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The result was a beautiful pair of black lace gloves that were distinctly "different" in style. Every woman to whom the friend showed the unusual gift asked Billi to make her a pair. This gave Billi an idea—she would use her spare time and make a hobby of transforming discarded bits of fur, lace, satin, wedding veils, kid, exotic prints, and other pieces of suitable material into gloves that would sell for a price mostly surpassing that received by exclusive shops.

Word spread rapidly after Billi made a few more pairs and sold them to the women who had seen her friend's gift and asked for gloves of their own. Immediately she made one very important decision—each pair would be an original design, no two pairs being alike.

BILLI WAS doing well in the operatic world as a member of the Canadian Grand Opera Company when she started this unusual craft. It was a pleasant form of relaxation to work at her gloves after long hours of rehearsal. The demand for her gloves increased rapidly, her reputation spreading through women who had been pleased with the quality of her work. When such Hollywood stars as Myrna Loy, Claudette Colbert, Joan Crawford, and Rita Hayworth began asking her to make gloves to match their glamorous outfits, she began devoting more of her time to her hobby. Before long she could sell every glove she found the time to make. Today she has a reputation for being one of California's cleverest glove designers and she has customers from every part of the United States.

Glove making can be an extremely profitable hobby for any woman who is a little needle-wise. Lying unused in every home are many pieces of fur, lace, and material that can be turned into expensive and fashionable gloves. Dressmakers and furriers also have many scraps. These can be purchased for a few cents, since to most people they have little or no value.

Should the beginning hobbyist not feel competent to design her own gloves, she can begin by using glove patterns obtained from any reliable pattern house. Once the hobbyist has become familiar with these, it is easier to branch out into your own designing as Billi has done.

But even though you are using standard patterns, there is no reason why each pair of gloves should not be different. All you need to do is use some of the variations in trimming that Billi does and you'll have an original pair each time. Furthermore, your materials will cost less, since you can effectively utilize smaller pieces. Here Billi has a bit of advice to offer: "I see no reason why both gloves in a pair have to be identical," she says. And she's proved her advice is correct by making pairs of gloves, especially for evening wear, with one glove quite different from the other.

For example, she's made a shoulder-length pair of wine-red suede, one glove embellished with a fine scroll tracery of gold thread and seed pearls and the other completely unadorned. Another pair was made of black satin, one absolutely plain and the other flaunting a heavily jewelled cuff of blazing stones.

BILLI HAS found many clever ways of using smaller pieces of material. One pair of gloves she made was brown and gold kid with one finger completely in gold and one gold strip ending in a scroll near the elbow for an effective touch. This has endless variations with, perhaps, a different color kid for the little finger extending across the back of the hand to the end of the glove. The same thing can be done with other materials in various contrasting shades.

Ornaments can also be used to give gloves that desired touch. Billi has effectively used black satin-backed crepe and made the ordinary short glove. Then detachable rhinestone ornaments were placed on the index finger and cuff.

Many times Billi has relied upon hand-painting to get that different and attractive appearance. A simple design painted on the back of a mitt with lace ruffling gave Billi just what she wanted. For a more formal glove, hand-painting goes well, too. One of Billi's designs for this type is a blue suede with cut-out straps winding up the arm to tie in a soft bow near the shoulder, the glove and straps being hand-painted.

Billi's theatrical career seems to reveal itself in her designs. Her only other specialized training was a short stretch at a Canadian art school but she follows no hard and fast rules in her designing.

THE DESIGN or sketch is the first step in the creation of a pair of gloves. This, Billi likes to show to her customers. She makes water-color sketches which give the customer a better idea of the finished product. Her inspiration may come from anywhere. She finds glove ideas in just about everything—a piece of modern music, the customer herself, art, other gloves. One pair, for example, repeated the design in the Viennese sandals of a movie star.

Billi has found that direct working with every individual for whom she makes a pair of gloves really pays off. One instance highly complimentary to Billi's work was when the husband of a customer flew from San Francisco just to pick up two pairs of gloves for his wife to wear East. With customers such as this, who are a great distance away, sketches are particularly helpful in assuring complete satisfaction.

Billi designs and makes gloves for special occasions and special costumes and any prospective hobbyist would do well to consider this angle of the hobby. Gloves for weddings are high on her list of best sellers. Typical of the gloves designed for this purpose are a pair of mitts made of narrow white lace, row on row.

It was partly the gloves designed for special occasions and costumes that brought Billi to the attention of Hollywood studios. Gloves worn by Joan Crawford in "Mildred Pierce" and "Humoresque" were examples of her needle-wise designing, as were those worn by the feminine star of "Gilda," "The Velvet Touch," and other films.

PRICES THAT can be obtained for these gloves vary. It depends on the material used, the intricacy of the designing, and the time required to make the particular glove. But the very least of them brings in a handsome sum.

Be careful to measure the size of a customer's glove. To find a person's correct size, measure her right hand around the fullest part of the hand but do not include the thumb. If, however, the person is left-handed, then measure the left hand. It is important to be careful that the tape is drawn snugly around the hand. The number of inches, six, six and one-half, seven or whatever it is, is the individual's correct size. It is always best to measure the person's hand yourself, but should the order have to be completed by mail, then the glove maker should be certain the person hasn't just guessed about her size, as women have the habit of doing all too often.

Careful attention to style, handwork, and size have made Billi's gloves popular with the ordinary woman. And be sure that you do not overlook the importance of these three points if you would succeed at this hobby. There's nothing that will make your reputation spread faster. One of Billi's customers was highly pleased with a pair of gloves made of jersey and a striking gauntlet cuff of leopard's skin. The customer liked snug fitting gloves and she made the gloves just that way and gave them a stylish touch by adding heavy cuffs with a wide flare providing just the right contrast.

BILLI PROSPERED with her hobby to such an extent that she opened a studio in a little white cottage where she now lives in Beverly Hills. This is another convenient part about glove making as a hobby. You can have your headquarters in your own home, and you need very little equipment—practically nothing you do not have right now in your sewing room. The ordinary sewing supplies are the basic equipment. Water colors and sketching materials are also essential.

Although Billi has constantly specialized in gloves, she has proved her ability at making other accessories—and, perhaps, you can, too. Sometimes it will help you to make a nice sale that would otherwise be impossible. Not being able to find time for everything, she's mostly made the other accessories for a customer to match a pair of gloves.

Nevertheless, Billi's done enough of this kind of thing to prove that you can do exactly the same thing as she has done with gloves with handbags, hand-painted or jewelled belts, and scarves. She's made the hand-painting on belts to match the hand-painting which also effectively decorates some of the gloves. For Orson Welles she designed and made intricate bags and cases with which he does his famous tricks, and for a wealthy restaurant owner she worked out and made suede scarves and gloves with contrasting colored monograms.

You may prefer the making of any one of these articles to gloves, and if you do, your procedure is practically the same. As with gloves, patterns can be obtained if you do not have a flair for designing as Billi does, and all of the patterns can be given endless variation. From there on, it's finding what your customer wants in material, color, size, and design and making just that with superb handwork.