Decisions, decisions ....

I have been having a rough time of things lately, trying to figure out what the MCN world expects of me! What do people want? I mean, I love ALL of my designs, they all work beautifully ... maybe I'm just trying to cover too large a market, one that is absolutely flooded with a vast variety of products. Add to that orders that just sit in limbo until I am forced to chase them up, which often results in cancellations, or in some cases, no response at all (which I think is totally rude!)

I mean, it's bad enough having bigger businesses or large corporations ignore the communications of a sole individual, but to have a customer ignore the requested communications of a small WAHM business??? Ludicrous!

At the end of the day, I am one person, trying to evolve my passion into a successful business. And I guess that's the crux of the matter - I am only one person, who just happens to wear a multitude of hats ... sometimes simultaneously, sometimes unsuccessfully.

First and foremost, I am a mother. Everything I do is for the benefit of my children. I guess a sub-hat of being "mother" is being their teacher - literally. As we homeschool, their education is very important, and everything is a part of their learning. And yet another sub-hat is household manager. Sometimes, I really suck at this role, as distractions occur and dishes or washing pile up for days, then it seems such a mammoth task to get it all under control again. But really, no one of these roles is more important than the others, I can't prioritise these very successfully.

Then, when I have time after all of this, I am a sole small business owner (in my spare time lol!) and in this capacity, I am administrator, graphic designer, web designer, pattern maker, fabric cutter, sewer, snapper, marketing manager, ideas person, buyer, decision maker .... the list goes on! I don't have a team of co-workers, or employees, I do it all myself, which I guess makes the blows all that much harder when they come.

So, instead of giving up, I sat down, cleared my head and reassessed the cost of my materials. I don't like cheap materials, and I despise cheap quality workmanship (which I see all too often in the commercial world in general), so my main aim is to retain and maintain the high quality of my workmanship (which is another reason, I guess, why I don't trust delegation of responsibility to others right now), but reduce the price of my products.

So I came up with "Sharing the cloth love by making gorgeous cloth more affordable"!! As most of my nappies are unique, and not mass produced, I take pride in making them different, and I really want to pass on the clothy love so that you can cloth your tots butt for less but still look fabulous! I really do do it for the love!

An alternate side snap design

After various forms of feedback, I decided to bite the bullet and create an alternate design for my side snaps. While I am not entirely dismissing my original design (after all, it does work and is great for night nappies!) I have created a OSFM side snap design, with an adjustable rise and thinner wings with 2 rows of snaps as opposed to three. I have also designed it with a thinner crotch and thinner, ever so slightly contoured booster - currently made of 2 layers of microfibre sandwiched between 2 layers of hemp and topped with bamboo fleece (or velour!!), making it a five layer absorbent booster, which can be folded under on the smaller rise settings.

So what does this all look like?

Like this ....

Front view Full rise
Front view Smallest rise
Adjustable rise snap settings
Thinner wings with two rows of snaps - 5 on top and 4 on the bottom


Slightly contoured booster

Sizing for this new design is as follows:
* Rise approximately 36cm - 45cm
* Leg opening - 24cm unstretched on smallest snap setting to 49cm fully stretched on largest snap setting
* Waist - 36cm unstretched on smallest snap setting to 66cm fully stretched on largest snap setting
* Crotch width of 12cm
* Booster width of approximately 9-10cm

And now, this is what it looks like on my 12.5kg, 85cm tall, 18 month old ...

Full rise view



Rise on first snap setting view




We have 2 snaps left over at the top of the wing and one at the bottom.

To differentiate, I'm thinking of calling the OSFM design the Ticklefish Snaprise ~~ a play on words (think "snap surprise"!!) And I'm still tossing up on the contour ... perhaps I may just leave it a thinner width booster ....

You can please some of the people, some of the time ...

Maybe the title comes across a little harder than intended, but please let me explain!

When I first started making my own MCN, it was not with some illusion to sell and make money .... I had started using cloth in an attempt to alleviate my number four newborn's eczema, and as number three was also still in nappies, it made sense to me to covert them both. I tried many different brands, and in one way or another, none of them suited my needs. The main thing I found was the rise on the majority of them was too low to suit my boys, and the incy wincy velcro tabs on most commercial nappies was way too accessible to both, and way to easy for them (well, the elder of my two clothy bums anyway) to undo. And the snap nappies I tried ended up with bad wing droop. I also had issues with boosters being too small in AIO's.

So, I designed my own - higher rise, longer tabs, more generous sizing, and full length, full width interchangeable boosters and these suited my boys beautifully! I decided, rather than try to make OSFM that I would size them. My main problem with OSFM (theoretically a brilliant idea!) was the one thing that they were designed to do - be adjustable in the rise. They worked better on my baby in the fully unadjusted position. See, both my boys were (and still are) tummy sleepers, so anything with a low rise caused them to wake from naps with a soaking wet stomach, no matter what degree of boosting I tried!

Having also bought night nappies, I thought I'd try my hand at making my own nights as well. Keeping with the same principle of a higher rise and longer tabs, I designed and made my first night nappy, which to my delight was a huge success! After posting pictures on Facebook, some of my friends expressed interest in being testers for my nappies and asked if I had any intentions of selling. Seeing people like my designs made me happy, so I got together testers and sent them out nappies to try. I had such favourable responses from this that I decided, OK I WILL make and sell them!

Today, I am 18 months on from making my very first MCN and I think I have come a very long way! I have redesigned my original nappies, I have devised a new booster system, and I have designed my very own side snap nappy - from scratch!

Ok, so designing a side snap without ever actually owning one was probably a risk, but basically I just modified my original front fasten nappy, and again, keeping with my principle of a higher rise, I developed my side snap.

I do understand that there are many different brands of WAHM and commercial MCN on the market, but I have to ask the question - what would we do if all of these nappies were the same? Surely I am not the ONLY person who has issues with rise height or booster shape?

Granted, I take all feedback to heart, but ultimately, I do need to cater to the needs of the majority of my customers don't I? I have had great feedback about how well my boosters work, and that they can even be simply replaced in the shell instead of a complete nappy change! I have customers who love that their child can remain in the one size for alot longer than commercial brands allow.

So now, I am left with the decision to totally change my design (and in my opinion become like everyone else and risk being labelled a copycat nappy maker) or to offer high rise / low rise options.

Call me biased, but I like my higher rise, three row side snap design. I am able to have my 18 month old and my almost 4 year old in the same size nappy (well the elder one is a skinny little thing!) with amazing adjustability in the snap variations! I even have one customer who has used the shell of one of her nappies as a cover of a disposable, and loves that she could do that with the snap options.

Well, I might sleep on it and see how I feel about it in the morning .....

Mmmmmm Velour ....

I had a request to make a nappy and booster with velour lining and I have fallen in love with it, so I am thinking of topping my boosters with velour now, rather than the bamboo fleece I have been using .... I think maybe a cross over period may be in order .... or having the option of either ...... aaaaah decisions!!

New Year, New Things

Firstly, I will be stocking on the 8th February - first for the year!!

I have lots of things planned for this year, and as I have just been accepted as a sponsor for the Cloth Nappy Hunt in March, my first stocking won't be so big!

I have added information to my website about my booster systems - double and triple - and also an idea I've been playing with for a while .... Nappy Rentals. I'd be interested to hear people's opinions on this! Oh, and I've also updated some policies, but nothing major!!

I am also very excited (and slightly daunted!) to have sent off side snap testers to two very special ladies, both of whom I understand are exclusively side snap users, so their feedback will be invaluable! I just hope my nappies live up to their expectations!

I intend to take things as they come this year, and not let things get to me like last year. I'm not going to stress about not having enough stock, or worry about what people are saying about me and my products - I lost too much time last year wondering why people wouldn't just confront me with their concerns. As a WAHM, it is very difficult to stay positive sometimes, especially when you hear so many indirect negatives about your stuff but I figure, if I am happy with what I create, then that's the most important thing.

I also have a few other things in the pipeline, but all will be revealed in due time!