The placemat has to be one of the most useful items you can find at the dollar store, and this project proves it! Make a baby carrier with a placemat! Leslie from Love-Knowledge baby sewed an Onbuhimo, which is a Japanese style baby carrier similar to a Mei Tai, out of a placemat and matching table runner. You’ll need to go outside the dollar store to get some heavy-duty rings (you don’t want to chance inferior rings when you are wearing your baby!), but otherwise this project shouldn’t cost too much. [get the placemat baby sling tutorial here]
You probably won’t find a suitable table runner at the dollar store, but you can usually get a decent deal on them at the big box stores, or a thrift store. If you can’t find a table runner, you can make long tubes of stash fabric that should work for straps. Be sure to follow all the sewing reinforcement instructions on the tutorial!
Project Estimate:
- Heavy-duty placemat, $1
- Coordinating table runner or a yard or so of stash fabric, $1 and up
- Two sling rings, $4.49 (including shipping, at Sling Rings)
- 1/2 yard of accent fabric, on hand
- Sewing stuff, on hand
Total: $5.50 and up
6 Comments
Emily
Awesome! I love the onbu! :D. I never thought to use placemats, but it makes perfect sense! I betchya you could easily make this into a Mei Tai, and lower the cost of the project (a MT doesn’t require rings, just fabric)
Jen
Very cool! Much better than paying $50 or more.
Leslie Kung
Emily,
You’re absolutely right, you can definitely make MT’s easily with this tutorial. In fact, if you purchase two placemats and three tablerunners, you get a total of two whole MT’s! No rings needed!
It’s important to remember that your finished product is only as sturdy as the materials you choose (using good construction methods), so if you think it would tear under strain, don’t use that placemat or tablerunner!
Glad you like my tutorial. I’m working on another one at the moment, and I will most likely post it on my blog when I’m done.
If you use this tutorial, please share some pictures with me! I’d love to see your Onbu’s and MT’s! ^_____^
chidori
I think this idea is great, especially if you’ve seen the cost of baby slings. It’s a great tutorial too, so thanks for finding this and sharing it!
Delilah H.
Very cool idea!