Linen - It's All About the Blend

Happy Blog Day, Midlands Babywearers!

 

I love meeting people who love babywearing out in the wild. Some won't be wearing - maybe you'll see them struggling with a bulky stroller through an apple orchard as you're picking apples, maybe you'll see them carrying a tired, heavy toddler that refuses to sit in the stroller through the crowds of Soda City . . . the best thing you can offer parents that you think might find babywearing to be a useful tool, is commiseration. You can still chat them up (you are both parents, after all), and if they show interest in your carrier, invite them to a babywearing meeting. Yes, I know some people find babywearing laughable. But that's because they haven't tried it. Or maybe they tried, and with out support, weren't able to be successful. Most parents that see me out wearing my increasingly heavy toddlers tell me they wish they could do that. That's a great opportunity to hand them one of our cards and invite them to a meeting. So next time you see a parent struggling with carrying their child in arms, commiserate a bit, and invite them to a meeting - we love sharing the babywearing love!

In the midst of this mild winter, I'm looking forward to true warm weather, wearing shorts, tank tops, flip flops, and what wrap goes best with those? Linen!

Linen

The last time I talked about fibers, I talked about wool, and clearly was so convincing, that several of you have since added some gorgeous woolies to your stash. Linen is a different beast altogether, and I am using the term beast intentionally. Linen gets hard knocks because it can be so difficult to break in, but like any fiber you'll hear me talk about, not all linen is created equal.

What is linen? Linen is a plant fiber known for its lightweight and breathable nature. It's a summer favorite due to both these qualities, and a favorite for those wearing heavy babies and toddlers as it is universally lauded for its sturdiness. Lightweight, breathable, and sturdy - sounds fantastic! Where's the downside? Linen also has a reputation for lack of cush and digginess. I know those aren't real words. Where as wool has a lot of natural cush and is almost always comfortable on the shoulder due to that attribute, linen is the opposite. Linen by itself (that is 100% linen) has almost no natural cush. That said, if you wrap carefully and spread or sandwich passes on your shoulders, you will still find linen to be a comfortable option even for heavier babies and toddlers.

Linen is also great for warm weather because it is so sturdy and supportive. It will rock a single layer carry, which means, to me, that it's ideal in shorter and mid-length wraps. You can kangaroo, do any number of hip carries, rucks and ruck variations, rebozos. . . . the possibilities are endless.

*Sidebar*

Cush: the feeling of a wrap on your shoulders, often equated to marshmallows, fluff, comfort. Wraps that are cushy are comfortable to wear for long periods of time. Though wraps that are usually described as cushy tend to be on the thicker side, it is not universally true that thick = cushy.

 

Dig/Diggy: basically the opposite of cush, it is an undesirable quality for sure, though there are things that can be done to counterbalance it. It most often happens with thinner wraps and ruck straps, where it feels like the fabric is going to dig into your shoulders. But, again, just because a wrap is thin, does not mean it is diggy.  Many wraps will become less diggy and more cushy as they break in and soften up. You may want to avoid carries with ruck straps, as ruck straps tend to compound digginess.

DIY and 100% Linen

100% Linen by Didymos

I know many DIY'ers buy bottomweight 100% linen for homemade wraps. You will also find this in Etsy shops. Didymos makes a 100% linen, as do a few other wrap brands. I've tried Didymos 100% linen - trying to break it in for a friend - and while it was certainly lightweight and breathable, I am not always the most careful wrapper and found it uncomfortable on my shoulders after a while with my 2 and 1 year olds.








In most cases, linen is blended with at least one other fiber to add some softness and wearability to the wrap.

 

Linen/Cotton blends

Linen by Oscha

Linushka Linen

You will see a variety of percentages with this blend, but in all cases I've seen there is more Cotton than Linen. The more cotton, the softer and probably easier to break in the wrap will be. Cotton also breathes well, so I don't think you need to be concerned with less linen meaning less breathable or being more hot to wear. I think my favorite linen/cotton blend was a Diva Milano - it was so soft and thin, and felt lovely on my shoulders. Like anything in the woven wrap world, "love" is subjective - what I like someone else probably thinks is horrible - I can only offer my opinions. Most woven wrap companies offer a linen cotton blend.

Linen/Bamboo

Linen/Bamboo by Natibaby

Bamboo is a tricky fiber . . . it's technically natural, but must be so processed in order to make fabric, that by the time it reaches your hands it is really not "natural", but a kind of naturally sourced rayon. I'm not saying this to discredit bamboo as a fiber choice for wraps (there is Repreve that is made from recycled plastic, yet I hear wonderful things about its wrapping qualities) but just as an introduction - when I say tricky, I mean that it is not easy to care for - you can not keep it submerged for more than 40 minutes lest it harm the fibers. So when you wash it, it must be gentle and quick in your machine and moved out of the washer to lay flat to dry or handwashed in order to maintain the fiber's integrity. (Now that I think about it, this is probably why my bamboo cloth diaper inserts do not hold up - my washing routine is probably too intense for this delicate fiber).
And yet - bamboo makes an excellent counterpoint for linen. It is smooth, buttery soft, and has a lovely silky sheen. I had a no-cotton linen/bamboo blend from Natibaby and it was a favorite blend for me. The sturdy grippiness of linen married to the soft, slide of bamboo I found to be a great combination for wearing my toddler in a shorty. (She was not a fan of the neutral color, alas, and the wrap was sold).

Tri-Blends



Didymos Jade Indio Tri-Blend

You will also see linen in a ménage a trois with cotton and silk. Oscha Slings is the most common maker of the tri-blend. They offered a vanilla roses tri-blend and a small Japanese knots in it, at the very least. In a tri blend, you get the soft sheen of silk, comfort of cotton, and the sturdy support of linen, blended together to make truly wonderful wrap.

Didymos offers at least one Indio now in a Cotton-Hemp-Linen blend (Jade Indio) and I have heard nothing but good things about this wrap.

Breaking in the Beast

The most frequently heard negative thing about linen is how beastly it can be to break in. Being a plant fiber, it's naturally stiff and takes more work to break in than the animal fibers (wool and silk for example do not need much breaking in at all). Of plant fibers, cotton is the easiest to break in, as it is in structure most similar to wool, hemp takes a little work to break in (it often feels like screen mesh brand new in box - but a wash and iron can have it feeling soft and buttery in hand), whereas linen often requires quite a bit of work to get that magical broken-in feeling in hand.

Natibaby Linen Feathers

Break in linen by washing it, ironing it (according to manufacturer instructions), using it, sitting on it, braiding it, using it as a hammock or swing, send it to your friends to use . . . and eventually it will soften up and feel lovely and floppy in hand. Some brand's linen breaks in easier than others. Natibaby linen doesn't take much work to break in, neither does Diva Milano. Didymos linen takes some work. Ellevill and Little Frog also offer linen blends and fall somewhere in the middle as far as ease to break in.


Want to try some linen? Our Lending Library has a Natibaby Linen feathers in a size 4 that would be a great thing for you to try.