Under Construction - Sewing Safety

Note: This post was originally written 7/23/12 and transferred to this site 9/17/13.

In making baby carriers to sell, I'm constantly looking at two major aspects - how to ensure the carriers are as safe as I can make them while cutting out anything superfluous in order to mainstream construction to keep costs down. These two areas of consideration come to a crossroads in one of the most time consuming aspects of my Mei Tais - how much stitching goes into the points of intersecting fabrics.

In one Gracie and Sam Mei Tai, there are just over 70 FEET of stitches. Some of the longer stretches of stitching are things I've considered getting rid of, such as top stitching the entire perimeter of the shoulder and waist straps. But it keeps everything looking tidier, makes folding it easier, and as a mom on the run myself, those are features I really appreciate. So the perimeter continues to get fully topstiched. The area that is padded on the shoulder straps could simply be anchored in a couple places to keep the cotton batting from shifting, but by creating 3 "tubes" of stitching over the multi-layered batting, it helps to keep it plumper while staying dense, lets it grip the contours of the shoulder to prevent slipping, and really can extend the life of batting that might get washed more frequently. So the padded area topstitching stays.

Both of those are helpful in differentiating Gracie and Sam carriers, but it's the attention to detail that goes into those fabric intersections that I'm most proud of. In connecting just one 4.5" shoulder strap to the body, there are 30 inches worth of stitches. How do I pack so much sewing into one little concentrated area? I'm glad you asked...

First, when I'm putting the components together and everything is still inside out, I backstitch three times - on the left side of the strap where it joins, over the center where it's going to have significant weight bearing stress, and on the right side where it joins.

Then I turn everything right side out and topstitch around the entire carrier. This creates another set of stitches 1/4-1/2" down the fabric from where all that original seam work was. This is important because too much sewing in one place ends up weakening the overall fabric rather than working together to create tight bonds.

Finally, I go back and do full box stitches, catching the length of the strap I left inside the carrier for this purpose.

The time that goes into these stitching features is considerable. It accounts for 25-30% of my time at the sewing machine. I could increase my profit margin or lower my selling price if I were to omit some of this seemingly-redundant stitching. But I sell a carrier that I carry my own children in, and that kind of concern over safety and attention to detail is important to me. And that's the beauty of a handcrafted carrier - it's made by someone sitting at her machine thinking about the child that will eventually sit in what she is crafting, not by a nameless individual in a factory doing just their part on an assembly line.