How To Make Your Own Baby Sling

Your journey in making your first baby sling is sure to start with a trip to the fabric store.  There are so many choices in fabric that your are sure to become overwhelmed.  Not only do you need to consider the durability of the fabric and the softness of the material to ensure ultimate comfort for baby, but you also need to find a cute swatch that matches your style. Don't get too hasty now, because you should at first find a pattern for a baby sling.  Piece of cake right?  Maybe, if you have the time to look through all of the books.  Find the section for babies and toddlers and your well on your way.  Inevitably you will discover that not every book has a wide assortment of baby sling patterns.  In fact, on a trip to the fabric store I found one baby sling pattern.  Not much of a selection in styles as far as ring slings and other adjustable slings that maybe you wold find in a pattern book specially designed for slings.  So if you decide you like this very basic design of sling, great.  Now you go on to look for the actual pattern in a filing cabinet and hope that there is indeed a pattern left.  It gives you certain guidelines to follow like what kind of material you should use e.g. cotton, twill, nylon.  With your first expense of the day tapping out at 13 dollars or so for the pattern, you are off to find the perfect material that will hold your sweet baby and ideally match your style. Plan your time wisely, you have lots of material to pick through.   Weed out the good from the bad,  the pretty from the pretty ugly, the busiest to the simplest material.  Finally you find it, a shroud, worthy of greatness.  Material is likely to span anywhere from eight dollars to over fifty dollars.   Following the guidelines on the pattern you will buy a yard or two of material because with the sling pattern also comes a pattern for a cover when your breastfeeding baby and also one to make a swaddling blanket.  If you can pull off making a baby sling why not make some other cute things to match. Suddenly you are on top of the world, you are Martha Stuart, but less annoying.  You see other fabric that you like and you decide when you are done with this project you will be back to tackle yet another baby sling.  Maybe you will even make a centerpiece out of pine cones and luster dust.  You are unstoppable. When you get home you get out your old needle and thread box and get to work.  Thirty minutes of sewing and after poking your left ring finger 6 times your hands start to cramp up.   Your left staring at a stitch you wouldn't trust to together with a slight tug, let alone cradle your baby mid-air.  So you switch onto plan B.  You start looking online for sewing machines and after skimming through the list of 800 dollar machines, you dig deeper and find one for 99 dollars it is the cheapest one.  Before you press the order button and commit to a hundred dollars you consider other options.   You could give your great Aunt Marcy a visit and ask to borrow her sewing machine, you know the one in the cellar surrounded by a pack of feral cats?  Suddenly a hundred dollars doesn't seem so bad.  You order it, and wait a week and a half for it to be delivered. Remember the old saying measure twice, cut once?  This definitely applies in sewing.  The amount of material that you purchased doesn't leave much room, if any for mistakes.  If you misjudge and cut wrong you might as well plan another trip to the fabric store because you will need more.  Be sure once you are ready to put the material in the sewing machine you know what you are doing.  A steady and quick flow of hands will get the job done.  Your finished work should be something that you could trust your babies life in.  With seams that are strong enough to embrace your baby in comfort.  Seams that will not loosen in the wash.  Seams that will not split under pressure.  If you are not confident with your sewing job, don't chance it.  It's important that you know that there are baby slings of all kinds and colors that are made by people who know exactly how to make slings.  Slings that are BCIA approved for your baby.  Slings that experts have handcrafted to cuddle your baby safely.  You can rest at ease knowing that your baby is cradled safely in material with seems that have been thoroughly scrutinized.  Holding together the material that is strong enough yet still delicate enough for your baby.  The only thing you need to worry about is finding your favorite color and style.