DIY Stretchy and Woven Baby Wrap

I had a baby in November and could not stop cuddling her! A friend made me a stretchy wrap, similar to a Moby, which was awesome for wearing my little monkey around the house and when we went out. She and I both loved it!
This wrap is made out of 5 yards of jersey interlock fabric which you can buy at just about any fabric store. With jersey fabrics you don't even have to hem the edges, they curl up and don't fray! How easy is that?! So you buy 5 yards (more if you are on the fluffier side) of jersey knit or similar stretchy fabric, cut it in half lengthwise, and BOOM two stretchy wraps, one for you and one for a friend! :) Such an easy and inexpensive way to own a baby wrap that you will love and it makes a great baby shower gift!

But... she got bigger and heavier and squirmier and the wrap became less and less supportive. That is when I discovered the world of woven wraps!! I went to my local baby wearing group and tried out all kinds of wonderful woven wraps, it was like my stretchy wrap in that it was a long piece of fabric but unlike my stretchy, I could wear her on my front, on my back, in many different kinds of positions and carries and the best part, she didn't sag, she felt light and comfortable and supported! This was a way that I could continue to carry her well into toddler-hood! Downside, woven wraps are very expensive because they are made of premium woven materials intended for the purpose of babywearing. So I thought, if I can make a stretchy why not a woven? After collecting tons of advice and tips from veteran DIY babywearers I went to the fabric store again in search of a 6 yards of sturdy 100% linen, which was pricey but still much cheaper than buying a "real wrap" especially after my coupons :) But the material was boring white, so I decided to spice it up with tie dye.

First cut your fabric in half lengthwise again creating 2 wraps. Wash your fabric, don't dry, lay it out damp on a garbage bag cut down the sides and opened up to make it as long as possible. I wanted to do star-bursts down the center so I started at one end, pulled the fabric from the middle up like what you do when you pull your pony tail through and wrap a rubber band around it.

Do this all the way to the other end. Then I did the same thing on both sides of the middle pulling the fabric up and wrapping a rubber band around each bunch. The bunches on the sides are lined up in between the middle bunches so that they are staggered. You can do all kinds of tie dye patterns, just have fun with whatever you choose to do.

Prepare your dye according to the directions. I used Dylon fabric dye with tie dye squirt bottles that I had from another tie dye project.

*TIP* Use a "safe" dye because baby will chew on your wrap at some point. The better the dye the better the final product and safer for baby!

I dyed all of the middle bunches with red and all of the outer bunches with blue. Then I wrapped the fabric up with the garbage bag, taping it closed and left it overnight. The longer you leave it, the more the dye should take. The next day I removed all of the rubber bands, and rinsed it in cold water, then washed it according to the dye packet instructions.

After your wrap has been been washed and dried, you will need to hem the edges so that they don't fray. You can make your wrap a regular rectangle or you can taper the ends to shape it like a parallelogram. I just fold and hand press the edges as I feed it through the sewing machine but if you have more patience you can fold and iron the edges to give a nice clean finish before sewing. I did a zig zag stitch all the way around and then added a small square piece of fabric, like a tag, as a middle marker to the top and bottom of the wrap. New wraps take a lot of breaking in to make them easy to use, so I braided an un-braided this wrap like crazy, here is a video on braiding your woven wrap.

Finished wrap braided to break in fabric

Finished wrap after being un-braided

After my wrap was broken in a bit, I used it for front carries for awhile until I felt comfortable using it for back carries, and each time I use it, the wrap becomes more and more fluffy and easy to use and baby loves it more every day!

The length of fabric that you will need depends on your size and what types of carries you want to use it for. I purchased 6 yards of fabric for this project which for me was more than enough for any type of carry. I recently made a wrap with 5 yards of fabric and that is perfect for me. 5 yards of fabric is about 4.6 meters which is a typical size 6 woven wrap. If you are petite, you could get away with a size 5 wrap which is 4.2 meters or a little over 4.5 yards. 

If you are making your own wrap be sure to buy good quality fabric, and use safe dyes. Then enjoy them while snuggling your little one from squishy new baby to big kid!

6 yard 100% linen hand dyed wrap

5 yard light & airy linen cotton blend

What a great day!

I hope that you had a great day too! Why did I have such a great day?

Trio Linked Rings

Well... today I received my Trio Linked Rings that I won from the Araneida Studios Etsy Giveaway! Very cool ring, I feel so lucky to have won such a unique and fun piece of jewelry! It came packaged in a beautiful box, super fast shipping and it was great getting to know Elisabeth from Araneida Studios, its obvious that she loves what she creates, and she created a perfect ring for me!! Thank you so much Elisabeth!

ALSO... fruitpants was featured in this awesome Window Showcase by Aulani Photography! The By Hand Giveaways Blog is updated regularly with all of the best handmade giveaways found around the web. I was thinking about doing a fruitpants giveaway. What do you think, should I go for it?

Yarn Wreath Giveaway

Check out this awesome Yarn Wreath Giveaway giveaway! What a beautiful addition to your home or to give as a unique gift! Check out her etsy shop, Heartfelt Yarn Wreaths to see all of her beautiful creations!

Good Luck everyone!

Etsy Treasuries

Hello, I have been asked by a few people, "what is an Etsy treasury?" so I wanted to share a little explanation with you :)

Etsy treasuries are a collection of items found on Etsy. Anyone can create a treasury, and its a fun way to show others your interests and showcase Etsy talent. Most treasuries have a theme and the creator of the treasury finds the most beautiful items on Etsy to fit into their particular theme. I feel so honored that fruitpants has been chosen to be in several treasuries!!! Below are links to some of the most recent treasuries that others have featured me in.


Spring is in the Air
I Hope You Enjoy It
Fuchsia Clouds and Cherry Pink Flowers, Red Hearts, February the month of Love 
Spring could that be you knocking
A few of my favorite things
It's all about TOUCH
Spring Green
Fresh Moods
Pretty Pink Things
Finds From Michigan
When you miss the winter colors
Come on sunshine and blue skies
Touch of Time

Here are some treasuries that I have created recently :)

Eye of the Beholder
Windows are Rolled Down
Rosy Cheeks and Warm Hearts
Lighthouse Love

Treasuries can move toward the front page of Etsy by receiving a lot of "clicks" this happens when viewers click on the featured items in the treasury, views and comments are also counted. The more popular a treasury becomes, the more likely those featured shops will be discovered and sales will be made :) so if you ever see a link to a treasury, click on it and check out the beautiful items featured, its a great way to see the marvelous creations available on Etsy and help those shops gain exposure. Feel free to share these links too, you never know who might find that one-of-a-kind item they have been searching for!

Emilie's Bag

My friend Emilie asked me if I could make her a bag out of some of her favorite old clothes. She gave me 2 t-shirts and a tennis dress. She wanted her personal items to be on the inside of the bag and the outside to be black, and she wanted to have "Citius, Altius, Fortius" embroidered on the inside of the strap. so I put my thinking cap on and started creating. This is the final product!

The black parts are made from a pair of shiny textured dance pants, the gray parts are made from a shrunken wool skirt, the inside of the strap is from Emilie's tennis dress.

I used Emilie's cute pink t-shirt as a large inside pocket and then installed a ruby snap to help keep the pocket closed, the white fabric behind the pocket is part of the tennis dress.

The star fabric on the inside flap is from a cute apron! The little alligator pocket is made from 3 different pieces of Emilie's tennis dress, and the blue pocket is made from her Nike tennis t-shirt. I used the neck of the shirt to give the pocket a unique look!

First Craft Show

Well, we did it! Our first ever craft show, the Appleumpkin Festival in Tecumseh. It was really fun and I definitely learned a lot! My sister-in law Rayleen sold 5 of her adorable Halloween costumes and a ton of hair clippies, and I sold 14 purses and some bracelets. So it was a pretty good weekend! The best part was on Saturday when Ava came to visit her mommy at the craft show and modeled some of the costumes! She was so cute, people were stopping and waiting to see her and taking pictures on their cell phones lol! I am sure Ava is all over the internet now. She also modeled one of my purses for a little bit. She is such a sweet, beautiful girl! I just love being an aunt!! I have the best nephews and niece and I can't wait for more to come!

Ava modeling the purple butterfly

Ava modeling a fruitpants purse

I don't think this was the best show for fruitpants, but it did help me to realize what kinds of shows I would like to do in the future as well as which ones to avoid. I would love to do more craft shows and try different display techniques and I really hope that in the next year or two, I can add more items to the fruitpants lineup, I would love to start making skirts and have some quilts to display, and who knows what else, maybe my famous t-shirt pillows lol! I have a lot of ideas in my head, its just a matter of finding time to make them a reality. Thanks to everyone who has supported me and encouraged me to do this, its really fun and I think that I am getting better and better each time :)

Appleumpkin Festival 1 week away!!

Well, only one week to go before the Appleumpkin Festival, I have 19 bags made, I have ideas for about 5 more, and I want to put together some cute kids bags, so hopefully I will be close to 25-30 bags before the festival. I am very nervous and excited about it! I hope that people like the bags!!! I will be posting new pictures to the fruitpants facebook page soon. :)