Midlands Baby Carrying Convention (MBCC) 13th May 2017

We had a lovely day in Coventry at the Midlands Baby Carrying Convention. Gorgeous wraps, carriers, handmade clothes & babywearing accessories galore, and a chance to see all those lovely people I usually only get to chat to online. Plus, as a bonus, neither of the Littles threw up in the car on the way there!

Naturally I made a bee line for the wrap company stalls! My first stop was Supu to fondle some of their creations for the first time and lust over the beautiful 'Flight - Amethyst'. My friend has ordered one & I'm looking forward to hearing about its wrapping qualities. I also got the chance to see some of Oscha's 'Lord of the Rings' inspired Middle Earth Collection, and experience the lovely new soft finish on Shire Slings' newer lines. Unfortunately Baie Slings weren't able to attend, but luckily I'd got my Baie fix through the used market that morning (a stunning Portabello Ultraviolet that's perfect for my little squish)! I managed to tear myself away from the delicious handmade children's clothes from Swing & Rock (those forest animal dungarees were awesome!), and the Slingamebobs stall (I must not buy any more!) to pursue more wraps in another hall.

Great to see the lovely ladies from Firespiral Slings again!

The highlight of the day was undoubtedly the Firespiral Slings stall. It's always great to see the lovely Firespiral ladies and this time they came with no less than eight unreleased wraps.

The unreleased wraps from Firespiral Slings

The CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow & Black for those of us who had to ask our more technologically savvy spouses) weft is really beautiful and looks amazing with the Obsidian warp. Think rainbow glitter pixels in outer space. The pink / orange / lilac grad. of the Solstice weft is like a Mediterranean sunrise and exactly what I always hope to (& never do!) see at the summer solstice at Stonehenge (thankfully it in no way resembles the grey cloudy murk I'm usually treated to!). It looked stunning on the Kaleidoscope design especially. Every wrap was beautifully soft.

A rail of unreleased Firespiral beauties

I was excited to see quite a lot of viscose in the collection. There seems to be a misconception bouncing around that viscose isn't toddler worthy, but I loved Firespiral's Barnacle Aqua Seafoam (in fact I may have just boomeranged it using their MBCC discount code!) and look forward to seeing more viscose blends. Tamsin of Firespiral tells me that she's on a bit of a mission to test out different types so I'll definitely be following her progress with interest!

Trying out those Viscose Obsidian Birch Trees from Firespiral

The viscose Obsidian Birch Trees were super thin, light and airy with a lovely texture on the silvery grey. Sadly my toddler wasn't in the mood for being carried so I couldn't try it with a heavier wrappee, but it's perfect for a squish and other Fispi fans tell me that they'd rock in a Double Hammock for a toddler.

A mysterious new serendipitous design from Firespiral

I then spied a natty beauty hanging out, un-labelled, at the end of the rail like a wallflower at a school disco. With a delicious texture but no pattern as such, it had me intrigued. An interrogation of the ever patient Tamsin revealed that this viscose linen blend wrap was the result of an error at the mill. Someone pressed the wrong button and out popped this beauty. A quick up confirmed that this is a beautiful, light, mouldable. especially airy wrap with lovely bounce, a bit of cush and amazing texture and grip. Of course I begged Tamsin to let me test and review it properly when I had enough biscuits to bribe my toddler into compliance, so watch out for that coming soon! I've nicknamed it 'Serendipity' for obvious reasons.

After nabbing the last Seafoam mug (phew!) it was time to shovel in a pastry from the café and head home. I'll not comment on the sick situation on the return journey, but by Jove did we need that mug, with something a little stronger than tea in it, after bedtime!