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That same thought came to Mrs. Grace Hauck, De Smet, South Dakota. How could she cover the electric appliances for which she did not have closet space in a way that would be more decorative and perhaps give a touch of color to liven up the room?

Clever at sewing, she produced an attractive mammy doll, that, sitting on the appliance with her widespread skirt, entirely covers it, and makes a very ornamental piece in the kitchen.

After completing a couple of the mammies for herself, Mrs. Hauck made some for her church bazaar. They were not only picked up eagerly at $2.50 each, but they created a demand for others. And before she knew it, she found herself in the business of making Aunt Jemimas for appliance covers.

Some people, seeing them at the bazaar, ordered one or more for themselves or for friends as birthday gifts, and the market opened wider and wider. Friends of these distant friends seeing the dolls wrote in for some, opening new markets. Mrs. Hauck's dolls, attractively packed in boxes, tied in for safe transit, are now going to many neighboring areas at the present price of $3 plus postage.

To further increase her trade, Mrs. Hauck then sent sample mammies to some of the largest department stores in the country to see if they might be interested in handling them. Some were willing to handle them at a twenty percent commission. Another was willing to take them at her price and retail at their own. Both methods were agreeable to Mrs. Hauck. When she sells in quantities of a dozen or more, she charges $2.50 each.

This business has turned Mrs. Hauck's sewing room into a workshop. Visiting there, and finding a variety of these attractively dressed mammies, one could not help noting what a good time this recently widowed woman was having. She was entirely lost in her work. She said, "I never realized before how completely one could fall in love with work. These dolls fascinate me the more I work with them. Even though I use the same pattern on all of them, the embroidered faces put on freehand give such an individual expression to each. Before I have completed one, it becomes almost as real as if some jolly Aunt Jemima were right here at hand."

THE HEAD, arms and body of the doll are all made in one piece, using chocolate-brown cambric. Using the pattern, she cuts eight bodies from a yard of material. Doubling the material—the front and the back are the same—she can cut both at the same time. Using a one-fourth-inch seam, the two pieces are stitched together, leaving the bottom open. Turned right side out, the seams are gently pressed down and this head-arms-body is ready to be stuffed. Mrs. Hauck uses cotton. Nip by nip she presses it tightly into hands, arms etc. with a pencil until it looks smooth and feels almost as hard as if it were filled with sand. This requires patience, but it makes the body look neat, and firm enough to sit smartly upright on the electric appliance.

When Mrs. Hauck has this body smoothly rounded with packing, she turns under the bottom edge, and around it runs a draw string of heavy linen thread. She then fits a mayonnaise or fruit jar cover over the cotton and tightens the draw string to hold the cover in place. Then cutting around from the cambric cloth, making it a one-half-inch seam larger than the top, she turns under the edge and sews this over the can top to cover the entire bottom. It gives a neat appearance and keeps the can top from scratching the appliance. That completes the head, arms and body of her mammy. She is then ready to dress it.

For the dress Mrs. Hauck uses a firmly-woven print so that the skirt sleeves and headdress stand out perkily. It takes one-and one-eighth yards for the toaster cover and one and one-third yards for the mixer. The pattern is the same for both, except the skirt of the doll used on the mixer is four inches longer than that for the toaster.

Some people when ordering have sent material for the dress to match their kitchen curtains. Others have asked to have the doll dressed in a certain color to go with their kitchen. Others have asked to have the doll dressed in either a large or small red check, or in the multi-colored, quilt block print, or the red bandanna cloth. The latter is particularly popular, as it goes so well with the mammy idea.

THE WAIST is nothing more than fashioning three, three-eighth-inch folds over each shoulder attaching them to the body at the center waist line back and front, then joining them back and front under the arms. The sleeves are four and one-half inches long and eight inches wide to make them very full. The top is gathered and set in at the shoulder like any sleeve. The bottom is hemmed, and a draw string run one-fourth inch up. This is tightened at the wrist and held in place by a few stitches. After the doll is completed, the sleeves are pressed midway to make them flare nicely—that is why they were cut so long.

The skirt is made by using two fourteen-inch lengths of the yard wide material for the toaster, and two eighteen-inch lengths for the mixer. This makes a very full skirt which stands out as if hooped as the mammy sits on the appliance. The skirt has a three-eighth-inch hem at the bottom and at the top. Through the top is run a draw string. The skirt is then put on over the waist, gathers evenly distributed, and the draw string tightened at the waist to hold the skirt in place. It is not sewed onto the waist so that it can be easily taken off for laundering if it becomes dusty or soiled.

The crisp white organdy apron is six inches long and twelve inches wide. It has a three-fourth-inch hem at the bottom, feather stitched in some bright color. The ends of the inch-wide twenty-inch long strings are also hemmed with feather stitching. The strings when tied at the back stand out crisply. There is a tiny tuck three-fourths inch above apron hem.

The bandanna-like headdress is made of the same material as the dress. It is a triangular piece from a twelve-inch square, which makes two. Using a narrow hem, this is fitted on, so that the apex of the triangle stands upright, twisted so that the right side of the material is faceward. The other two corners are tied in a single knot just in front of the first one, and caught with thread at the sides of the center one so that they stand out like rabbit ears. Pins are used to hold them in place while they are fashioned after which they are caught with a few stitches to hold the headdress firmly on the head.

The features are then embroidered on the face using red, black and white embroidery thread. The white outline at center mouth gives the appearance of teeth to contrast strikingly with the red lips and brown background. A chocolate-brown strand of embroidery thread is tied around the neck to simulate a more natural neck line.

The final touch is put on with the earrings sewed directly onto the headdress about where the ears should be, They are copper fish rod rings, (The kind through which a fish line reels.) They can be bought in small quantities or by the gross in any hardware or sports shop.

WHEN THE mammy is completed, she is ready to be flounced over the toaster or mixer. The firm body rests directly on top of the appliance, and the full skirt completely covers it as the hem of the skirt touches the "floor"—table top or shelf. Not a whit of the toaster or mixer shows. There the mammy sits to make a colorful-attention-arresting item to brighten the kitchen.

These mammies also make nice door stops. Mrs. Hauck makes them with the fourteen-inch length skirt. For a living room though, she does not use the print material. She prefers a crisp rayon taffeta or metallic cloth with a thread or two of silver or gold running through it. To hold the mammy in position, and to give weight to hold back the door, the doll is set on a glass jar filled with clean sand. It completely covers the jar.