Tapering a Woven or Stretchy Wrap

Tapering a wrap is completely optional. If you choose to, though, your tapers should be parallel to each other.

Keep in mind that the wrap's length is measured by the length of one rail, so if, for example, you were adding 6" tapers, you only need to add 6" to your total length of fabric, not 12".

Tapers can be as deep as you want them to be, up to a 45 degree angle. A blunt wrap with no tapers is fine and perfectly usable (as well as easier to hem.) Some commercial brands like Girasol, Little Frog and Oscha have very subtle 6" tapers, where other brands like Vatani and Ellevill have very sharp 22"-25" tapers. For more information on tapers, check out Babywearing 102's page or Jan's info on Sleeping Baby Productions' website.

Protip: Make sure not to use too tight a stitch when hemming your tapers. Some members of our group have experienced stitches popping in the tapers because of the give woven fabrics have along the bias. Some of our members have suggested even using a stretch stitch or slight zigzag stitch along the tapers.

To get nice, neat corners when hemming a tapered wrap, you'll need to miter the corners. Check out this tutorial to see how to miter corners of any angle: miteredhems.pdf

-- Alyssa Leonard - 2016-07-16

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