Risaroo Sagitta Aquarius Review

Review of the Risaroo Sagitta Aquarius Travelling Tester

Specification:
Name/Design/Description: Risaroo Sagitta Aquarius
Material/fiber/yarn type: 100% Cotton (50% Mercerized Cotton & 50% Cotton)
Structure: Plain Weave
Grams per square meter: 280g/m2 (I calculated 303gm2)

Price: $188 for 4.6m (About £118 at time of writing)
Size/Length and Width: 4.6m long x 72cm wide

Review

I’ve had my fair share of machine woven wraps, and although I now tend towards the handwoven ones I still love a good machine woven. We were lucky enough recently to host and review a travelling Risaroo, in their popular Sagitta design and the striking Aquarius colourway.

Firstly, a small introduction to Risaroo; Risaroo are well known in the US as a very popular store importing and selling all the best kinds of woven wraps and baby carriers from around the world, especially those from Europe. About a year ago Marisa (Risaroo’s mummy) and the rest of the Risaroo team decided to start their very own line of Jacquard woven wraps, designed, and produced in the US. Their first range is the Fairhope Collection, and the Sagitta is just one of their stylish designs.

So, my review of the Risaroo Sagitta Aquarius:

The immediate feel from the wrap is good, first impressions are of a densely woven yet thin wrap, with not much stretch. For a 100% cotton wrap it’s relatively soft in hand, and the mercerised cotton is very evident as the surface of the wrap is very smooth, although it doesn’t have much of a sheen to it. 

When I first started my review of the Risaroo Sagitta Aquarius I worried the wrap would be too slippy and thin to hold a slip knot, a knot I use a lot just now, because of the combination of the thin feel and the mercerised cotton, but I was plesently surprised to find that Risaroo have cleverly designed the texture of the wrap to completely counteract this. The arrow pattern of the wrap gives a strong raised texture, allowing the wrap to grip well when tightened, I would still always feel better with a knotted finish rather than knotless, but there was certainly a great balance between grip and slip to create the perfect slip knot – it was slip knot heaven! 

Once I had established the texture allowed for the wrap to grip well once finally tightened, I was even more pleased to find that the mercerised cotton allows multiple wrap passes to slip over each other very easily when wrapping. This is ideal if you are new to back carries like me, as it allows each pass to glide over each other, without spending too long sweating and puffing, and flapping and faffing trying to get the wrap up over babies back!

 I think because of the thinness of the wrap I found the shoulder passes did need some attention to achieve a comfortable finish on longer walks (but this is not unusual for any machine woven wrap with me... I have awful boney, picky shoulders). I was impressed with how supportive it was, Ayla was comfortable in single pass carries, although I think for an older toddler multi-pass carries would be needed. The dense weave made this a good autumn wrap, it offered good wind protection with the passes spread and baby Ayla was snug under my coat, we even wore it out on a very cold night watching our local fireworks display. Conversely in the summer, with the reverse side out on a single pass carry this would be a very cool wrap to use, the colour and pattern also add to the summery feel of this wrap. 

It sounds a bit silly to say it but honestly one of my favourite aspects of this wrap is the colour and the design. The blue weft is an amazing shade, a real unusual colour, and the off white arrow design (hence the name – latin for arrow is Sagitta!) gives a great contrast. When using this wrap with shoulder flips or reversing the side like in a Robins hip carry the wrap is very striking. I always thought I looked good when I was wearing it!

Overall: A supportive yet thin wrap, easy to wrap with if using multi-pass carries, makes a small knot, and has enough width to suit a toddler as well as a newborn. Great for parents wanting an affordable wrap to see them all the way through from newborn to toddlerhood; maybe to start them off on their first babywearing experience.  It was a hit with us, I would recommend it and I think it would also make a great unusual babyshower gift for a mum you'd like to get started on babywearing!