How to Make Baby Sling

Babies love to be held, and slings are a popular way to carry your baby close to you while keeping your hands free. Making your own sling will enable you to choose the perfect pattern and size and to keep more than one sling on hand for when one of them needs to be washed.

Things You'll Need

• Fabric of a 97 percent cotton/3 percent lycra blend with two-sided pattern (2 yards by 22 inches)
• Measuring tape
• Scissors
• Sewing machine
• Thread

Instructions

1. Lay fabric on a surface with long edges horizontal. Fold bottom edge up to top edge. Then fold left side on top of right side.

2. Measure the distance from your shoulder to your hip. Add 1/2 inch. Then measure the top of fabric from left to right and make a mark on the fabric at that measurement. For example, if your shoulder-to-hip measurement is 25 inches, then mark the fabric on the top edge 25 1/2 inches from the left.

3. Add 3 inches to the top-edge measurement. Measure the right side from top to bottom and mark at that measurement. If your top-edge measurement was 25 1/2 inches, then mark the right side of the fabric at 28 1/2 inches from the top right corner.

4. Cut a curved line between your marks on the fabric, including all of the edges of the fabric in your cut.

5. Open the width-wise fold of the fabric by unfolding the top two layers down from top to bottom. You should now have a rectangle of fabric with a curve on the right side. Sew along the curve to connect the curved edges together.

6. Turn the sling inside out. Encase the raw edge of the seam you just sewed inside the fabric from the other side and sew a second seam to finish the raw seam. Sew a third seam to hold the case down against the body of the fabric.

7. Hem a 1/4-inch hem along the top and bottom edges of the pouch.

References

• Baby Sling Pattern