Introducing woven wraps
A woven wrap is simply a piece of woven fabric that you wrap around yourself and your baby. Woven wraps come in different lengths, blends, thicknesses, colours, designs, weaves and more! The scope of variation can be quite daunting.
Woven wraps are one of the most versatile carriers there are. You wrap the fabric around you and your baby to create a perfect fit. Any other carrier will have a fixed element such as a minimum waistband setting, or panel width, which may not suit your and your child. You can use the same wrap for hundreds of different carries. The same wrap can carry a newborn or a preschooler by changing the way you wrap them. Wraps are also the carrier with the greatest learning curve as you need to master some skills to use them well, but with a little practice these skills can last a lifetime.
Woven wraps vary a lot and many people have different things they like in their wraps. This can change as their baby grows! Some people prefer only long wraps, whilst others prefer shorties or both. Many people like different fibres such as linen or hemp in their wraps and others prefer cotton. This range of variations can mean that hiring or joining The Wrap Club are great ways to find out what you like in a wrap. We have Try Before You Buy Scheme available with some companies including Firespiral, Ali Dover and Sycha Slings offering discounts on buying their wraps after hiring from us.
Learning to wrap: our tips
Stripes
There are many wraps in our rental and retail sections that are ideal for beginners which have distinct sections along the width of the wrap. Having recognisably different sections helps to identify which part of the wrap you need to tighten to ease the slack out can make the carry comfortable and supportive.
Select your carry
Choose your carry well both for your child’s size and developmental stage, and your skill level. It is likely that you will find the skills easier to master in a front carry before trying back carries. Front Wrap Cross Carry is a versatile carry that you can use for many ages of baby. It helps you to learn many of the techniques involved in wrapping.
If in doubt
If in doubt, we suggest practicing with a 100% cotton striped or teaching wrap in a size 6 or 7. This is likely to allow most people to tie a base sized carry.
The size refers to the length. Slim people carrying small babies may have a base size of size 5, larger people may need a size 7 or 8. More info on this below.
We suggest the front wrap cross carry is a good first carry to learn, especially for carrying a young baby.
Tightening a woven wrap
This helpful video shows you how to tighten a woven wrap. I use a method known as ‘strand by strand tightening’.
Sizes
Woven wrap sizes refers to the length of the piece of fabric. The length of the wrap and your size determines what types of carry you can do. If you click on the infographic below open a new tab with a list of carries that are possible with each size of wrap, many of which are linked to tutorial videos.
Woven wrap size
Length in metres
2.0m - 2.2m
2.5m - 2.7m
3.1m - 3.3m
3.7m - 3.9m
4.2m - 4.3m
4.6m - 4.9m
5.2m - 5.4m
5.5m - 5.8m
Base sizes
Your base size is the size, or length, of wrap you need to do a Front Wrap Cross Carry tied at the back. The factors influencing this will be your size (both in terms of height and clothes size, with large people needing a longer wrap than more petite people), your skill at tightening (beginners often need more length than more experienced wrappers), and the size of the child.
A 6 is a common base size, but it may be worth going longer when first trying out wrapping as there is nothing worse than not having enough wrap left to tie off. You can always tie up long ends!
Carries are often called size 6 carries, but these would more correctly be termed “base size carries”, as not everyone will be able to do a Front Wrap Cross Carry with a size 6, and some would be able to do this with a smaller size. Base + 1 would be a carry using a wrap one size larger than your base size and Base – 2 a carry two sizes smaller than your base size.
You can use the base size calculator from Firespiral Slings to find your base size.
Blends
Woven wrap blends refers to the fibres from which the wraps are woven. Most wraps contain some cotton, but the different fibres, as well as the patterns used to weave the wrap, gives the wrap different qualities. Check out our Woven wrap blends explained for more information.
Common terminology
a pass is describing what the fabric of the wrap is doing when it passes over your baby. All wrap carries contain at least one pass (see below for pass names)
a description of tightening the wrap. This means to work across the width of the wrap tightening each section like you would tighten strands
the tapered ends of the wrap. Occasionally wraps don’t have tapers and this is often referred to as blunt ends
the tapered ends of the wrap. Occasionally wraps don’t have tapers and this is often referred to as blunt ends
the tapered ends of the wrap. Occasionally wraps don’t have tapers and this is often referred to as blunt ends
The parts of a woven wrap
the top and bottom edges of the wrap, and the middle section between these two edges, along the length
the tapered ends of the wrap. Occasionally wraps don’t have tapers and this is often referred to as blunt ends
the tapered ends of the wrap. Occasionally wraps don’t have tapers and this is often referred to as blunt ends
the tapered ends of the wrap. Occasionally wraps don’t have tapers and this is often referred to as blunt ends
Woven wrap passes
All woven wrap carries are made up of a mix of the following types of pass. These passes are defined by whether the wrap goes over or under your shoulder and over or under your baby’s legs
Under both shoulders and over both of baby’s legs. Can be used bunched in combination with other passes. (1st image above)
Over both shoulders and over both of baby’s legs (2nd image above)
Over one shoulder, under the other shoulder, and over both of baby’s legs. Can be used bunched in combination with other passes (3rd image above)
Over one shoulder, under the other shoulder. Over one of baby’s legs and under the other. The pass goes between baby’s legs. Can be used bunched in combination with other passes. This pass is not secure without other passes. (5th image above)
Under both shoulders. Over one of baby’s legs and under the other. The pass goes between baby’s legs. Frequently used bunched. This pass is not safe without other passes. (6th image above)
Try a woven wrap
Why not hire from our large selection? If you want to get a feel for different wraps why not try out a subscription to The Wrap Club?
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