making baby wraps

Hey guys

I'm hoping this is the right forum to post this...please feel free to change it, mods.

I'm wanting to make some baby wraps (flannette and muslin) for our upcoming baby...the only thing is that I'm an ABSOLUTE novice at sewing...apart from compulsary high school sewing, my experience is pretty much nil!!!

Oh...and I don't have an overlocker.

So...any hints?

Is it possible without an overlocker?

Amount of material needed per wrap?

Any thing special I need to look out for in buying material?

Thanks alot!

you will not need an overlocker if you are happy to have regular, folded over hems -- you can just straight stitch or zigzag a hem all around the edge of the fabric.

With the flanelette wraps, you could even sew two fieces of fabric together and have it double sided.

I would make them at least 100 x 100, especially the muslin wraps, otherwise you baby will outgrow them super fast!

So make sure the fabric is at least 100cm wide (i think for narrower fabrics 112 is standard, so this would be fine)

I made mine about 130 long and whatever the width of the fabric you buy (like 112cm like rayray said). I felt this extra length was good as DD got older. She became attached to them and I didn't have to make more which was good!

Because you go with the width of the fabric you only need to hem 2 ends IYKWIM? Just fold it twice and sew with machine - no overlocker needed.

As for material I don't know. I just went with muslin and plain cotton poplin (sp?)

I had about 4 wraps of each material - 1 in the pram, 3 at home (had to sometimes change in the middle of the night as she would suck her hand through the wrap and it would get soaked!)

I actually hand sewed mine for Kaitlyn . I cant remember the size of material ..I think about 1mtr deep and 1.5mtrs long ..but then that was when she was about 4months old I think.

I also made little slots in the top of mine so I could tuck Kaitlyns hands in as she often got our and woke herself. She really loved being so securely wrapped...but it looked a little like a straight jacket hehe.

Happy Sewing!

Cass, I *wish* that I could hand sew, but it always ends up in a disaster.

I made a flannelette wrap.. I made it a square of 112x112. We have all these bought wraps that are only 80cm and theyre just too small! You can fold the hems over and do them that way, or some fancy machines have an overlocking stitch. Mine has one of these, though its not really the same as a proper overlocking stitch. Maybe you could use a zig zag stitch instaed.

My baby is a wriggler and I find that 120cm is the minimum length for her to stay wrapped overnight. I think if I were to make wraps I'd do 150cm wide...

I bought 1.5m and it lasted until she was about 8 months (we stopped after that) but it left enough that I could tuck the ends in so it stayed secure.

I just folded the raw edge and ironed it, then folded and ironed again so there's no frayed bits visible, then sewed a straight line. Couldn't be easier, plus there's some cool patterns out there that you can't get with the bought ones!

Our favourite wrap is one I was given. It's a bigger size - I think about 120 x 100. I can't measure it at the moment as DS is asleep in it! As previously said it is the only size that still fits apart from some big muslin ones I have. The fabric is a fine cotton interlock (t-shirt material) and it is edged with satin bias binding so you only need normal straight stitching. The slight stretch makes it easy to get a nice snug wrap for newborns and the fabric is really soft and dries quickly. I'll be making more like this for #2 when the time comes.