Fleece ring sling with sewn-in pleatsFleece ring sling with sewn-in pleatsthe finished ring sling. Cutting out the excess material allows the sling to be adjusted far more easily than if it is left in, and it doesn't compromise the security of the sling. You can make a fleece sling with regular overlapping pleats, but then a lot of material is going through the rings, and it's thicker and less comfortable. I recommend using this method for polar fleece and other thick fabrics. If you're making slings using this method that you intend to sell despite my pleas, please at least include a link back to these instructions in your sales page.
See my sling sizing page for more information, and add several inches to the numbers shown there, to account for hemming and sewing in the rings.
Polar
fleece usually has some stretch going from cut edge to cut edge, and a lot of
stretch going from selvage to selvage. Make sure you know
which direction is the stretchier one! This goes for any
stretchy fabric. The usual stretchiness for 2-way stretch fabrics is shown in the diagram at right. Generally, there will be a lot of stretch from selvage
to selvage (across the grainline) and much less, possibly none, from cut edge
to cut edge (along the grainline). However, some fabrics are 4-way stretch, meaning there is a lot of stretch in all directions, and some will have more stretch
going along the grainline instead, though those are relatively rare. The majority
of polar fleece will stretch as illustrated in the diagram.
Most polar fleece comes in a 60" width. I recommend buying the full length you'll need and cutting it in half lengthwise to make two slings (or one sling with a 30" by 2 yard piece for other projects). If you *absolutely* can't buy the full two yards, then you can piece toge ther a shorter length to make a sling. Just be aware that any seam is a potential place for ripping, and make sure you sew it safely if you have no other options but using a shorter piece.
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| 1. Hem both long edges (one cut and optionally one selvage) and one short edge, using a stretch stitch (zigzag, or something built-in on your machine) You don't, strictly speaking, have to hem, but I find that the hemmed edge is more comfortable and feels more secure than an unhemmed edge. | 2. Preparing to sew in the first pleat: fold the fabric in half, then stitch 2" from the fold, about 6" from the unhemmed edge. |
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| 3. First pleat sewn in. | 4. Two pleats sewn in: second pleat is make by opening out the first pleat, folding 3" from its seamline, and stitching 2" from the new fold (see also this page) |
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| 5. All the pleats sewn in -- a 30" width yields 5 sewn-in pleats if it's done correctly. | 6. Cutting out the excess fabric: with the *wrong side* up, cut the fabric within the pleat, to about 1/4" away from the seam line. The cut should end about 1/2" from the beginning of the seam line. |
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| 7. All of the excess material removed. | 8. Folding the pleats: the center pleat is squashed flat, so that there's 1" on either side of the seam. |
| If your sewing machine can't handle many layers of fabric: you can squash all the pleats like the one in step 8, so less material is overlapping in the final product. This gives a pleat that spreads out a bit more, but it's the most that some inexpensive sewing machines can handle. If you do that, just squash and pin the rest of the folds, then skip to step 13. | |
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| 9. The next pleat is folded towards the middle, so that it overlaps the center pleat entirely. | 10. Fold the pleat opposite the one you just did, also towards the middle, overlapping the center pleat and the one from step 9. |
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| 11. Fold the next set inwards -- they will overlap the second set, but won't fully overlap the center pleat. | 12. The other half of this set |
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| 13. Thread on the rings. | 14. Pin the rings in -- the edge of the fabric should overlap the cut edges of the pleats by at least 1/2" for strength. |
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| 15. First ring-holding seamline -- sewn over the edge of the fabric. Fleece doesn't fray, so no fur ther edge finishing is necessary. | 16. Second ring-holding seamline, sewn about 1/2" from the first, closer to the rings. |
the
finished ring sling. Cutting out the excess material allows the sling to be adjusted
far more easily than if it is left in, and it doesn't compromise the security
of the sling. You can make a fleece sling with regular overlapping pleats, but then a lot of material is going through the rings, and it's thicker and less
comfortable. I recommend using this method for polar fleece and other thick fabrics.
Did you use this pattern and like it? Please link back to me from your site or blog! (This is not an invitation to copy the file to your site, nor does it imply that the file is freeware. I invite links, but as I do make changes to the files on my site from time to time -- and often they are important ones -- I do not wish them copied to other sites.)
the URL for this pattern is: http://crafts.sleepingbaby.net/fleece.html Here
is a little graphic you can use: 
To make a link, please copy the graphic to your own directory (linking to it here is theft of bandwidth! Shock/horror!) by (PC) right-clicking on it, or (Mac) clicking and holding, and selecting "Save picture as..." then copy this code and paste it onto your page wherever you want it:
<a href="http://crafts.sleepingbaby.net/fleece.html" target="_blank">
<img src="link.gif" alt="Jan Andrea's Baby Crafts" height=50 width=135></a>
Remember to change the image source to wherever you've saved the image! And thanks for the link!