I knew exactly what I expected from my baby carrier this time, so I decided to make my own sling, customised to keep a newborn winter baby snug and dry. My last homemade sling lasted through two babies but I started experiencing problems with my neck, shoulder and back when Beth was around 1 year old. That sling was made from very thick cotton and was a very basic design with no padding, so it was cutting in. I want something a lot more luxurious this time, for my benefit and the babies!
I wanted a fleece lined, waterproof, padded sling that would be big enough to hold a toddler as well as cocoon a newborn baby. Definitely time to make my own sling.
I couldn't find a design on the internet that met my requirements so I had to come up with my own. I based my design on three patterns (picking the best from each!). One pattern is the one I bought on eBay which came with two sets of steel rings, the other two were from this sling sewing site
The rings I bought were approximately 8cm diameter. For this sling though I would suggest trying to get 10cm rings if possible, as it's very hard to adjust the sling due to the bulk of the material.
This is a really thick, cushioned sling. Your machine (and needle) is going to need to be capable of stitching through several layers of fleece, cotton and wadding!
To make the sling you will need 2m cotton, 2m fleece, 1m 2oz polyester wadding and two large (10cm) rings. Plus a waterproofing spray if you intend to waterproof the sling, or use waterproof cotton.
I used ivory craft cotton with a pale blue Winnie The Pooh print and ivory polar fleece. I used Grangers G-Sport Rainproofing Spray on the outside of the sling once I had completed sewing it. If you are going to use a waterproofing spray make sure the sling is completed in plenty of time before you need to use it. The spray stinks and is not the sort of thing you want around a newborn baby! It needs plenty of time to air after it whas been waterproofed.
Cut the fleece and the cotton so that they measure 2m long by 82cm wide. Lay the two pieces of fabric on top of each other so that the right sides of the fabric are touching each other.
Pin along the two long edges of the fabric, so that the two pieces are held together.
Using a running stitch on your machine stitch along the two long edges of the fabrics. Turn the fabric inside out through one of the open ends, so you end up with a tube
Lay the fabric flat with the fleece side uppermost. Turn over 10cm of fabric (approximately hand width) and pin along the edge of the material through all layers, continue for 20cm.
Cut two 1m long strips of wadding approximately 15cm wide, and two 40cm long strips 15cm wide. This needs rolling up to you end up with a 1m sausage of wadding (don't worry if it unwinds, you can reroll it as you are padding the edge of the sling)
Start stuffing a 1m wadding sausage into the wide side seam as you are pinning it. When you come to the end of the wadding use a 40cm length of wadding and continue stuffing and pinning in the same way. There should be approximately 50cm of fabric left once the wadding has run out, continue pinning this down without any stuffing.
Do exactly the same on the other side, taking care to position the wadding at the same distances along the sling. Once completed the sling should look a little like this -
Stitch along both lengths of the sling just under 1cm from the edge. Once you have stitched along both lengths you need to stitch across the wide seam, at both ends where the wadding starts & finishes.
