Rowan Bay Ptera Lovelace Review

Through babywearing and, in particular, the wrapping community, I have made some truly amazing friendships. Both in terms of the relationships themselves and the people they are with. Never before have I felt so inspired, accepted, respected and understood by my peers as I do within this wonderful community of people. One of these phenomenal individuals is Larissa of Rowan Bay, who very kindly sent me her Rowan Bay Ptera Lovelace woven wrap* to try.

All products marked with * have been gifted to me for consideration. More information can be found in my full disclaimer.

Larissa knew that I wanted to expand my wool blend horizons, was looking for a shorter wrap to use with my up and down toddler and that I like the things I wear to compliment my green tinted glasses. So she picked out her Rowan Bay Ptera Lovelace wrap in a size 3 for me to try.

There’s something really special about falling in love with a wrap that someone else has picked out for you. A deep, personal connection. It’s hard to put into words. This isn’t just a piece of cloth. It’s my parenting village, a source of friendship, support and love.

Rowan Bay Ptera Lovelace is a quad blend, made up of 56% organic combed cotton, 24% non-mulesing wool, 11% linen and 9% silk and weighs in at 293gms.

Rowan Bay Ptera Lovelace in a Ruck with a Candy Cane Chest Belt

I fell in love with Lovelace as soon as I saw it. The beautiful purple with flecks of pink and shimmering teal look stunning in the Ptera design, which is hand drawn by Larissa and inspired by the eye catching black veined white wings of the Aporia Crataegi butterfly.

If you’ve visited my blog before, you’ve probably seen me mentioning my photosensitivity. What you may not be aware of is how much this impacts on my sling choices. When it comes to intricate designs and patterns, I often struggle. Not the case with Rowan Bay Ptera Lovelace! The purple and teal share a similar hue, so rather than creating a stark contrast (as in Ptera Rosalinde), this is more subtle. I love that there are two versions of the Ptera wrap, the same in every way, with the exception of colour and shade contrast. This means that whether you prefer (or need) more or less contrast, there’s a Ptera wrap for you!

I’ll write more about babywearing with photosensitivity at a later date.

With the combination of cotton, wool, linen and silk, I found Rowan Bay Ptera Lovelace to be a beautiful balance of fibres with some seriously amazing wrapping qualities.

Rowan Bay Ptera Lovelace is a great wrap to work with. Shepherd’s is a carry that I’ve struggled to get a really good wrap job with. Unlike other Double Hammock variations, the passive tail stays under the chest pass, rather than over it. This means you don’t have the passive tail pinning the chest pass in place. As a result, I’ve found that I lose tension in my wrap job easily, particularly when Lissie is being a wriggle pants. Despite having not practiced Shepherd’s for a while, I managed to get a really good, well tightened wrap job!

Cushy on the shoulders and supportive, with just the right amount of bounce and recoil, Ptera Lovelace has enough glide that making multiple passes isn’t difficult and a good amount of grip, keeping the wrap firmly in place. Soft and mouldable, this wrap is great for heavy, wriggly toddlers and would be a good newborn option (particularly during the colder months).

Wool is a fibre that I haven’t had a lot of experience with. Most of the wraps I’ve tried with a higher wool percentage have been cotton/wool blends only.

Rowan Bay Ptera Lovelace doesn’t have any of the wool prickle that some wraps do. If you’re super sensitive to wool you may need to steer clear of wool blends all together. Otherwise, Ptera is a great option for those who can tolerate a little wool, as long as it doesn’t prickle. Unfortunately, in the warmer months, my grass allergy has me in an almost constant allergic reaction. So I can’t manage wool blends, even one this comfortable, during this time. I hope this gives you an idea of my sensitivity, if you’re on the fence about trying one of Rowan Bay’s wool blend wraps.

If you’ve read my Baby Monkey Symphony Review, you’ll know that I do love me a linen blend wrap! Even a small amount of linen can make a big difference to the feel of a wrap when tying and carrying. As a fibre, linen is strong and breathable. The 11% in Rowan Bay Ptera means that you get the benefits of linen, without the hard work of breaking a wrap in that you often find with higher percentage linen blends.

Wildwood Linden in a Double Hammock with Candy Cane Chest Belt

Before Ptera Lovelace, I’d previously tried two other Rowan Bay wraps – Wildwoods Linden and Fall. Both of these are 25% Tussah Silk blends and are amazing, so I was excited to see how this beautiful fibre performed as part of a quad blend.

The 9% silk in Ptera Lovelace gives this wrap a beautiful shimmer. The combination of linen and silk give strength to the wrap and balances the bounce of the wool.

The wool, linen and silk threads are slightly different colours, giving visual depth, dimension and interest to the weft.

While Rowan Bay Ptera Lovelace is on the thicker end of medium weight, I found it easy and comfortable to tighten. Something I can find difficult and painful with how my hEDS affects my finger joints and wrists.

Quad blends are often raved about in wrapping circles. From using Rowan Bay Ptera Lovelace, I now know why!

Rowan Bay Wildwood Fall in a Front Double Hammock

While Ptera Lovelace is no longer available in the Rowan Bay shop, there are a handful of Ptera Rosalind’s still available. You can find them at rowanbay.com. Larissa also has a Pre-Order group for Rowan Bay’s new The Earth Collection, which you can find on Facebook.

Have you tried a Rowan Bay woven wrap? Are you a fan of quad blends?