Ergo resizing

 Short post about the results of resizing my poopy brown Ergo to a toddler sized ergo. I also leared the finger stitch on my sewing machine and it hurts :(

~SuuZ

Pimp my Buckle Tai!

My first "real" carrier I bought was a Buckle Tai Carrier, designed by Two Momma Designs .
I was a very comfy carrier for carrying my squishes, but since my youngest has outgrown it by far, it just lied there on the pile of other carriers I barely use.

My son in his new BT

(This is without the hood)

I changed this SSC carrier for an Ergo, which was slightly bigger and therefor more comfortable. My little buddy has however outgrown this one as well. Or at least I feel like he did. According to the box he can go another 10-15 lbs in it, but I think he is too tall and when I am carrying my kiddos, I don't feel comfy when their arms sway as much as they do and their whole back isn't covered by a panel.

Anyways. I was at Wallyworld today and seen this cute superhero fabric and I remember how much duck cloth I still have. I could basically strip my Buckle Tai and redo everything. Put new fabric over all straps, including the hip strap. Make the panel bigger and add my own custom hood, some suck pads.. and voila I would have a new carrier.

The thoughts of doing this were very ambitious..

When I cut ope my Buckle Tai I instantly regretted it and felt nervous. I constantly went over the whole process in my head how to make this exactly the way I wanted it. I am horrible when it comes to make something from a pattern. I simply do NOT have the patience, so everything goes on the fly. I wing almost everything I do. And usually with success.

I took off the straps, the buckles on the side and the hip strap. I left those intact. I didn't cut in it. The extra fabric on it wasn't going to bother me since it was going to be covered anyways. It would add strength to it, if anything.

I used the size of the body panel of my latest Mei Tai I made and traced it. I did not leave the body panel square however. I did a half moon of some sort on each side, so the fabric would't run my son on his legs or arms. I used a double duck cloth for the inside and on the outside I used black for the inside of the carrier and the superhero print for the outside.

I kept the shoulder straps and hip straps the way they are. I put a new piece of fabric over them and sowed the whole thing shut. So it looks like the straps have been black forever. It added some extra padding to my shoulders to do it this way.

I started getting really excited. This was going to look awesome! It was time to piece and sow everything together. This was the easiest in my opinion.
I added a hood I designed myself. The hood is attached with snaps. I also made suck pads to go with it. My son really likes to chew on everything, and this way my new straps would be protected :) I put washcloth on the inside of my suck pads so they will absorb moisture very well. I also added taggies so he has something to keep him occupied with.

I am really happy with the result. Can't wait to show it off :)

 Suck Pads

I used wash cloth on the inside for extra moist absorption 

Buckle Tai with suck pads

~SuuZ

Ergo Slip cover

Occasionally I like to carry my son in my Ergo. This is a Soft Structured Carrier (SSC) which is ergonomic for both you and your child. It is a very comfortable carrier to wear.

I bought mine at Ross, where I found it for $69.99 instead of the original price of $124.99

It is however poopy brown color and I don't like that. Now I could try and dye it and what not, but I think the only color I could dye this into is black. So I decided to make a slipcover for it.Since I couldn't find any tutorials out there I have come up with my own pattern.

I found this fabric at Hobby Lobby and really liked it. The idea was to make a reversible slip cover, so I can change whenever I feel like. I picked up the grey fabric from my local Walmart.

I traced my ergo with about 2 inches to spare all around and this is what I come up with.

After I had 2 grey panels cut out I cut out the giraffe fabric and the one with the balls.

I turned the fabric inside out and sewed the pieces together with a simple straight stitch.

After I have done both panels I used snaps to attach the panels to each other. I opted for this because it would be very easy to change my panels and I could use it with other SSC carriers as well.

here you can see both panels attached to each other. My ergo is in between. SO I did not have to modify my ergo at all. You also still have access to the sleep hood which is folded inside of it now, but easy accessible by opening 2 snaps on the top.

~ SuuZ