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Discovered! 505
Odd Enterprises

Hidden Dollars

How to Make
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Small Business
of Your Own

You Can Own
a Business

Smiling, this young housewife added: "There are many avenues open to women who want to commercialize an item which they make at home. Any woman who sews, for instance, can start a home enterprise on a piggy-bank scale, for most of the operating costs will be absorbed in usual living expenses. I know, for I've been doing it now for about a year! Then, too, modern materials and techniques and gadgets for the sewing machine—never available to our grandmothers—open the whole field of sewing to anybody who wants to turn her needle for profit."

Today in Mrs. Thomas E. Hogarty's sunny upstairs workroom in her Asbury Park, New Jersey, home, pretty and practical aprons for gift-giving hang from hooks along one wall as Virginia Hogarty sews away on still another apron, retracing her stitches, deliberately fortifying the tie-strings for a much used life in some busy woman's world.

Asked what prompted her to settle on gift items, she explained that everybody at one time or another is having a birthday, a housewarming, graduation, or going to an engagement shower. "So the demand for something to take to a friend holds up throughout the year," said Mrs. Hogarty.

LIKE SO many stories of success, this one had an unexpected beginning. It all started a little over a year ago when Mrs. Hogarty was presented with the problem of Christmas presents for her children's teachers. With not much money to spend on such extras, she began to think about something she could make! She loved to sew. Why not make a garden apron for each teacher? Almost every woman who lives in a suburban area does some garden work.

Mrs. Hogarty set to work and made a couple of aprons of sturdy denim—practical for heavy duty in the garden. "With good-size, serviceable pockets, too," she adds. "To give the aprons a dash of color, I appliqued a 'watering can' (copied from a child's picture book) on one of the pockets. I made this of bright red chintz and embroidered a cluster of flowers in the middle of it." Her two little daughters were thrilled—and so were the teachers who received the aprons that Christmas. Everybody who saw them wanted to know where they were for sale!

That was the start! In no time at all Mrs. Hogarty was right in the middle of sewing her way into a home business. Neighbors and friends began asking for her aprons, and then friends of friends, until her customer demands outnumbered what she could find time to supply. She has not yet placed her aprons in any shops (although one gift shop manager keeps asking her to change her mind and fill wholesale orders); but with a husband and two small children to care for, Mrs. Hogarty feels for the present she cannot give more than about three hours a day to her "business"; and her private customers seem to buy all the aprons she can turn out in that time.

MRS. HOGARTY'S aprons are made of chintz, broadcloth, denim, organdy, all fashioned on one simple, basic pattern. Her aprons are interesting not only for color and design, but for special features, "I sew them so a woman can wear them constantly—the tie-strings are double-stitched so that they won't pull loose as a result of frequent tying," explains Mrs. Hogarty. Usually, she has six to eight aprons in work at a time. "I always have a box of hand-sewing ready, too (flowers, for trimming, are put on by hand); so when I just have a little time there is always something ready to do."

After several months of sewing aprons, Mrs. Hogarty has learned many short-cuts; and these help increase her profits. She now turns out an apron in a little less than one hour. The materials run her about 60 cents and the finished item sells for $1.50 to $2, depending on the detail work.

Interested in doing some sewing yourself? What could you make to sell? "The first thing to do," says Mrs. Hogarty, "is to decide on an item you have made often and enjoy making. Whenever you find a woman conducting a successful home business, you also find, when you look into the record, years of preparation. The variety of design in apron making is what intrigues me!" This experienced sewer goes on to say: "Then, too, there is no problem of accurate fitting—so that makes fashioning aprons quite easy. But there are many interesting projects for the woman who likes to sew. Men's ties, dolls, log bags, place mats. These are some of the items a woman might make to sell. Just seize an opportunity to fill a community lack in an unusual way—and you'll be on your way to success.

"For example a woman from Ada, Oklahoma, could not buy the kind of handkerchiefs she had learned to make as a girl, so she decided to design her own. From nine yards of Irish linen Mrs. Thelma Mock made eighty-one handkerchiefs and sold them all to the same store from which she had purchased the linen. Three months later she had fifty townswomen making handkerchiefs according to her design. In a year Mrs. Mock was selling her merchandise in twelve states. By that time she had to build a small addition to accommodate her office, and she had begun to show her original creations at the important Dallas and St. Louis regional markets to which store buyers from all over the country flock. So don't for one moment think that a housewife can't branch out into a profitable career. She can if she really wants to!"

But I don't have any creative skill, someone is bound to say. Mrs. Hogarty's reply to that is: "Skill isn't inborn, it's developed by doing. After a few 'trys' you'll be surprised at what you can do!"

MRS. HOGARTY'S first bit of advice to anyone planning on selling any homemade item is this: select an article that will be in demand throughout the year—and one that is inexpensive in time and material. "Experience has taught me that small items sell more profitably than, for instance, a patchwork quilt that takes many, many weeks to make," explains Mrs. Hogarty. "Next, ask yourself: would I be apt to buy something like this if I saw it in a store? If your answer is yes, rest assured that your article has sales possibilities. If you have any doubts, try making something else."

A lot of your success depends on using ingenuity in keeping your quality up and your price tag down. Mrs. Hogarty saves money by buying fabrics at mill end stores. "You can find many good pieces of one-, and two-yard lengths in these stores at even less money than you could buy wholesale from the bolt," says Mrs. Hogarty. "The mill end stores I buy from also carry rick rack (which I use for making flower stems and leaves) and I get this for as little as fifteen yards for 25 cents.

This enterprising young woman further reduces her costs by asking friends who sew to save the little pieces they have left from the things they make. Since these women have small children, they make dresses and suits in pastel shades of pique, broadcloth, and organdy. These left-over pieces make pretty flowers which Mrs. Hogarty uses as pockets on her aprons. One very popular model which this housewife makes features a big tulip as a pocket, the apron made to match kitchen color schemes. Mrs. Hogarty keeps a number of aprons on hand to sell to customers who need one in a hurry. But a big percentage of her business is done on special order. Customers have a lot of ideas, too—someone wants a particular color, or a different design, and Mrs. Hogarty strives to please!

BUSIEST SEASON of the year for this energetic young woman is fall. Then Christmas shopping gets under way and brings more customers than Mrs. Hogarty can handle comfortably. "This is the volume of sales that many women are apt to visualize when they think 'how nice it would be to have my own business,'" says Mrs. Hogarty.

"It is nice," Mrs. Hogarty acknowledges, "but it doesn't remain that nice throughout the entire year. There is a decided drop in sales the day after Christmas and from then until just before Easter many days go by when not one customer rings the front door bell. So don't expect a home business to bring in a steady income fifty-two weeks a year. It doesn't! But it does afford the woman who must remain at home an opportunity to make a little extra money. With prices where they are—what family today can't use more money?"

To date, all of Mrs. Hogarty's sales have resulted from her own contented customers. One woman tells a neighbor, the neighbor in turn tells a friend and before she knows how it all happened her telephone bell is ringing with more potential customers. During pre-Christmas months, she might sell as many as sixty aprons a month!

"Another way of getting customers," says Mrs. Hogarty, "particularly if you live in a small town, is to place an advertisement in your local weekly newspaper. You might word it something like this: 'Every woman loves a new apron! Custom aprons are our specialty—attractively gift-wrapped for only $1.50!' Or prepare a mailing list and send out simple announcements to relatives and friends, using government postal cards. Such announcements are inexpensive to get out and you can make them attractive by simply pasting a colorful gift-wrapping sticker in one corner. Mrs. Hogarty thinks that with a bit of advertising it would be reasonably simple for anyone with a knack for sewing to get started selling aprons. Once you are started, she says, word-of-mouth advertising will keep the seamstress busy.

As a career-minded housewife, you may not be concerned with tax problems—but it is still a good idea to keep records of all your sales. It is important to know when you are making a profit, and you should know what your customers buy and how much. So get a small order book at your dime store; date every order; specify whether it has been paid for or charged. Note any special request, price quoted, size, and essential information.

MRS. HOGARTY uses mass-production methods to save time and to perfect techniques in turning out her aprons. Because she uses a special attachment on her sewing machine for making the very narrow hems on the tie-strings, she begins with these and makes a dozen at a time. Then she makes the skirts of several aprons. Decorative touches are the final step. "Working on six or eight similar aprons at a time saves changing the color of the thread on your machine so often," says Mrs. Hogarty. "Another time saver is the novel iron-tape which can be used as trimming. It's washable! It's helpful, also, always to keep an iron set up for ready use. Pressing back rough edges is much quicker than basting them back!"

Virginia Hogarty tries to feature one particular type apron for each season of the year. From September till Christmas she is busy turning out Christmas aprons. "Perfect aprons for the holiday season may be made in bright red polished cotton," says Mrs. Hogarty. "Sew a cluster of holly leaves to a green satin bow and pin this to the pocket." Mrs. Hogarty suggests that when making a gored-skirted apron you try scoring the seams with holly-green rick rack or braid. There are so many ways to individualize a Christmas apron! Whip occasional clusters of little bells on the seams or at the waist. Fashion a gored-skirted apron of white organdy and cover one seam with red satin, the next with green, and so on around the apron.

Mrs. Hogarty's aprons for the Easter season feature bright flowers. Summertime aprons are tuned to outdoor use and are made mostly of denim. "Usually, I embroider garden tools on the pockets," she says, "or a replica of a package of flower seeds!"

Anyone embarking on a home business such as Mrs. Hogarty's should keep in mind that it is the personalization of the aprons that keeps customers coming back; if all they want is a plain calico apron they can usually get it at the local department store.

Here's Virginia Hogarty's credo: Imagination, not expensive materials, produce the most attractive aprons. After seeing her assortment, customers are likely to exclaim, "Now why didn't I ever think of that!" Imagination enters the picture when you get ready to decorate an apron. Mrs. Hogarty uses practically anything that has interesting form or color, including flowers, animal heads, hobby insignias, etc.

THE MANY versions of the aprons Mrs. Hogarty makes and sells are proof that she is a woman of imagination. Just to see how easily you can make a unique apron try this one designed by Mrs. Hogarty. You need one yard of 35-inch wide chartreuse chintz. Along one selvage of the material, measure 20 inches for the skirt and 5 inches each for two sashes. Clip and tear crosswide. Cut off the waistband so it measures 5 by 16 inches. The balance of the material may be used for making the tulip pocket. Now make a 2½-inch hem in the bottom of the skirt and ½-inch hems along the two sides. Gather the top of the skirt and draw it to a 15-inch width. Make a narrow hem in the sides and one end of each sash. Fold the waistband in half lengthwise, right sides together. Pleat the unfinished end of each sash and stitch it into an end of the waistband. Turn right side out and press. Insert the skirt into the waistband. Turn under the raw edges of the waistband and top-stitch it onto the skirt. Put pocket pieces and facings right sides together. Stitch around, leaving one-inch opening. Turn right side out and press. Stitch opening together by hand. Place single petal on top of two-petal piece and sew by hand to apron. Machine stitch green rick rack to apron to form stem and leaves of tulip.