onbuhimo japanese baby carrier

I read about the Onbuhimo Japanese baby carrier and it seemed to be as fab as a Mei Tai but with fewer straps to make (and have flopping around when you are not wearing it). So-- I decided to give it a go. I found a tutorial about how to make one from some table runners and placemats, and another about how to modify a Mei Tai pattern into an Onbu pattern (which I can't find again to link to!).

I decided to follow the second tutorial (the missing one), and my first pass at this carrier ended up in one that was way too wide. I used the measurements from the tutorial instead of from the Scandi Mei Tai pattern I like and have used in the past, and should have just used the template I already had (that I made from that tutorial). The first photo is of my child in the too-wide carrier. Notice I am holding him in.

So-- I took it back to the drawing board-- er, cutting board-- and made it thinner.

Even with my modifications, it is just ok. I watched some You Tube videos about how to use this carrier and tried a few times. I didn't really understand how to put him on without having the waistband secured first. He and I ended up doing a lot of fidgeting. I dedn't have the nerve to hurl him over my shoulder like they do in the videos, either. The carrier also made him feel heavier than when he is in the Mei Tai. All in all, I do not like it. I liked using rings from ringslings.com, but think that I need to try another type of carrier with rings to get some good use out of them.

Now for the gory details: The straps are made of lightweight demin from voguefabrics.com. They are padded with fleece scraps from JoAnn Fabrics. The rings are 2" aluminum from ringslings.com. The exterior fabric is a lightweight cotton from JoAnn's, and the cell pocket is made of the same material (top right on the second photo). The interior (not really shown) is white minky from Discount Fabrics, a local shop. Minky is super-soft one-sided fleece.

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