You may have noticed that things have been a little quiet around these parts for the past several months. That’s because I’ve been focusing on a little side project. It’s incredibly time consuming, keeping me busy nearly all day and night, but totally worth the lack of sleep.

I had a baby!

Knowing that my previous babies were very insistent on being held near 24/7, I figured that I’d be prepared and make myself a couple baby wraps so that I could baby wear and still get things done.

Here’s the thing about babies. As soon as you think you have anything figured out with any level of confidence, baby’s gonna go “Hahaha, yeah… Nope,” and leave you feeling like you have no freaking clue what you’re doing. This is my third baby and while I’m relatively certain that I did actually take care of the other two, this one is kind of making me doubt that I ever really knew what I was doing.

So you know that plan I talked about earlier, where I wear my baby and do productive things? This baby hates being bound with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. Sure, I can pull out the wrap and put it on, but baby just gives me this look like, “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but there’s no way I’m going in there without a fight.”

There’s a lot of advice about getting a wrap-hating baby to be comfortable in their baby wrap, but I seriously have to wonder if those advice givers have had to deal with a baby who very easily gets stuck on the shriek setting.

You know that picture earlier in this post where I’m smiling and baby looks all calm and comfortable in the wrap? Be really glad pictures don’t have sound. Photos can be deceiving! I’m faking because baby was very unhappy with me and I just happened to catch one where you couldn’t tell that baby was trying to Hulk out of the wrap.

Here’s the really important thing about babies: they come with very specific personalities and opinions, and trying to force what you want on them really only brings about trouble.

That means the two wraps I made are just taking up space in the closet.

I’m just really glad that I made my own baby wraps and didn’t spend a fortune on one of those designer ones, because now I have a lot of yardage of this really fun green and blue ice dyed jersey fabric that I’m going to have to think of something else to do with.

If you want to make one of your own they’re really easy and you can even do a no-sew version!

How to Make a Baby Wrap

Fabric

You’ll want to use a knit fabric that’s breathable. Something stretchy, but not too stretchy. Some of the popular brands use fabric with a viscose/cotton blend or a cotton/spandex blend. I used cotton jersey which makes for a slightly more stretchy wrap. The stretchier stuff may work well for newborns, but probably won’t work as well for heavier toddlers which is where some of the less stretchy weaves would work better. There’s a ton of different fabric types you could use for this, so find one that you like!

Here are some suggestions for fabrics to check out: muslin, jersey, modal, jacquard, herringbone weave, or linen. (While not a comprehensive list, this should give you some ideas of what to look for.)

Supplies

• 5 ½ to 6 yards of fabric (I used 6, which was perfect for my large post-partum belly. Thinner people may be fine with 5 ½.)
• Coordinating thread

Directions

1. Each wrap should be somewhere between 22″ to 30″ wide. Since a common width of fabric is 45″ you can make two wraps out of one length of fabric!

Cut your length of fabric in half. It can help to lay the fabric out in a large space like a hallway.

If you have a fabric that doesn’t fray, you don’t even have to sew! You can be done in just one step!

2. For those fabrics that do fray, you’ll need to hem the edges. Fold the fabric over ½”, then fold over another ½” and sew the hem shut by sewing close to the open edge. Ironing the folds can help.

3. If you plan on dyeing, after hemming is the best time so you don’t have to deal with the edges fraying. I ice dyed mine with green and blue.

4. Some people like to sew a patch or a piece of ribbon at the halfway point to make it easier to find for when you are ready to wrap. I didn’t bother – I just fold my halfway to find the center.

Now you have your very own wrap for a fraction of the price! Plus it was simple to make!

I use the Moby Wrap instructions to wrap mine, though there are many other tutorials for wrapping out there as well.

You’re ready to wear! (Whether or not your baby is ready, well, that’s another story…)