like a ton of fabric
when you are learning to wrap! I started (accidentally) with a 4 yd
length, and found that it was too short to do most of the carries - and
I'm not a very large person! I'd suggest starting with the FWCC carry
- it is one of the most useful ones for a small baby, and very
supportive. If you find the wrap is too long and you have lots left
over, you can always trim it down - but you really can't add to it to
make it longer and still have it be structurally sound, iykwim.

Oh, and when learning, there is often a lot of slack, so as you get
better, you will need less length as well.

Good luck!

Irene

Irene wrote:
xkatx wrote:
(snipping)
Last night, I went out to the Walmart and picked up 5m (it said 5.5 yards,
but they only sell by the meter, and 5m is something like a few inches off
of 5.5y)
It's a little stretchy, a horribly fuscia color - but I don't care - and it
doesn't seem to fray on the edges when stretched. It was also on sale for
less than $2/m
I
wouldn't consider myself to be over weight by any means, and I'm wondering
if I'm going to end up turning out like a bright fuscia marshmallow man of
some sort.

(And if you decide you like wrapping, you can always look for fabric
that is not quite as bright!)

Irene

Sorry to follow up on myself again, but I thought of another tip. When
learning a new carry, I like to practice with a stuffed animal/doll,
rather than a real live baby, because then I don't have to worry about
dropping him/her, or baby getting impatient. Also, if you are nervous
about dropping, start over a soft surface, like a bed.

Irene

the length is because you need to wrap it round you twice (ish) and still
have enough length to tie a knot.

I wouldn't skimp on the width, I haven't tried wrapping, but I have made a
sling and the fabric can bunch together, you need it to spread out over you
and the baby to spread the weight and hold her securely.

Cheers

Anne

"xkatx" wrote in message
news:XWdgh.74833$hn.61060@edtnps82...
IIRC, Irene had put a link showing ideas on how to make your own wrap...
I found he http://www.mamatoto.org/documents/MakeAWrap.pdf a basic home
made wrap that you just buy the material and go, and it also has a few
ways to wear it.

Last night, I went out to the Walmart and picked up 5m (it said 5.5 yards,
but they only sell by the meter, and 5m is something like a few inches off
of 5.5y)
It's a little stretchy, a horribly fuscia color - but I don't care - and
it doesn't seem to fray on the edges when stretched. It was also on sale
for less than $2/m

Now I have a question... It's a fairly stupid one, but firstly, my
material is 57" long. The directions for making a wrap says a minimum of
20" wide for your wrap. Can I sneak away with making this material into 3
wraps that are 19" wide?
Also, why on earth is this thing so long? 5.5 yards seems like a helluva
lotta material, and with this much material, will I be able to find my
baby in it if I attempt to use it? Are they really supposed to be THIS
long? I wouldn't consider myself to be over weight by any means, and I'm
wondering if I'm going to end up turning out like a bright fuscia
marshmallow man of some sort.

Anyways, 19" - can I sneak away with that? 19" wide and 5.5 yards long
still seems very large, for some reason, and I have yet to cut the
material. Not sure why on earth I'd need 3 of these floating around the
house, but I might possibly be able to see if my cousin could use one, as
she just had her second daughter 2 weeks ago, and her older daughter is
also 5 weeks younger than my DD1. She's also the only one I know who has
girls and I could think of *possibly* wearing this color!


From http://www.thebabywearer.com/article...aparounds.htm:

Some wraps require more fabric than others. The wearer's size also affects
the length of fabric needed. In fact, because the fabric is wrapped a few
times around your body, your size makes more difference than it does with
most other types of carriers. On the other hand, excess length just means
longer tails. Some wraparound carriers are available in varying lengths and
others are sold only in one length (to suit most wraps and most people). You
could buy a few different lengths to suit different wraps but most people
buy the longest length they would need to be able to do the wrap cross
carry, as it requires the most fabric of the popular wraps.


I'd say the directions you're using produce a "one size works for all wraps"
type carrier. Once you've decided what wraps you're most likely to use, you
might find a shorter carrier works. Or as suggested, you might have a range
of lengths (in different colours?) for the different wraps you like to use.

You might find the following site useful:
http://www.thebabywearer.com/lists/HowTo.htm and scroll down to Wraparound
carriers.

Cheers,
Liz