Woven wrap review – Sycha Slings Bears in Space Starlit Pulsar size 6

Prehistoric Spring Sky

When I trained as a Slingababy consultant in 2015, the lovely Sally Sycha (Sling Sally) was in my training group. A few months later when I heard she was launching her own range of woven wraps, I was keen to support her new enterprise and give them a go, especially as 5% of the purchase price from each sling goes to charities particularly close to Sally’s heart.

Last year, East Surrey Slings purchased a size 3 Prehistoric Spring Sky, one of Sycha Sling’s affordable Main Line wraps woven in Turkey. It is lovely and thin, glides effortlessly and has very vibrant colours. As I had used this wrap before, I applied to test a longer size 6 (4.6m) wrap from Sycha Sling’s Studio Line. Studio Line is the “high end” offering, more expensive than the Main and woven in the UK. I was sent a Bears in Space in the Starlit Pulsar colourway, made from 100% cotton.

Bears in Space detail

On arrival, I was immediately taken by the rich, deep colour of the wrap. With the spring skies wrap, the turquoise and blue combination is so bright, almost cartoonish, but the velvety, rich purple of the space bears looks much more luxuriant and mature.

The pattern of astronaut bears, both a parent and baby bear is cute and fun, and though not quite to my personal taste, I’m sure it will be to many others. The bears are woven in a shimmery silver thread and the design is fairly sparse on the wrap so you see large expanses of the rich aubergine purple dotted with tiny silver stars and planets. I could wax lyrical about the colour as it really seemed to complement my colouring despite me not being a big fan of purple!

I was one of the last consultants to try the wrap so it was very well broken in but I can’t imagine that it would have taken long to get to that point. It was quite thick and blankety and the cotton was so soft it almost felt like combed cotton. However, despite its thickness (290gsm) it was soft and floppy and not hard work to wrap at all and I managed to get a pretty small knot from it. It is one of the narrower wraps I have tried at 65cm wide but it wasn’t noticeable, even with a bigger carryee. It is quite densely woven, which means there is less chance of it pulling or snagging. This is a major plus for me as I like to really use my wraps and not feel too precious about them.

Double Hammock with a 3 year old

I used it for a double hammock while out at a country park with my 3 year old, and despite not being the best wrap job in the world, it felt really solid. It wrapped a double hammock beautifully, with the passes gliding effortlessly over each other, perhaps due to the well spaced space bears (ha!) which provided just a nice amount of grip. I carried my son quite high due to my own physical issues and even after around an hour of walking (and wriggling) he hadn’t dropped down, so it really stayed put. Definitely a “toddler worthy” wrap.

With my 11 month old, I tried a front wrap cross carry (not pictured) which was so easy to tighten without any major effort required to get the passes in place. He actually fell asleep before I had tied it off!

Ruck with wriggly 11 month old

When we tried a ruck on our day out, I again found tightening much less an effort than expected with a wrap of this weight. Despite my 11 month old’s best leg straightening efforts, it felt very secure and the passes held in place. I tied it Tibetan and I often find with this tie off that I get some digging in my shoulders where the tails go under the shoulder straps but because of the softness and the thickness, I didn’t experience that at all.

Ruck tied Tibetan front view

It also doubled up that day as a really snuggly blanket while feeding!

Overall I really rate the space bears for its wrapping qualities and the feel of the wrap. I don’t think anyone should be put off by the weight but it may be better suited to older babies and toddlers.

I am excited to watch what Sally comes up with next for her new designs and colourways, as I will definitely be keeping a close eye on her new patterns that are more to my taste in that gorgeous purple!