Apr
09
Posted (reneeholiday) in babywearing, diy, product showcase, sewing, wears-the-baby-wednesday on April-9-2008

If it’s Wednesday, it must mean it’s time for WEARS THE BABY!

Get a better look at the lovely Amy Butler fabric.Twilli in a back carry in the BabyHawk

We have a couple of new additions in our stash. But first I want to share the overdue action photos of the BabyHawk Mei Tai that we got a few weeks ago. It has olive straps and a lovely Amy Butler print. (The reverse is another Amy Butler beauty as well!)

This was the first time we had tried a BACK CARRY. All of the tutorials I’ve seen about doing a back carry with a mei tai were a bit daunting because they all involve “tossing” and balancing your baby on your back

Twilli is a bit too squirmy for me to feel comfortable trying to balance her on my back. However, I decided to go the easy way and lay the carrier on the bed, put Twilli on it, and tie it on from there. It worked great! I’ll probably post a YouTube video for anyone else who wants to try the EASY BACK CARRY.

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And now for the GOOD STUFF!

We really enjoy designing, making and wearing these SCANDI MEI TAI baby carriers. For now, I will call them “TWILLI PIE Mei Tai” Baby Carriers, in order to differentiate them from any *commercially available mei tai. I often call Twilli “Twilli Pie” and Elliott thinks it’s so cute.

[*Note: I had originally hoped to introduce these MTs to the market. But the pattern I used is not licensed for commercial use. Sorry, these are for our personal use only. But I will be working on developing my own unique design.]

So here is the second MT we did – TWILLI PIE MT2. It has red corduroy straps (reinforced with a layer of denim, for added strength) and designer fabric that was actually recycled from a pair of Jones New York pants. The fabric is lovely, but I don’t think it should have EVER been on PANTS! ;-) It has a satin ribbon embellishment. The reverse side is red-orange satin and red-orange cotton solid.

I’m LOVING the cord straps! They help the carrier stay in place. It’s as if Twilli is attached with VELCRO! These straps are very long! I wanted to make them long to accommodate certain variations of a back carry. But they are a bit unweildly. I’m considering making them shorter. But I’ll probably experiment some more before I do that.

Next up we have the 3rd one TWILLI PIE MT3

***If you are having trouble viewing the photo slideshow, you may look at the photos here. ***

I made this lovely blue one especially for my Mom, who is visiting from Tennessee. She will be leaving tomorrow. :-( We’ve really enjoyed having her here. But she is missed by Dad and my 2 nephews. I hope they enjoy the mei tai!

I went looking for fabric that would suit her, and found this beautiful cobalt blue canvas. (Blue is Mom’s favorite color.) Then I hunted down some quarter flats that had a tropical or ocean feel and that matched the blue. I think it turned out very pretty!

Mom has shoulder issues and cannot easily tie things behind her back. So I made the waist strap extra long, allowing her to tie it in the front. I was afraid this might be too much fabric around the waist. But I gave it a “test drive” yesterday for several hours. It actually felt good for my back to have the added support.

I finally replaced the sleep hood on TWILLI PIE MT1. It looks so much better! AND it actually functions as a sleep hood now!

So I’ve included some more photos of it, with action shots! (I can’t resist the opportunity to show off the Twilli!) 8-) She’s such a cooperative model!

Ok. That’s all for this week. I’m already working on the next one. So stay tuned!

Please leave a comment and let us know what you think of my TWILLI PIE Mei Tai carriers!


Comments:
Tammy on April 9th, 2008 at 3:51 pm #

She is so cute and she looks like she is comfy in there.

reneeholiday on April 14th, 2008 at 12:02 am #

tammy, thanks! she LOVES the carriers! when i get one out and start to put it on, she smiles, waves her arms, and gets very excited. it’s cute!

if anyone is having trouble viewing the photo slideshows, you may check out the photos here http://s254.photobucket.com/albums/hh107/reneeholiday/TWILLI%20PIE%20Mei%20Tai/

Green Momma on April 15th, 2008 at 10:39 pm #

I have never head of that kind of carrier. It looks so comfy compared to my ring sling.

reneeholiday on April 16th, 2008 at 11:10 am #

green momma, i used to use a ring sling. but that quickly became a problem, since the weight is only distributed to one shoulder. (in my case, it always slid over to my neck too.) – this type is BY FAR the most comfy i’ve tried. and i’ve tried a fair number of different types. — check out thebabywearer.com… you’ll find a wealth of info! :-)

blueberrymama on April 16th, 2008 at 11:33 am #

Ooh… those MTs are gorgeous!

So glad you found a good way for you to do a back carry. I started with DS a little over a month ago when I got my first BH. Once you get comfy with doing it from the bed, try just picking her up, sliding her on your back (over your shoulder) and holding her with one hand while you are bent over slightly with the MT tied at your waist. It sounds complicated but it works great, and I find we get much higher, better carries than we did with the bed method.

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