SMM pattern

With a couple of hours and a little patience, you can make your own “Sling me, Mommy!” ring sling, even if you have never sewn before!

Obtain your fabric. Note that a properly sized sling is determined by the size of the babywearer, not by the size of the baby. To find correct length, measure the babywearer from the shoulder to the opposite hip. Triple that measurement to find the length of fabric you'll need. A person measuring 24" from shoulder to opposite hip, for example, will need 72" (2  yards) of fabric for a sling. A person measuring 30" will need 90" (2 1/2 yards) of fabric. The finished length of your sling will be approximately 4" shorter.

Obtain your rings. I use rings that have been manufactured specifically for slings, and rigorously tested for safety. I highly recommend them (see www.slingrings.com).  Craft rings and other similar products are not designed for use in infant carriers --  using them compromises the structural soundness of your finished product, and jeopardizes the safety of the child.

Wash and dry your fabric, if desired, to preshrink it. (The only fabrics I preshrink are linen and raw silk.) Press, if necessary.

Trim your fabric to the desired width. I use a 22" width for a preemie sling, and 30" - 36" to make a sling for a full-term infant.

Hem both long edges (along the selvages). Hem one short edge.

Simple so far? Now comes the tricky part, and the feature that has made the SMM "fanned" shoulder a great favorite. When I made my first sling, other slings were made by folding or pleating the fabric onto the rings. I didn’t know that, so I did what made the most sense to me -- I gathered the fabric onto the rings instead. I like my design: the gathering is aesthetically satisfying to me, it fans very nicely across the shoulder, and it spreads out generously to accommodate Baby. What’s more, gathering the fabric onto the ring is easy!

Here’s how. Fold the unhemmed short edge of the fabric down (wrong sides together) about ½” and press. Make another fold, this one 5” wide, and press. This makes a straight line across your fabric, which will soon prove very useful. I make this second fold with the right sides of the fabric together. It doesn't really matter, but I think that it makes the fold line on the inside of the fabric easier to see.

Open the wide fold and – starting at one corner – put both rings inside the fold. I put the slings into the upper left corner, working with the length of the sling on my right. With both rings inside the fold, fold the ½” pressed edge to the 5” pressed line. If you have done this correctly, the rings will be about 2½” from where you will be stitching. I hold the rings in my left hand and work the fabric with my right, matching the pressed edge to the pressed line, and stitching, a few inches at a time. Every time I do this I am reminded of the importance of “living in the present.” I can’t change what I have already stitched, and I can’t match the two lines for the whole width of the sling, but I can match them a few inches at a time, and if I give careful attention to each few inches in succession, the result is an astonishingly easy and even line.

Gather or fold the tail, and thread through the rings -- through both, then back over one under the other.

Congratulations! Your “Sling Me, Mommy!” ring sling is ready to wear!