Dabbling with Dapper

This past weekend I had the privilege of modeling a new woven wrap for Vermont’s own Poe Wovens. I wasn’t planning to blog about it, after all, I only wore the wrap for one hour. But I loved it so much, that I simply have to share. I volunteered to share, and I’m not officially testing this wrap, so there are no incentives for this post. These are strictly my own opinions after wrapping with this wrap for the purposes of modeling it for Poe Woven’s photo needs.

I had seen the wrap in pictures beforehand, and to be honest, before seeing the wrap in person, I wasn’t excited about the colorway. I don’t own a neutral wrap, and the closest I’ve ever owned, I quickly dyed (I wish I left it alone). I’m also not a huge fan of 100% cotton wraps. Yes, I own a few, but I’m thinning them out. Wool has my heart. I have merino and alpaca wraps, and they are by far my favorite. I love them in the Virginia heat, and the Vermont cold. So, the way I saw it, I was going to do the best I could to give Poe some awesome pictures to work with, get to meet Poe’s owner in person for the first time, and of course check out her work.

I should have expected this, but I was surprised to find out she brought a size 7. My base is a 5. A 6 swallows me. My go to size is a 4 right now, and has been a 3 in the past. I don’t wrap with 7s. Chevron Dapper is also a wide, thick wrap, so I was immediately nervous about my ability to get a good, neat, clean seat with so much fabric and an infant.

I chose to wrap with him on me already (FWCC) for no good reason at all. I should have handed him off and pre-wrapped, because its a 7(!), but I didn’t. The wrap is wide (I don’t have the actual measurements, but I’m confident I could get a superb seat with tall 4 year old Lovebug), so it took some extra wrangling, and a second set of hands (no mirror available) to get a good, neat carry. But this wrap was so soft and moldable - think of wrapping yourself up in your favorite warm blanket on a cold night, its like that - I easily got a very deep seat with Chipmunk (9 months and around 20 pounds), and he was weightless. I know, weightless doesn’t sounds like a big deal for a 20 pound baby, but when I’m not even supposed to be wearing him on the front, yet I do to model new lending library carriers, and I can feel his weight in each of those, but not this, I take note. I was very comfortable, he was well supported, his weight was distributed, and I didn’t feel any abdominal pressure (diastasis recti) like I do with front carries in other carriers.   The fabric spread well, too, so the shoulders couldn’t get diggy. I didn’t try to bunch the passes, but I don’t think they would get diggy even if they were bunched, between the supportive nature of the weave and the wrap’s width.

And, true, I don't go for neutral wraps. But this colorway looks chocolatey. A warm, cozy, chocolate blanket in which to snuggle Chipmunk? Sign me up!

I think Chipmunk’s response to the wrap bears noting, too. Whenever I model lending library arrivals for front carries, he fusses in the carrier. It’s not a normal thing for him to be worn in front, and it seems that it just makes him want to nurse. I wore him in Chevron Dapper for nearly an hour, and the pictures don’t lie. He was perfectly content. At home, he likely would have been asleep. This was a tired baby. He won’t sleep when there are people to watch, but even on my back, if he wants to go to sleep, he’ll fuss before caving to his heavy eyelids. Chevron Dapper may not have had sleepy dust that hour, but it kept Chipmunk happy. All in all, I’m a woolie devotee that would buy a Chevron Dapper in a heart beat.

Check out Poe Wovens' work at www.poewovens.com.

All photos are copyright Poe Wovens, and used with permission.