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I looked through many Mei Tai patterns and choose Beth’s Mei Tai (http://thosemartins.com/bmt/) because it had a nice head support feature, the pattern gave the layout for cutting and the pattern was all straight lines.
This was an easy pattern to follow (I am an avid sewer, but I would suspect even novice sewers could sew this pattern).

I am of average build with an average bust line. I used 12 inches on the shoulder straps to spread the weight even more because of my bad back. Overall I am very happy with how this carrier fits and both my daughter & myself like being close in this carrier and the weight is distributed evenly across my torso.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT WITH A CARRIER
I found I like the straps to be the same material as the panel of the Mei Tai so that the patterns aren’t covered by the straps. I also like that straps to be pretty on both sides. Some materials only have patterns on 1 side. If you purchase material with a pattern on 1 side purchase more material to accommodate to make a double sided print.

I wish it had a padded waist or at least more support in the waist. I could have put interfacing on this, but I found some instructions for making the ties padded for my next one.

Instructions for wearing a Mei Tai and many other baby wearing methods:
http://www.thebabywearer.com/lists/HowTo.htm
The Kozy Carrier page has many pictures with lots of different ways to put this carrier on.

WHY I CHOOSE THIS CARRIER:

I started out with a ring sling and pouch sling for baby #2, but quickly realized that my back couldn’t hold the weight very well. By 3 months she was 15 pounds and couldn’t handle the strain on one shoulder because of a previous back injury.

I needed a carrier that distributed the weight across my hips/ stomach along with equal balance across both shoulders. I made a wrap out of some stretchy cotton fabric (97% cotton, 3% Lycra) and this worked good for the first 3 months (until about 14 ½ lbs.). I loved this wrap as baby slept like a dream while cozy and close while I would walk around the house or while I was out and about.

I could have gone to another wrap out of a non-knit material such as duck or twill, but I decided to try a Mei Tai instead because summer was coming and I wanted less material on my body.

I made Beth’s Mei Tai (http://thosemartins.com/bmt/) with a few modifications to it to make it better, but I don’t have time to write them all down now. I will try to make another post when the babies aren’t so restless.

Many links to sewing other baby carriers:
http://www.thebabywearer.com/lists/Sewing.htm

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 14th, 2007 at 3:01 pm and is filed under Baby, Sewing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.