Wrapahula Stanza Hourglass
The Basics
Wrapahula Stanza Hourglass
Stanza Hourglass from Wrapahula Wovens is a tri-blend of 65% combed cotton, 10% linen and 25% Merino lambswool. It weighs approximately 245 GSM, making it a medium weight wrap.
The Brand
Wrapahula Stanza Hourglass
Wrapahula Wovens are a UK based company producing wraps that are woven and sewn here in England. They focus on using the best quality yarns and their wraps are designed and produced exclusively for Wrapahula.
Despite seeing their lovely, striking wraps online I’ve never had the opportunity to try a Wrapahula so I was extremely excited when Sarah, the lovely lady behind the brand, offered me the opportunity to review one of her new Stanza designs.
The Looks
Wrapahula Stanza Hourglass
The Stanza design is a bold, retro, geometric diamond pattern. As a general rule, I tend to be drawn to more organic designs, but the striking Stanza reminded me of my adventures in Mexico and captivated me from the outset. It looks great wrapped either side out, with the colours mirrored on the reverse. The hems are flipped so there’s no ‘wrong side’. Stanza Hourglass has a beautiful vivid turquoise warp and a deep purple weft, and positively glows even in low light, with its delicate sheen.
In case your GCSE English is becoming a distant memory (I’m pretty sure I did mine before the invention of the motor car... or was it the internet? I lose track in my advancing years!), a stanza is a group of lines in a poem or verse. Wrapahula decided to name each colourway in the Stanza collection after a song, and said the following about their inspiration:
“Did you know that listening to music releases a surge of dopamine? Even the anticipation of listening to music releases this crucial hormone.
Music influences the way we think, feel and behave. Music doesn't need lyrics to portray emotion or to impact our feelings. Music can create our coherent narrative. Each pattern of sound can be absorbed and interpreted by everyone of us regardless of language, gender, belief.
Music helps us remember, music helps us move on, music soothes us, music brightens us.
Most of all, music unifies us; it brings together families, cultures and societies in ways that nothing else can.
Music is the language of the universe.
What's your song?”
Now it’s not every day that you get to name a wrap, so I was honoured when Sarah gave me the chance to name this colourway... and a little stumped! I spent a while googling songs & lyrics, but just couldn’t find anything that felt right. Then one day I found myself standing in my living room in my pyjamas, with my youngest wrapped and napping on my front and my toddler doing his spectacular bum-wiggle dance to some music, and I started thinking about how quickly they’re growing up. There must have been some wrap magic in the air, because a song started playing that perfectly captured those thoughts. A quick Spotify told me it was ‘Hourglass’ by Mindy Gledhill and just like that the wrap was named! Here are the lyrics that caused me to have a particular emotional mummy wobble:
“When you reach for the stars
Don’t forget who you are
And please don’t turn around and grow up way too fast
See the sand in my grasp
From the first to the last
Every grain becomes a memory of the past”
I imagine all parents feel that those precious years slip through their fingers, and this song seemed to encapsulate that sentiment perfectly.
The Wrapping Qualities
Wrapahula Stanza Hourglass
So, let’s take a deep breath and talk about those all important wrapping qualities! In hand Hourglass feels quite thin, light and soft from the outset. When you run your hand over the fabric, you can feel the fine texture of the purple weft in the design, in contrast with the strokeably smooth turquoise warp.
Hourglass doesn’t feel particularly woolly, in fact you might even mistake it for a non-wool bend on touch alone. I can detect absolutely no ‘wool itch’ from it and it feels surprisingly cool in hand.
When wrapping, the passes glide easily into place and stay there. It’s very forgiving & it’s easy to get a beautifully tight, secure wrap job with minimal effort. It’s solid as a rock in the face of seat-poppers, wrigglers & other experienced escape artists! The geometric Stanza design makes for uniform wrapping qualities across the length and width of the fabric, and a nice amount of grip.
Wrapahula Stanza Hourglass apparently meets the toddler snuggle test!
Hourglass’s weave is quite dense with little diagonal stretch, but the wrap is still sufficiently thin and soft to be mouldable. That dense weave makes for a beautifully supportive wrapping experience, especially for a wrap this light. I understand that Wrapahula decided to adopt a tighter weave in comparison to that used for their older wraps, and it works beautifully with this blend and weight.
Hourglass is one of those wool blend wraps that could be worn in all seasons, well all British seasons anyway! The Merino makes the wrap snug in colder weather, particularly in multi-layer carries, but the light weight and the cotton / linen content have a big influence on the character of this tri-blend. It’ll be cool enough to be comfortable and thermo-regulating on pretty much all but the five ‘everyone in England becomes a radish’ days of the great British summer.
I’ve worn Hourglass for long periods with both my ten month old and huge nearly three year old. The wool and linen make for a solid, strong wrap with zero sag that’s surprisingly comfortable on the shoulders. If you’re planning on carrying a large wrappee over long distances you’d probably want a base size in multiple layers, but it’s perfectly up to the job of shorty for quick ups. Hourglass is also thin and soft enough for a small baby. Hourglass is easy to tie off and makes a neat knot.
Hourglass is hand wash only, which may be offputting for some. However, I trust my machine and put it in on the hand-wash cycle, and it was absolutely fine. It’ll need to be air-dried and, like most wool-blend wraps, is not suitable for tumble-drying.
Summary
Wrapahula Stanza Hourglass
Stanza Hourglass is perfectly pitched. Light, soft and mouldable yet snug and supportive, it’s a versatile birth-to-toddler wrap that’ll suit beginners and experienced wrappers alike.
Wrapahula’s range of in-stock wraps, wrap conversion carriers and shawls can be bought from their website. I recommend following their Facebook page for news and new releases.
Wrapahula Stanza Hourglass
