Hi! My name is Mel and I live in the northern suburbs of Adelaide with my husband Darrin, son Caleb, three cats, and three chickens.  We’re expecting another baby in a few weeks so I’ll be taking some time off starting in October, or whenever ‘Baby Chuck’ arrives.

I’ve always been interested in making things myself – sewing, knitting, crocheting. When we bought our house in 2006, I started working on growing things myself. So now we have a veggie patch, almost a dozen fruit trees, and the chickens for eggs. I love the idea of depending on the outside world for as little as possible.

When Caleb was born, we started off using flat terry squares. And we were doing about 20 changes a day! That got old really quick. But what to do? Well, what else does a do-it-yourself type do? I looked into making my own nappies. I used some fabrics and things I had around the house for the first few, then bought a nappy kit to do some MCNs. I kept practicing, and when friends saw the finished products, they were impressed too!

One of the features in my first design was the fact that Caleb reacted to synthetic fabrics. So I made an all-in-one with no synthetic liner – just hemp/cotton fleece. I also made it with a pocket, so that I could add more absorbency if needed.

Over the years since I started the business, people have come to me asking if I could make something specific to their needs, and I’ve been happy to help. When a friend was looking for a doll nappy, I found a nappy I’d made too small by mistake, put velcro on it, and her daughter loved it! Another friend, pregnant with her second child, asked for two large wet bags – enough to hold a full wash load of nappies. She can now dump the whole lot in her washing machine and not have to touch soiled nappies twice – and as a bonus, there’s no smelly bucket to look after either.

If you can’t find what you’re looking for anywhere else, let me know! Together we’ll sort out how to do it.

Mel Smith