As Risaroo Wovens celebrates their 1st year as a company, I thought it would be appropriate to review the Pemberley Muse tester that I just had the pleasure of hosting. It is the sophomore release in their Orelia collection, and a welcome addition to the world of Toddler-worthy woven wraps.
This was not the first Risaroo to come through here. We had a go with the Atarah Meadow and Atarah Sundance wraps that they so graciously donated to Babywearing International of the Bay Area, the luscious Kerrington Vita came through here, and I had the pleasure to host a Kerrington Pearl as well. All of these wraps were beautifully made and wrapped wonderfully… but I have to say that this Pemberley Muse was by far my favorite one yet. I admittedly had a little giggle at the name, but it seemed appropriate for such a lavish woven wrap.
The Pemberley is a mercerized cotton blend. It weighs in at a solid 298 g/m2 – thick by any measure. It reminds me of some of the thicker hemp wraps I have tried, like a Natibaby Hemp Gears or a Didymos Pink Dots. But unlike those hempy beasts, this Pemberley didn’t stand up on its own when it came out of the package. The mercerized cotton made for a really soft and moldable wrap after only one wash.
Beautiful isn’t everything in the wrap game, but Pemberley had a lot going for it once I finally got around to wearing it out. I tend to lean towards thicker wraps these days with my primary wearee being a healthy 30 lb 3 year old, so I was excited to put it to work. Despite its thickness, I found it quite easy to wrap with! It glided really well with the cross passes and fancy finishes, no wrestling matches here. Yet it had enough grip that once it was in place – it stayed there. Of course that shouldn’t have surprised me, as the wrap has some gorgeous texture to it! The floral pattern seemed to come right out of the wrap at you. It was quite dense, so it really held its form even after a long time wearing a heavy child. I thought I would miss some of the “bounce” that some of my favorite wraps have, but it made for a solid wrap job with minimal effort. I contained my toddler for over 2 hours on my back as we explored an industry Food Show that really was not the best place for a toddler to be running about. I did not once find myself stopping to readjust. At some point she fell asleep back there, and we both remained comfortable for the length of the excursion. When it came time to take her down, there was zero sag in my wrap job.
This wrap is really wide, 72cm to be exact, so toddler-worthy is an honest descriptor for this beauty. We got really easy knee to knee coverage, with enough width that at the top my little one had slack to cuddle in and nap when she was ready to. I found it easy to wrap with, so it would be great for someone learning to wrap a larger baby. The combination of the width and the thickness would not necessarily make it my first choice for a newborn wrap though. Especially when Risaroo has so many other gorgeous newborn wraps to choose from. (:cough cough: Kerrington Pearl)
Thanks Risaroo for letting this lovely come to play! I look forward to seeing what comes next from this awesome American made woven wrap line.
Modern Babywearing 