Mei Tai, Take Two...

But how do you put on a Mei Tai? I'm glad you asked...

After I made my first Mei Tai baby carrier, I used it everywhere: church, grocery stores, Christmas vacation to Virginia, and of course, home sweet home. I love how it fits into my diaper bag, that I can wear it on back or in front, and how quickly and easily I can put it on. The best part is that Jadon can fall asleep in it anywhere!

Jadon asleep in the Mei Tai at Christmas, this time stuffed with cozy blankets.

In fact, Jadon has become so accustomed to babywearing that he seems to associate carriers with sleeping these days. He often falls asleep within ten minutes of being in a wrap. Usually I can successfully transfer him from the Mei Tai to the couch without him waking up, but sometimes it doesn't work. He almost always sleeps longer when he's on me. I'm not surprised that the warmth of my body and the lull of my steps keeps him in dreamland longer. I've started leaving him in the carrier as long as he stays asleep. However, when I made my first Mei Tai, I didn't anticipate wearing him for an hour (or two!) at a time.

My nearly twenty-pound baby began taking a toll on my body from wearing him so long. I started wishing that the straps were just a little wider to distribute his weight across my shoulders better. I also wished that the fabric on my hips and shoulders was padded. Having the straps just a little longer would be nice, too, so that my husband would be able to wear Jadon sometimes. My first Mei Tai had been tailor made for my size.

Rather than make so many adjustments, I decided to make a brand-new Mei Tai, which has quickly replaced my old one.

Here's the steps you could take to construct a Mei Tai like my new-and-improved version:

First, gather your materials. I chose two different fabrics from my stash that looked good together, making sure that at least one fabric was pretty tough (like an upholtstery fabric). Carriers made from fabric with a lot of '"give" will sag with extended wearing time. I also pulled out the last of the fleece blanket that I originally bought for the inside of my applique bird quilt. The fleece serves as padding for the straps .

My pretty fabrics! The "nature" patterned fabric is my heavy-duty choice for this carrier.

I cut the fleece so that it was doubled. The waist strap padding is five inches wide and 26  inches long. The shoulder strap padding is four inches wide and 16 inches long.

For the two main body pieces, I decided to try a curved top edge instead of square. The height, at the tallest point, was cut 25 inches, and the width was cut 17 inches.

I lengthened my straps quite a bit from my first Mei Tai. The long waist strap was cut 130 inches long and six inches wide. The two matching shoulder straps were cut 80 inches long and 5 inches wide. Like my first Mei Tai, I sewed half inch seams down the entire length of my straps in order to create tubes, which I turned right-side out and ironed flat. The final widths for the waist and shoulder straps are five and four inches long, respectively (which correspond with the appropriate padding, of course!).

To speed up the sewing process, I ironed a 3/4 inch hem around each main body piece. The flat sides were quick and easy, but the curved top took a little more time.

To create a hem on a curved edge, you have to make small (about 1/2 inch) slits along the curve. I made my cuts every three to four inches.

When you fold the fabric over to create the hem, the little sections you cut will overlap slightly. If you didn't make slits, the fabric would form little bulky bunches instead of flat overlaps.

Next, you need to stuff the padding inside the waist strap. The tube was large enough for me fit my hand inside the waist strap. I centered the padding inside the strap and smoothed it out. Now make a "waist strap sandwich," layering one main body piece on either side of the waist strap. Pin all the layers in place. Then run a seam all along the outline of the waist strap, sewing all the layers together. I found this step the hardest for this new Mei Tai because there was so much fabric to get through! Definitely broke a sewing machine needle.

As a finishing touch, run a single seam down the center of the waist strap. This will keep the padding from shifting around inside the strap.

The padding is stuffed inside both of the straps.
The pen and scissors mark where the ends of the padding
are since you don't have x-ray vision.

In the same way, stuff the padding in the shoulder strap tubes. I decided to leave a small gap at the end with no padding because I don't need padding where my shoulder will never touch.

After the padding is where you want it, sandwich the ends of the shoulder straps inside the two main body pieces. I find that a 45 degree angle works well for comfort's sake. Sew a seam all around the edge of the straps, overlapping onto the main body pieces. Like the waist strap, sew one final seam down the middle of the strap to keep the padding from shifting around inside.

Almost done! To make the ends of the straps look nice, I like to make a tapered edge.

Simply cut the end of the strap at the desired angle. Pull out enough of the seams already in place to tuck the ends of the tapered edge inside itself. Finally, sew the tapered edge shut!

Enjoy your Mei Tai that can handle hours of sleeping babies. In fact, Jadon has been asleep on my back for the last half hour of writing this post.

 I had Jon take a picture to prove it!

Mei Tai Baby Carrier Tutorial

Babywearing. It's exactly what it sounds like. You wear your baby. To some, it may sound a little stifling, carrying your baby with you everywhere, but I think it's incredibly freeing. Not only has babywearing given me my hands back, but Jadon is a much happier baby doing chores and activities with me, not just watching me.

I currently have three carriers, the Moby Wrap, the Baby K'Tan, and the Snugli. I like all of them for different reasons, and for different purposes.

Shortly after I fell in love with babywearing, I started searching for all kinds of baby carriers. The Mei Tai seemed to be a pretty popular choice for babywearers. It's made entirely of fabric, so naturally, I decided to make one.

I checked out several different tutorials, mostly found through Pinterest. Turns out, there are several variations of this carrier and many approaches to construction. For my Mei Tai, I combined elements and techniques from a few tutorials.

Pinterest inspiration

This carrier has to be made out of durable fabric with little to no stretch in it. I had several leftover scraps of red and black striped fabric that fit the bill. However, there wasn't quite enough for all the required pieces, so I found a complimentary fabric for the inside face of the straps. Even still, I had to sew some pieces of striped fabric in order to make the straps long enough. You'll see what I mean in the pictures.

Here's the tutorial of how I made my Mei Tai carrier:

First, I made my straps. The two shoulder straps are each 60 inches long, and the one waist strap is 90 inches long. They are all cut 4 inches wide. With the colored side facing in, I sewed seams up the long edges of the straps to create a tube. Then, I turned these tubes right-side out.

Setting the straps aside, I pulled out my pieces for the main body panel. These will go back-to-back, each cut 20 inches by 30 inches. I ironed the sides and bottoms so that there was a two inch fold. I didn't iron the top edge yet because I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it. As it turns out, I could have ironed it like the rest of the edges right away because I ended up ironing a two inch fold later on in construction.

Next, I took my long waist strap and centered it on the bottom of the body panel. I sandwiched it inside the two body panel pieces. After pinning all the layers in place, it was back to the sewing machine.

After tapering the ends, I made one continuous seam from one end of the waist strap to the other. Then, I turned the strap around and followed the opposite edge with another long, continuous seam. The waist strap was finished off with a reinforcing "x" in the corners of the body panel.

The arm straps were attached to the body panel on an angle, about 45 degrees. The arm straps each intersected with the edge of the body panel 4.5 and 12 inches from the top of the body panel. I sandwiched the straps in between the body pieces and pinned the layers in place.

Before heading back to the sewing machine, I ironed a two-inch hem along the top edge of the body panel. If I were to make another Mei Tai, I would have made this hem earlier in the process. Then, I followed the edge of the body panel with a seam which sewed the arm straps in place. I crossed over onto the body panel about a half inch to reinforce the straps' attachment.

Some Mei Tai carriers have a flap at the top that can be used to support a sleeping baby's head. I decided to include one on my carrier because Jadon falls asleep in the wraps I own all the time. In order to hold the head flap in place, you have to tie the corners of the flap to the shoulder straps when they are in use. I made my tie chords by folding in the edges of a long strip of fabric and zig-zagging it in place. I decided not to attach the chords because Jadon isn't tall enough to need them yet.

There are three ways to carry a child using a Mei Tai. As Jadon is only about three months old, he's not quite big enough for the "hip" or "backpack" carry yet. Here's me and my cutie doing the "face in" carry:

I love my Mei Tai!

*Update! I made another Mei Tai (with some improvements) a few months later. Check it out! Mei Tai, Take Two...

Crocheted Hats Galore!

I've found myself in the middle of a hat-crocheting marathon.

It all started in early October. A friend invited me to sell some baby hats at a craft booth that she and her mom manage every year. They were looking to expand their inventory and knew that I'm rather crafty. Since I discovered that I could nurse Jadon and crochet at the same time, I cranked out about a hat a day and handed them over to my friend to sell at her booth. Here's a sample of the hats, all with multi-colored yarn:

Then a different friend (who had received a pink hat from me at her baby shower) told me that a woman she knows wanted to buy a similar hat from me for her baby, but in blue. Here's the result:

After I finished this hat, it was sitting on my desk during a third friend's visit to my apartment. She oohed and ahhed over it, and asked if she could buy hats for her two daughters. She wanted one to match a pink coat and one to match a purple coat. I soon finished them:

This week yet another friend said that she wanted to purchase a "dragon" hat for her daughter. I did a quick google search and found this inspiration:

By this time, my little Jadon was getting bigger fast, and I couldn't crochet and nurse as easily. But I found another way to multitask: babywearing and crocheting!

When he gets fussy, I throw him in my wrap, tuck a ball of yarn behind his back, and start pacing and bouncing around the room. Puts him to sleep every time. For this hat, I decided to ditch the ear flaps and tie and came up with this:

                                           (front)                                                      (back)

I still have two other friends expecting babies in a few months who also want hats! I'm having the time of my life with this creative outlet. Any other requests for a crocheted hat? I make the little flowered ones for $15, and custom hats for $25. Pretty much anything you see in a store or on Etsy I can imitate.

Bring it on!