Who just doesn't like Maya fabric? - Page 2

[Tupelo Honey]

Yeah, it comes in several solids: natural, olive, indigo blue, denim blue, black, purple, colorgrown khaki. There are also some non-Guatey looking stripes. My current fave is a beautiful, true red with narrow lilac, green, and butter yellow stripes lengthwise. I love it! It's very pretty.

I also love the weight and feel of the woven fabric. One thing to understand is that it gets softer and more luxurious with wear and washing.

As far as the long tail, I don't like a long tail so I wear a small MW. The only difference in any of the MW sizes is length--they are all the same width. I'm not a particularly small person at 5'3 and 155 lbs (ugh!), but the small tail hits at my hip which is plenty long for me.

[kofduke]

I don't mind the fabric - mine is a fairly neutral blue with white flecks - I just can't seem to get the hang of a ring sling :

[Tupelo Honey]

kristin, tell me what's going on with your sling and maybe I can help. I have a physical store that sells the MW and I have used it with two of my kids so I'm pretty proficient at troubleshooting. This is a good link, too:
http://www.friendlyvillage.com/lotso...ling/tips.html

[kofduke]

I don't know what it is...I use my pouches and kozy, no problem, but I just don't have the touch of the maya. When I try and pull the fabric to tighten it, it just bunches up instead of stretching out...does that make sense?

I'd love to get real-life help - unfortunately LLL meets durign the day here & I'm a WOHM.

We have a baby & toddler expo coming to our convention center next weekend...last year there was a sling vendor there I'm hoping she's there again to help me troubleshoot in person.

[Tupelo Honey]

Is there an API chapter in your area? That's another good place to look for help. I wonder if anyone at thebabywearer.com lives in your area? It seems like I have seen some PA moms over there. Here are a couple of pointers that may help. Both are crucial and a lot of people overlook them:

1. Make sure you flip the shoulder flap (that top flap that isn't sewn to the rest) over BEFORE threading your sling. This gives you an edge of fabric on each side rather than both on the same side. If you wear your MW on the right shoulder, the flipped over edge should be the bottom rail of your sling, vice-versa for the left shoulder. Does that make sense?

2. Once your sling is threaded, grab the two outer edges of the fabric in the tail right up by the rings and pull them away from each other. This is very helpful in smoothing out the fabric in the rings so it adjusts easily. The edges of the fabric really need to be at the outer edges of the tail.

Oh, and one more. Make sure you are supporting the baby's weight with your other arm when you try to adjust. Otherwise, the weight is locking the rings together making it almost impossible for the fabric to slide through. Also, don't have the sling much looser than you need it to be before putting baby in. It's easiest if you have the depth of the pouch about right, then just pull at the edges of the tail to tighten and adjust.

HTH!