What makes a good mei tai?

[Angelorum]

I'm about to embark on making my own, I just bought fabric yesterday. So what do you love in a mei tai? padded straps? wide straps? head rest?

[lalemma]

I love to make baby carriers! I made ours with fairly wide (4 inch, I think) padded straps, angled at the top, straight at the waist. The padding isn't a huge deal now, but will I think become more pleasant as the boy gets heavier.

I did not include a head rest, but I'm thinking of adding one for naps. I want something that I can pop up and pop down: he likes to look around when he's awake. So if I were making ours over again, that's something I would add from the start.

HTH! Happy sewing!

[thtr4me]

Gosh, it can be so subjective! I love wide (5") lightly padded straps, and a padded waist now that my boy is big. When he was little, 4" padded straps and no waist padding were perfect for me. I did not used to like seat darts. Now I LOVE them! I would take a look at some of the tutorials and patterns here:
http://www.sleepingbaby.net/jan/Baby/
to see what you like, and to get some ideas about proper contruction techniques. MT's are really fun to make. Cannot wait to see yours!