I named a wrap ... and sent it to Singapore

Many babywearers geek out when meeting the designers and owners of wrap companies. I totally geeked out the first (and second) time I met Alisa Heytow DeMarco of Tekhni and JMoney of Pavo at MommyCons. In the babywearing world, the women (and men) who make the wraps we love are our celebrities. I for one enjoy speaking to designer/owners and geeking out about fabrics, colors, and designs.

It is even better when the owner of a wrap company you love is actively involved in the Facebook chatter group. Being able to interact with and talk about babywearing with the owner makes you feel like a part of the process. When you show off your baby catching some sleepy dust in a double hammock with an awesome chest pass and the woman who designed your wrap comments on your post, you get really excited!

Jaime Gassmann of Bijou Wear is one of those owners who is very active in the Facebook chatter group. For Bijou Wear, this group is called the Bijou Buzz. One evening, Jaime told me about a very special colorway coming out and she was struggling to name it. Being the rhetorician I am, I started throwing out possible names and one stuck. I got to name a wrap!!!

Introducing Bijou Wear's Cleo Vineyard, a Tencel®/Cotton blend in a beautiful Merlot color.

When you unwrap Cleo Vineyard, it feels a bit stiff and flat. But all it needs is one wash and a dry and Vineyard will bloom before your eyes!! ("Bloom" is the term used to describe how a wrap puffs up and gets thicker and softer after a wash and dry).

The design of Cleo makes for a nice texture. The flowers are surrounded by lines going in a number of different angles away from the flowers. The color of Vineyard is very much a Merlot wine color, but it changes depending on the light. This change happens because of how the Merlot weft weaves in and out of the cream warp. (The warp is what is placed on the loom first and the weft is what is woven into that warp).

The Cleo design has a very different stretch than other Bijou Wear wraps. I had heard of a wrap wrapping like an "Ace bandage" before and I thought I had felt that, but until trying Cleo Vineyard, I had never felt an "Ace bandage" wrap. Cleo Vineyard hugs the body tightly and stays in place, stretching slightly with your every move, just like an Ace bandage -- just check out this chest pass!

The wrap also hugged my baby. In these pics, I have my 20 pound baby in a ruck. The ruck held Baby Frankie tight and comfy. I finished this ruck off with the very elegant "date night finish" also called the "goddess finish." This was the first time I had a wrap elegant enough for this beautiful finish (I am using my base size +1 in these pictures).

I did not have Cleo Vineyard very long. I was sent the wrap to play with for a few days before sending it on to my friend in Singapore so she could introduce Bijou Wear to her friends in Singapore. I loved having Cleo Vineyard. The color is absolutely beautiful and the wrap qualities are amazing. I am constantly amazed by the beauty of Bijou Wear wraps.

So my friend had this tester...

So my friend had this tester wrap that she had been anticipating for months. It just so happened that the wrap arrived just days before I was to leave Indiana to move to Florida. As a sort of going away present, she met up with me so I could try it out and have our friend photograph.

The wrap is Poe Wovens' 100% cotton Naked Spangled. I don't have much experience with natty's (natural fiber, non-dyed wraps) and was really excited to see what this natty business is all about. I picked up Naked Spangled and, as I do, started pulling it in every direction and feeling the surface of the wrap. I thought, "hmmm, this wrap has absolutely no stretch and is very smooth with no apparent grip, I don't think this is going to work."

Standing in the living room were my two friends waiting for me to give the wrap a try and tell them what I thought.

So I wrapped with it.

I wasn't even sure what carry I was going to do or how I would finish it off. There I was in my friend's living room, all eyes on me. So I just wrapped, and this was the glorious result.

I ended up wrapping my baby in a double hammock with a sternum belt, a finish I don't often do because I find the sternum belt to hurt my chest. But as I started wrapping with the fabric, this carry and this finish just made sense. The passes just slid into place and hugged my baby. The fabric felt strong, but light in my hands, so I started twisting it and the sternum belt just happened. It was just the right width to look nice and, yet, not dig into the center of my chest.

And I got a little excited about the way the fabric felt, so I unwrapped my baby and wrapped him again, but this time in a FWCC (front wrap cross carry) with flipped shoulders.

Again, the passes glided smoothly and tightened very easily. I didn't have to struggle with wrap to get it to move into place. The passes laid across my back smoothly and the finished carry looked so very polished.

My verdict: this wrap is very deceptive. It might feel unimpressive at first, but it actually wraps quite beautifully.

I am so sad that this was the last time I got to geek out with these two awesome ladies about fabric and babywearing. Thanks so much Carrie (Beri Bee Designs) for letting me play with this wrap! And thanks to Cara (Cara Davies Photography) for these beautiful pictures. I love and miss you both!

The Great Move of 2015 ... and a Visit from Tetris Muse

So I've been a little quiet lately on all forms of social media. It's because we moved! And not like down the street, we moved over 850 miles from Bloomington, Indiana to Jacksonville, Florida. Lots of wraps visited me during that time and I have many blog posts to catch up on.

One tester was boxed up and moved with me -- Risaroo Tetris Muse size 6, the first Risaroo I have ever handled. Risaroo Tetris Muse is 100% cotton and a gorgeous blue. I couldn't quite capture the color in my photographs. This wrap held my 20-pound 14-month old on our first outing in Jacksonville and gave us some of our most tender babywearing moments - like the pic below. This picture is one of my all time favorite babywearing pics.

Our first outing in Jacksonville, besides the beach, was to MOSH - the Museum of Science and History. I wore Frankie in Tetris Muse comfortably for over two hours. The highlight of our afternoon at the science museum was seeing the animatron dinosaurs. Babywearing allowed my Frankie to feel safe when seeing the giant dinosaurs move, gnash their teeth, and roar their mighty roars.

Notice in the pic above how well this wrap lays across my shoulders. Also, notice how high Frankie stayed up on my back. This 100% cotton wrap held tight with absolutely no sagging. The wrap has very little stretch and has a small amount of grip. So it totally stays in right where you put it.

Tetris Muse made a pretty freshwater finish in a double hammock. In the pics below, again notice how smoothly the shoulder passes lay with this wrap. The wrap lays very flat against you, so you get clean, crisp finish.

If you follow me on Instagram, you know by now that I love the Poppins Carry and every wrap I test must be worn in a Poppins. I not only wore Risaroo Tetris Muse in a pretty Poppins, but I did something I rarely do in a wrap, I nursed my baby in this wrap! I often fear loosening a wrap and loosing too much slack and having to awkwardly hold my baby in what appears to be a bad wrap job. But because this wrap is super sturdy, I was able to loosen it just a little and have it still hold my baby while I continued to walk around the museum.

Another evening I pulled Tetris Muse out and threw Frankie up in a ruck. I think the 100% cotton Risaroo Tetris can totally rock a ruck.

The shoulder passes can be folded nicely to create reasonably thin straps and gorgeous pleats. Again, because this cotton is very sturdy and a little grippy, everything stays in place right where you put it.

For those who really like the geometric patterns, Risaroo Tetris creates a neat geometric look when wrapped. Check out this bum shot!

If you are looking for a sturdy, grippy wrap with a tiny bit of stretch and a little bit of grip that will hold a DH, Poppins, and ruck, then the Risaroo Tetris is for you. We sure had a lot of fun with it and captured some great babywearing moments in this wrap.