Sunday, January 26, 2014

Padded Waist and Legs Out Padding for Table Cloth Mei Tai

Mahogany Orange Peacock Tablecloth available HERE
This mini-tutorial is a supplement to my Tablecloth Mei Tai with Wrap Style Straps tutorial. If you're feeling lost, start at that link! If you've come from that link, welcome! This tutorial will demonstrate a few pretty simple additional steps to add padding to your TCMT. This tutorial assumes that you have gotten to the point of attaching the straps to the internal layer in the previous tutorial.

For the padding, you will need 3 pieces of fleece. The piece for the waist padding should be about 15" high and about an inch shorter than the width of the waist band on your inner (canvas/twill/etc.) layer. The pieces for the legs-out padding should be about 6" X 6". These are the approximate measurements that I use, but do what works!

Adding the Padding

Fold each piece in half, then in half again, so that they are 4-layers thick. Pin these to the inner panel on the side your straps are attached to, then zig-zag stitch around the edge of each piece to attach it to the panel.

At this point, I am copying and pasting the instructions for sewing the panels all together, with a few small changes:

Pin the Body Panel pieces together.


Lay down your inner panel piece with the attached straps on a flat surface, 
with the strap attachments and padding facing up. 

Lay the panel that will be the "back" of your MT on top of the inner panel, right side facing UP.
Lay the "front" panel of your MT on top of that, right side facing DOWN.

Line everything up and
PIN, PIN, PIN!

Sew the Panels Together.

Sew around the top and sides of the body panels, but DO NOT sew across the straps/strap openings!
Sew up each side, again, starting/stopping within an inch of the straps.
Sew across the top, you guessed it, starting/stopping within an inch of the straps.
Leave the bottom open.

IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU DO NOT SEW OVER THE STRAPS/OPENINGS!

Once you have sewn the 3 panels together along the top, bottom, and sides, 
you are ready to turn your MT right side out through the bottom and strap openings.



Fold under the bottom edges and press with an iron, then pin.
Fold under the all strap openings, press and pin.


Top stitch!

Top stitch around the edge of the entire carrier, starting at the bottom and going all the way around, ensuring that you are sewing through all layers. Top stitch straight across the top of the waist band. If you'd like, you can top stitch a few straight lines across the middle of the padded waist band, or top stitch a rectangle (or any other shape/top-stitching your little heart desires! This is personal preference!) Top stitch about 1/4" in from your top-stitched edge all the way around carrier, but when you come to the legs-out padding, top stitch around the edges of it. 

You're done! Please don't hesitate to visit my facebook page and leave a comment if you have questions or need clarification on any of the steps. I also LOVE to see your creations! :) 

Happy Sewing, and Happy Babywearing! :)

6 comments:

  1. What are the benefits of adding the padding? Is it more comfortable? I'm making my first mei tai soon but I've never used one before so I'm trying to decide what I should include. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
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      here's a vid of it

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