Meet the Founder of My Mum Made It: Nyree Leckenby

A vintage bedsheet, a borrowed sewing machine, and a woman with a vision

One of my favorite parts of ONFEMME is learning the stories behind the brands. I love finding out what inspired a woman to start creating, especially when it began with something simple that she saw differently from everyone else.

For Nyree Leckenby, the founder of Australian label My Mum Made It, that something was a vintage bedsheet.

Lace, a tiara, and the ritual of getting ready capture My Mum Made It’s nostalgic approach to dressing up.

From a Bedsheet to a Fashion Brand

After finishing high school, Nyree used her mum’s sewing machine to turn a thrifted bedsheet into a dress. People noticed. A boutique asked if she could make more designs for its store, and what started as a creative project became an opportunity. Eventually, she left her interior design studies to pursue fashion.

In her Fashion Journal interview, Nyree explained that she wanted to create cute, imaginative clothes for people who, like her, struggled to find designs they loved and could afford. Making her own dress was a way to create something she felt was missing from her wardrobe. When a boutique asked to stock her designs because other people were looking for something similar, she had an opportunity to bring that same approach to clothes other people could buy. I like that her starting point was a frustration many of us recognize: knowing what you want to wear but never quite finding it. She began by making one dress for herself, and that opened the door to designing for others.

The name is what first makes you smile. When people asked where her dress was from, Nyree would playfully tell them, “My mum made it.” She had actually made it herself, but the answer stuck and became the name of her brand.

There is something so relatable about that. Sometimes it feels easier to make a joke than to tell someone you created something yourself. You have put your time and ideas into it, but saying it out loud can feel surprisingly vulnerable.

Nyree also admitted that she did not enjoy sewing at first, even though she could picture what she wanted to make. She eventually found a team of seamstresses to help bring her ideas to life. That makes the beginning feel more human to me. Having a creative idea does not mean loving every task involved in producing it. There is room to discover which parts of the work are yours and where someone else’s skills can help.

A lilac mini dress with lace trim brings the brand’s playful, feminine aesthetic into an everyday look.

Dressing for Your Inner Child

Today, My Mum Made It is known for its nostalgic, feminine aesthetic and babydoll silhouettes. Its pieces have been worn by Addison Rae, Olivia Rodrigo, and Clairo. Nyree describes the spirit of the brand as “dressing for your inner child, but in a cool way.”

I love that idea. Getting dressed used to be about what caught our eye and made us happy. Somewhere along the way, we started thinking more about what was appropriate, what was flattering, and what everyone else was wearing. There is something refreshing about clothes that give us permission to enjoy ourselves again.

That is where I see My Mum Made It fitting into the ONFEMME world. It speaks to the girl who loves a feminine dress but wants to make it her own. She might wear it with sneakers one day and dress it up the next. Her personality is what makes the outfit interesting.

You can see that playful approach in the styling, too. Pale lilac, lace trim, little bows, and soft shapes bring a sense of dressing up into outfits that still feel easy to wear. A matching set gives you a complete look, but you can also imagine wearing the top with jeans or adding a cardigan over a short dress. The appeal is in having room to experiment. You can enjoy the sweetness of a piece without needing to build your entire wardrobe around it.

Soft lilac, lace, and little bows create a matching set with room to mix, restyle, and make it your own.

Small Batches, Thoughtful Choices

The brand also says it produces in small batches and prioritizes natural and lower impact materials wherever possible, including organic cotton, linen, hemp, and recycled fabrics.

On its website, the label explains that collections start with limited runs, with further production informed by demand. It also says leftover fabric is repurposed into smaller pieces and details. This approach reflects one of the principles of sustainable fashion: reducing waste by making fuller use of the materials already available, rather than treating leftover fabric as disposable. The brand has worked with the same manufacturing team in China since 2015, according to its account. For me, these details add something useful to the conversation about a brand’s values. They tell us more about how the clothes are made, alongside the styling and the story that first catch our attention.

But the part of this story I keep coming back to is that first dress. Before the celebrity recognition or the international customers, there was a young woman who loved the pattern on a thrifted bedsheet enough to see what she could make from it.

At ONFEMME, those are the women we love to celebrate. The ones who have an idea, give it a chance, and keep going when someone asks to see more.

To explore what Nyree has created, visit My Mum Made It.