When my oldest son was a baby I loved carrying him around. My mother had bought me a baby bjorn front carrier. A lot of times I had a little difficulty with getting the straps tight enough, but it was very comfortable and I loved to use it.
After finding out that I was pregnant with my second child, I was on a mission to find the "perfect" baby carrier. I was looking at many different styles, but wasn't sure what type I would like the most. I first bought a pouch sling. It was very comfortable, but I wanted to find something that would still be very comfortable as my little one was getting older.
I bought an adjustable ring sling not too long after. It took me a while to get the hang of using it properly, but it was amazing. I fell in love with it, but after some time I was still looking for something more. I wasn't really sure what exactly I was looking for, and yet I kept looking. I found a homemade onbuhimo for sale. It is a carrier that has top straps, with rings on the bottom. It took a little bit of practice, but was very easy to get used to. The back pad that held him was too large/wide for him though.
I had decided to make my own carrier. I searched all over the internet for patterns. I had wanted to make an onbuhimo, but I did not have rings for it. They would have had to been very sturdy and able to support a good bit of weight. I could not afford to buy the rings that I needed, so I sought for something similar to that. That was when I came across mei tai baby carriers. They are very much alike the onbuhimos, but they have bottom straps as well as top straps. I had only found a few patterns for these carriers, but I combined a few ideas to make my own carrier.
It took me a week to accomplish my goal, but that was because I only really worked on it for about half an hour a day. I had gotten a box of fabric for free from someone in town cleaning out their attic. I looked through there, and picked out several different fabrics to use. Three canvas fabrics and one decorative fabric were used for the carrier. I used two canvas materials for the back pad to make it more sturdy, and then the decorative fabric for the outer part of the back pad. The third canvas fabric was used for the straps. I would have used something to add padding to the back pad, but I was only able to work with what little that I had.
The sewing machine that I used was very old. I had gotten it at a yard sale for $3, but it worked very well(once I had gotten it figured out). I had triple stitched all of the seams so that they were all secure. I was very impressed with how it had turned out. This was the first time that I had used a sewing machine to make anything since I was in sixth grade, and all I did then was make a pillow. I would definitely say that someone could make one with beginner sewing skills. I had tested it with my 47 lb, 4 year old, son to make sure that it was sturdy. It held him up without doing any damage to the sling what so ever.
