A New Ring Sling (with pattern!)

I love babywearing. I do not know how anyone survived having an infant before babywearing was popular in our culture. An age appropriate sling is probably THE most important piece of baby kit I own. Seriously. When I was researching all the things before I had Ladybug, I looked at ring slings, looked at how much they cost, and decided I could totally make that. So I did. And that sling has been well used by three babies. Unfortunately it also seems to have been eaten by storage. Since life without an age appropriate baby carrier is a vale of tears (most the the babies, some mine.) I decided to make a new one rather than tear apart the house looking for it. I thought I would write it up because really, this is an easy project, the materials are not hard to find, and it's really nice to get a sling that's just right for you at the end.

Before I get started on the how though, I would like to make a few notes about safety. It is absolutely IMPERATIVE that you do this properly, and do not skimp or make do with the materials. A slipshod job or improper materials could lead to your baby being injured! So take the time to do it right, and do NOT skimp on your materials. For the sling itself you want a material that has a firm hand and very little stretch. Plain old cotton sheeting, or even good quality quilters cotton will NOT do. it will get saggy and deformed and you will not be happy. It will be difficult to support your infant in properly, and that can be unsafe. May people use upolstry weight cottons with excellent results. I find this bulky and difficult to adjust well. I have used high quality cotton batiks for all the slings I've made (and my orignal sling is six years and three children old and still going strong) Quilters batiks are dyed onto a firm, tightly woven fabric. We actually tell people at the quiltshop to use a smaller needle on batiks because the fabric is so much denser. It has a nice hand, it's lightweight, and it "holds" really well in the rings. It also comes in a lot of fun prints and great colors, which is wonderful. My original sling was grey with a red shoulder so that it would be sort of gender neutral and my husband wouldn't mind wearing it. This time around I said to heck with that, and I chose this colorful butterfly wing print for this sling.

The rings are equally important. It is really crucial to not just pick up rings at the craft or hardware store. Get rings specifically designed for slings from a reputable source. Mine are anodized seamless cast aluminum from slingrings.com, they have wonderful colors and a lot of options. I happened to have a pair of size small rings hanging around which I used for this project. I much prefer the size large rings personally, but that's a matter of preferance. People who are smaller framed may find the large rings uncomfortable.

A final note about safety before I talk about constuction. There was a big fuss some years ago after a couple babies suffocated in slings. This was really terrible and tragic, but was also a combination of improper positioning and a really poorly designed if not straight up dangerous sling style (I believe that both slings involved were the "duffle" style of padded carrier) Slings and wraps are just as safe as soft structured carriers like the ergo etc, as long as you follow a few simple safety tips for positioning your infant. Just like you would never pick up a newborn without supporting their head, you have to properly position your baby in your sling! Babywearing international has wonderful infomation on their website here and this is a great overview Here. Better yet, see if you have a local babywearing international chapter that you can attend, then you can get advice about using your sling, and try out a lot of different slings.

the construction of the sling is really very simple. you will need 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 yards of batik, plus about a quater of a yard of complimentary fabric for the shoulder (this needn't be batik. I'm using Kona black for this one.), and a scrap of batting. You also need the shoulder pad pattern, downloadable HERE. How long you want the sling to be depends on how big you are and how long you want the tail to be. I am completely happy with a yard and a half. My husband cannot wear a sling that short. It's easiest to measure by looping a tape measure about yourself and playing with the length. A yard and a half is probably minimum though.

Take your sling fabric, and cut it 30 inches wide. I do this by notching the end with my scissors and then ripping it lengthwise. This ensures that the edge is absolutely straight along the grain, which is important as the long side hems act as your "rails" and need to have as little stretch as possible. Then turn over a quarter inch rolled him on both sides. I use an old trick from school here, and stitch at a quarter inch along where I am going to hem. Then I can accurately make a quarter inch turn up by turning "on the dotted line" so to speak. Then I just turn again and topstich. The seam I used to mark is invisible in the finished product.


You may finish the tail end of the sling any way you want, either by simply hemming it, or adding a contrasting binding or facing. The shoulder end is going to be attached to the shoulder piece. Pleat it to the same length as the opening of the wide end of the shoulder pad less 3/4 inch for seam allowance. Once the pleats are the way you like, run a row of stitching over it to keep it in position.

Cut out 2 of the shoulder piece, and lay them down on your batting. I am using two layers of quilters dream "dream angel" request weight batting simply because that's what I have scraps of at the moment (I normally have scraps of it because it's my favorite batting) I would not use an extremely puffy batting, or a cotton batting. Use the fabric as a pattern to cut the batting, and sew along the two long edges, leaving the ends open. I used a 3/8 inch seam allowance. Make sure both layers of fabric are right sides together on top of both layers of batting so when you turn it the batting and all the seams will be encased. (This is one of those things that I always have to double check or else I will do it backwards. Like sleeves. I still occasionally set sleeves inside out by accident.)

After you've sewn the seams, trim the batting all the way back to the line of stitching, to prevent bulk when you turn it right side out. 

Turn the shoulder right side out and press it. Then pin the pleated end of your sling to the "top" layer of your shoulder, this is the side that has the batting against it. Pin right through the batting. 

 Sew this seam with a half inch seam allowance, then turn around and sew it again, as close to the first row of stitching as possible. This seam is holding up your infant. A little over engineering is a good thing. Trim the batting right back to the seam line again. Do NOT trim the seam allowances. You're going to sew through these again to make sure that this shoulder never ever comes undone or rips or does anything else unfortunate.



 Straighten it out and press it, turning the seam allowances to the inside of the shoulder all the way around. Then quilt the shoulder pad as desired. Notice that I started with two rows of tight stitching an eight of an inch apart right at the end of the shoulder. This is both securing the turned under raw edge on the bottom of the shoulder pad to the sling itself, and sewing through those seam allowances again, securing the shoulder even more firmly to the sling.

All that is left is to secure your rings to the end of the shoulder pad. Notice in the above photo that I didn't take my quilting quite down to the edge? that's so I can trim the batting back about a quarter of an inch and eliminate some bulk. Trim the batting back, turn the edge under, and fold the whole thing around the rings and pin it. The folded edge should reach just where the shoulder pad starts to curve out again. Top stitch this with two lines of stitching, about an eight of an inch apart, backtacking thorougly on both ends of your stitching. This is the other seam that you never want to come undone EVER.

And that's it. Not much work is it? the whole thing can be finished in a couple hours. Happy baby wearing! 

Infant nightgowns, with pattern

It is perhaps a trifle old fashioned to sew garments for an infant in this day and age of cheap walmart onsies. Old fashioned and possibly a bit eccentric to some, but sometimes it's just practical. There are of course ethical concerns over cheap clothing, and sometimes' there are budgetary constrictions (much of this solveable by shopping at the thrift store, my favorite place!) Also there is the problem when the stores don't carry what you want, because no one has designed it for mass production. Sure, you can get baby nightgowns. They look like this:

I want to love them. I do, but I can't because it's the worlds most terrible design. They're hard to get on, a dreadful combination of elasticated bottom, too narrow body, and narrow sleeves set at right angles to the body that results in much weeping at bedtime. The sleeves are ridiculously long, and the body too short. My two month old's feet poke out, when they're not getting tangled in the elasticated bottom leading to probelm number three: Their feet get stuck in the bottom and pull the overlarge envelope style neck down over their shoulders.  Then they pull their arms out the neck and the nightgown has become a skirt. Bah. Humbug. And the elasticated bottom (who's idea was that anyway?) makes it hard to really get the bottom of the gown out of the way when you're changing diapers. With the last three kids I just gave up at about a month old and went to footie PJ's. But I really prefer gowns. it's so much easier at 3AM when I have to change a diaper in the dark not to be wrestling with their garments. So I designed a better one.This is a practical garment with a real neck and button closure, deep raglan sleeves, and a wide body. It's easy to get on, comfortable for baby, and practical for diaper changes in the wee smas of the morning. It doesn't uses much fabric, and is quick to make up. I made the prototye in an afternoon, and the rest took less than four hours each, including trimming and a good deal of hand sewing (I can hand sew around the grumpy infant in my lap, machine sew, not so much.)

The design of this gown was inspired both by some historical examples, and by the "bishop" style gown used for smocking. This is also very similar to the way that I make Ladybug's summer nightgowns. Typically I just measure, cut, and sew together for this kind of thing, but since i was going to make a few all the same time, I decided to make an actual real pattern to expedite the process. You can download and print the pattern HERE. I made these as nightgowns, but made longer in batiste or handkerchief linen, and decorated with insertion and tucks it would be a very nice christening gown.

Three gowns from two yards of flanelette and one recieving
Blanket. Pretty unpreposessing laid flat, but cute on the baby!

One gown can be made from 30 inches of 42" wide flanel or flanelette. This is one application where I actually prefer flanelette to true double sided flannel, it is less bulky gathered into the neckline. If you desire to make a gown with a ruffle, a yard should suffice. You can also make one from a flannel recieving blanket, and a scrap of matching flannel (about 10" x 20") for the sleeves, plus a six inch strip for a ruffle if desired. You will also need about a foot of half inch single fold bias binding (I happened to have bunch of this lying around, but you can easily make your own.) a small button, and any trims that you wish to use. Eyelet is pretty. An old pillowcase end trim is perfect to mount on a ruffle. Two yards of fabric and a recieving blanket will make you three gowns, one plain, one ruffled, and one from the recieving blanket with contrasting sleeves and ruffle.

Begin by cutting across the width of your fabric to make a square 30 inches wide by 42 inches (or the width of your fabric) long. Fold this square in half the long way, and cut ten inches off one end for the sleeves. If you are making a gown with a ruffle, also cut a strip the desired width of the ruffle across the width of the fabric. (I liked a ruffle of about 6 inches.) Use the template to cut the sleeves. If you wish to make a ruffled gown, cut sixteen inches from the bottom of this peice instead of the ten pictured. The excess may be used as the sleeves for another gown, if for instance you wished to make one from a recieving blanket.

If you are using a recieving blanket, like this one that was too pretty to make into diapers once outrgrown, fold it in half and cut the curved portions off the ends. Cut your sleeves out of a piece of flannel about 10x20, and cut a strip for a ruffle if desired.

 You may either gather your ruffle and add it to the end of the body before you sew up the body, sewing up the back as one seam, or you may make the rest of the gown and then add the ruffle. This is up to personal construction preference. Either way, sew the body of the gown up with a 1/2 inch seam to within about 4 inches of the end, and backtack. Roll the seam allowances back at either side of the slit, and whip stitch them down, starting about a half inch from the top edge so you don't clip the end of your seam off later when adding the neck binding. Then trim and fell the back seam.

 With this done, mark the center front with a pin, and line it up with the center back slit. Use the template to cut the corners for the sleeves. (you can see my felled seam here. It's a bit tricky right at the bottom of the slit, but works out fine. I felled the back seams by hand. It just seemed easier at the time, and I could do it with a baby in my lap)

 Sew the sleeves up with 1/4 inch french seams.

Pin the sleeve into the dress with wrong sides together. Do not panic if the top edges do not line up! this is going to be a french seam, when you sew the second part of the seam, it will line up fine. Sew it at 1/8th inch, turn to the inside, and sew a 1/4 french seam. Do be careful sewing that first seam up. This is bias to bias (which we generally attempt to avoid) so it's easy to accidentally stretch out as you sew, which will make the finished arm look very strange.

Once the sleeves are in, cut the front neckline down to a slight curve, and the back neckline to an even slighter curve. I trimmed the front neck down about an inch at the center front, and the back only maybe a quarter.  Then run a line of basting all around the neck.

next, cut a piece of binding 12 inches long, and fold the ends under a half inch. Fold it in quarters and iron it to mark.









Place the halfway mark at the center front of the gown, and position the two quarter marks at the center of the sleeves. Gather the neck to fit.



sew the neckband down (I found it easiest to do this by hand with a firm backstitch) then flip the binding down to the inside and whipstitch it into place.

Then make a small button loop with complimentary thread, and affix a small flat button. This pearl button is one from the giant stash of buttons we found in the seat of a sewing chair my mom got at an auction.

Lastly turn a very small hem under on each sleeve.

If you haven't added the bottom ruffle now is the time to do it. Gather it to fit, sew it with a half inch seam, trim the ruffled portion of the seam allowance, and turn down and fell the body portion of the seam allowance to the ruffle I did this by hand with a whipstitch. If you are not doing a ruffled gown, hem the bottom to whatever depth seems practical to you. I prefer the gowns to be at least eight inches longer than her feet, so that they stay down over her feet, keeping them warm.
And here's Kitten in one of her new gowns. You can see I've rolled up the sleeves. She has growing room in this nightgown. It should fit until she's standing up in her crib and needs shorter nightclothes. This one is trimmed with an antique knitted pillowcase trim on the ruffle.