This was a similar coincidence as the double-testing of the Diva Milano wraps – the wrap came to us for testing from the Facebook group Nosíme děti (i.e. We Wear Our Babies) and the LokBag was provided by the manufacturer – on the same date, in the same pattern and also in the same colour! Can you imagine? A matching wrap and a bag – that puts babywearing in a whole new dimension!
Loktu She Bird Garden Latté
Composition: 100 % cotton
Weight: 260 g/m²
Size: 6
Back wrap cross carry/Tibetian knotless finish
I have already told you about my relationship to the Bird Garden pattern before – when we tested the mint and the colourful birdies; however, this was not my first, nor second nor third longer encounter with them. This Bird Garden wrap I held in my hands and had the opportunity to wear was the all-cotton Apricot IceCream, Linda’s very first and most beloved wrap (you could have seen a glimpse of it in our report from the babywearing meet-up in Children’s Paradise earlier; Linda will probably write a whole romantic novel about it one day 😉 ). Well… I am not really keen on pinkies and it always makes Linda grumpy when I compare her lovely Apricot to socialist duvets (but it has exactly the same colour, I cannot help myself 😀 ).
I am not especially keen on such light beige colour like this ˈcafé latteˈ; however, I have to admit that these birdies possess a delicately innocent, almost bridal elegance (by the way, one of our fellow-wearers was all gooey about this wrap when she saw it at one of our babywearing meet-ups and referred to it as her ˈwedding wrapˈ). But, it is simply not my colour (sorry, duh).
Aside from its looks (especially its very light and not very practical colour) it is a very pleasant ˈworkingˈwrap you can use for a newborn as well as for smaller toddlers (depending on the size of the wearie and on how meticulously you tie it). The tying properties are just as you would expect of a thinner all-cotton wrap – fits just right in your hand, slides well while tying but not too much, tightens easily and holds tight in the carry. It is not very elastic and in the basic carries, it is comfortable up to 8-9 kg, in my opinion (but if you take your time when tying it, it will certainly be OK with much greater weight). Moreover, all the Bird Gardens’ twills are quite dense and not prone towards pulls at all just as you need a universal working wrap to be.
In my opinion, this is a perfect ˈlearningˈ wrap – if you learn how to wrap a little baby with skinny newborn cloth, you will certainly wrap it very well and the baby will be as comfy as can be; however, you will not get the right feeling of the ˈrealˈ piece of wrap when you really need to ˈpull tightˈ, in my opinion. And your first time with a higher weight wrap would probably not go that well… This is my own experience – I started with an elastic wrap and when I first tried to tie Emilka in our first non-elastic wrap (Storchenwiege Leo), it was, well, kind of adventurous to be honest. ? However, if you choose this Bird Garden as your starting wrap you need to pull a little to tighten it properly but not that much that you or your baby would feel uncomfortable.
My thanks for the opportunity to test this wrap go to the group Nosíme děti (i.e. We Wear Our Babies)!
LokBag Bird Garden Latté
Do you also have a hard time finding a suitable piece of luggage that you can wear comfortably together with a wrap or a carrier and this piece of luggage would not be a backpack? And, to be able to wear it while wearing your baby on your back? Generally, such thing is called an ˈonbagˈ – a bag with long straps you can unfasten and refasten in the length you wish or you can convert it into a backpack, too (and I suppose you could also wear some of them as a fanny pack around your waist). In Loktu She, they call their onbag a ˈLokBagˈ.
In my opinion, the LokBag is big just enough for me, to put all the necessities (and unnecessities) in it, while my desire to have multiple pockets in my bag is satisfied by two smaller inner pockets fastened by a zipper. However, I would be happier if the whole bag was fastened by a different system than by a simple cord and a bow-knot.
The cut of the bag is very clever – the upper hem is of a ˈUˈ shape which fits perfectly under the wearie’s bum and the bag does not have to be too low. The strap is quite wide and very pleasant on your shoulders and its tightening through the sling rings is ingenious in my opinion! If you need to tighten or loosen it even with your bag full, it is much easier to do so with the rings than to unfasten and refasten the straps. However, the single-sidedness of this system means that you cannot convert the LokBag to a backpack – this is nothing for my back which cannot hold on to uneven cargo, not even a bag, when I carry Emilka. Therefore, for me, LokBag is a great thing for short walks or running errands with minimal load in the bag, but I would not definitely wear it for long outdoor trips.
EDIT: As I was told you actually CAN convert the LokBag into a backpack! :O You just tie the bow-know over the strap and voila – you have a bag with two straps, a.k.a. a backpack! 😉 Therefore I want to apologize for my lack of imagination and possibly misleading our readers…
I hereby want to thank Loktu She (the manufacturer) for letting us test the bag!
