the mei-tai

my dear sewing friend, erin, works for a patternmaker, meg of sewliberated.com, who published a fantastic pattern for a mei-tai, an asian baby carrier/baby sling that has become all the rage amongst babymamas these days. meg's is particularly strong in that inside the panel, the straps are crossed as an x, thus providing more support than standard mei-tais, whose straps end at the panel. i had been waiting for the perfect excuse to make one...

now lori, my former colleague for whom i hemmed those jeans, is preggers. (in fact, those were her preggers jeans i hemmed!) lori is the perfect recipient for the mei-tai for many reasons: 1) she's short, my height, and thus an adjustable baby carrier would be ideal for her. 2) she appreciates more natural organic things. and 3) she's asian! yippee! i selected this thick cream woven canvas with thin white stripes for its simplicity and sturdiness

and the penguin flannel because her kiddo will be a winter baby! you might remember the penguin flannel from mom's christmas pj pants last year. i had just enough for the main panel of the mei-tai. (i love when things work out perfectly like that!)

mei-tais have long shoulder and waist straps for securing the carrier onto the babymama's front, back, or even side! they're "one-size-fits-many," so babydaddys can partake in babywearing too. the front pocket was supposed to be a stuff sack for the entire thing but since i used such thick fabric, the pocket will be just a regular pocket.

here's my mini mannequin donning the mei-tai:

(i thought about trying it on for the post, but then when bunks turned out to be the only "baby" i could carry in the mei-tai, i figured you'd all think i was weird... so mannequin will have to do the honors. hehe. bunks, you're off the hook!)