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It wasn't long until Mrs. Mill was to get her wish. One morning her telephone rang and it was her friend who made the felt cut-outs. She had been approached by the owner of a knit shop, in the Clayton, Missouri, shopping area, to make a number of sample cut-outs to be displayed in her shop. She wanted her customers to be able to order them for the sweaters and dresses they knitted under her supervision. At the time Dorothy's friend was quite busy. She had more orders than she could comfortably take care of. Since Dorothy had been so fascinated with the cut-outs, would she consider making the samples, and all of the orders, for the knit shop? Of course Dorothy was very happy and did not hesitate in saying, "yes."

Mrs. Mill knew very little about designing but her sister, Jane Betz, was an excellent designer. Dorothy promptly told Jane and her friend, Irene Dillard, about the "cut-outs" and the indirect request from the knit shop. They were as enthusiastic about them as Dorothy was. So, the three St. Louis housewives decided to venture into what has turned out to be the very profitable and interesting business of making felt cutouts.

THE FIRST thing Dorothy, Jane and Irene did was to buy supplies. They invested $15 in several colors of wool felt in ¹/3-yard pieces, beads, sequins and thread. These items were purchased retail. Wholesale prices would have been less expensive but the quantity they would have been required to buy would have been much greater than their needs. Then Jane designed a dozen "cutouts" and Dorothy and Irene made them up in actual size from the colored felt. These completed cut-outs were then glued lightly on heavy black or white paper, eight by ten inches, covered with a piece of clear cellophane to keep them clean and put into a large loose leaf notebook.

The women wanted an original name for the cut-outs, a name to set them apart from all others, so they decided to call them "Dittys." With various colors of felt they glued the name Dittys in large letters on the front of their sample book. It is a name that is easy to remember and customers could say, "May I see the Ditty book." The book was then placed on display in the knit shop and the three women were ready to receive orders. That was three years ago. Today these Dittys can be purchased through four stores—a large department store in St. Louis which has two branch stores, one in Clayton and one in South St. Louis, and a knit shop located in Chicago, Illinois.

Should you see a teen-ager wearing a cuddly wool sweater with a pair of red felt hearts, trimmed in pearls, sewn on the left shoulder—that is a Ditty! Dittys are made of colored felt and in a great variety of designs such as pink elephants, yellow bird cages, blue umbrellas, red hearts, brown beehives with small bees flying about them, brown horses' heads, gray donkeys, entwined initials and many other designs just as clever. The more Dittys one sews on the sweater, on the sleeves, across the back, around the ribbing or on the front, the more popular it is. Because there are so many differently designed Dittys they have proved their versatility—everyone wears them! Several of them sewn close to the hem of a wool skirt are attractive, as they are also on wide girdle belts, jersey blouses or dresses, knitted sweaters or dresses, winter stoles, berets, fabric bags and on the pockets or lapels of suits and jackets. Mothers have also found them suitable to use on many children's clothes. Letters, trimmed in flowers to spell out a child's name, sewn on a sweater will readily identify it in the school cloak room. Since Dittys are made up on order only, they can be obtained in colors to harmonize with any costume.

TEAM WORK is important in any business and making Dittys is no exception. Jane does all of the designing. She is continually leafing through magazines, of all types, and children's picture books for ideas she can use. After she has designed a Ditty, on paper, and feels satisfied that it needs no improving, her next job is to make a pattern of it. To show me how she goes about making the pattern she used a pair of fish, a male and a female. They are usually sewn on a sweater in the following manner: the male is sewn on the right front, close to the ribbing looking up at the female, and the female is sewn on the left front close to the shoulder. The eye of the female is closed and embroidery work gives it a shy look. There are bubbles, which are glass beads, floating from the male to the female. To make the patterns she cut the fish apart . . . the fins and gills away from the body, the two differently shaped lips away from the heads and the two sections of the eye apart. Of course this makes quite a lot of different and unrecognizable pieces of the two fish . . . twelve of them. Then, out of thin cardboard, she makes a durable pattern of each of the twelve pieces: two bodies, two lips, two eye sections (pupil and white), four fins and two gills.

The next step in making the Ditty is turned over to Dorothy and Irene. Perhaps the fish are ordered in white. All of the patterns, excepting those of the lips and pupil of the eyes will be placed on the wrong side of white felt and traced around. The small pupil pattern will be placed on blue felt and the lips on bright red. Cutting out the small pieces of felt, and some are very small indeed, is probably the most tedious part. With experience the women have found that sharp manicuring scissors are very effective when it comes to cutting around curves or getting into intricate places. Average sewing scissors are used in all other cutting.

When the twelve pieces of felt are cut, they are then ready to be reassembled. The two eye pieces are placed into position and sewn by hand, with very small stitches, from the back of the fish. The fins and gills are sewn into position as are the lips. Since the felt has body and thickness, Dorothy and Irene have no trouble in keeping their stitches invisible. When the separate felt pieces are sewn on top of the felt body of the fish it gives a slightly raised effect and is very lifelike. Hand sewing will withstand constant dry cleaning and, so far, the women have not found a glue that will do the same job as successfully.

Next there is the embroidery work to be done. Both fish have thin lines on their tails, fins and gills and the closed eye of the female is embroidered. To keep the completed Ditty clean, it is wrapped in a piece of cellophane and slipped into an envelope. Several glass beads, which are the bubbles, are also enclosed. Then it is mailed to the department store from which the order was received or to the knit shop and then delivered to the customer. The women only take orders for making the Dittys; they do not take the responsibility of sewing them on a customer's garment.

After Jane has made patterns of the many pieces that make up a Ditty, it takes Dorothy or Irene from one to four hours to cut out the felt pieces, sew them into the proper place, do the embroidery work and sew on the beads or sequins. The price of the Ditty depends upon the amount of time it takes to complete it. The more separate pieces to be assembled, and the more embroidery and detail work to be done, the more time naturally is required. A very popular design is a colorful merry-go-round horse with musical notes placed around it. Fifteen different pieces make up this Ditty and it takes approximately three and one quarter hours to complete. Because each one is hand finished there really are no two exactly alike. All of the detailed pieces such as small flowers, flower centers, bows, leaves, ribbons, small circles, bills of birds and others have no patterns but are cut free hand as they are needed. Thus, they are individual!

THE FIRST sample book of Dittys contained felt cut-outs that represented different hobbies, as, for instance, a pair of tennis rackets for tennis, the head of a horse for riding, flowers for gardening, skating figures for skating and several others. From time to time Jane has designed and added many new ones besides those representing hobbies. There are now over seventy-five different Dittys from which one may choose. At the present time she has just completed a colorful and active jazz band, with musical notes to be sewn around it, which she is quite proud of. "Each Ditty has a code number. That code number is also on an envelope, in the women's files, which contains the original design, the patterns and all of the color combinations that particular Ditty has been ordered made up in.

Until a year ago the knit shops in Clayton and Chicago were the only places these Dittys were sold. At that time the owner of the knit shop in Clayton decided to go out of business. The department store, which was located very near, purchased all of her unused yarn and other knitting supplies. It was then that the department store decided to purchase, from Jane, Dorothy and Irene, the sample book of Dittys that was on display in the knit shop, at $200, to be used in their own art and needle work department. Two other sample books were, ordered for use in the other two stores. Since the books were an outright purchase the stores may, at any time, sell any or all of these Dittys should they meet the customer's needs. Of course, this is rarely done as then they would never have a complete selection to offer their customers. New ones could be ordered but that takes time. As newly designed Dittys are added to the book they are purchased from the three women.

Should the customer desire a Ditty quickly, the clerk calls Irene or Dorothy and gives her the code number and desired colors. If there is no hurry, the order is mailed to one of them.

The knit shop in Chicago does not have a sample book. The owner visits St. Louis, sees the new Dittys and obtains the code number. When she has need for a Ditty for one of her customers or to be sewn on a knitted garment for display she writes for it, enclosing code number and preferred color.

DITTYS ARE a luxury and bring a profit of close to seventy-five percent. The felt, thread, beads and sequins are the only expense, except, of course, for the women's time. And ¹/3 yard of felt will make hundreds of small pieces. There is very little waste, for every bit of felt will have a use. A Ditty that sells through a store for $3 will net the makers $2. The retail price range of them is from $2.50 to $15. A set of three entwined initials will retail for $2.50. One customer placed an order for a group of Dittys, to be used on one sweater, amounting to $22.50.

Besides the Dittys in the sample book Jane designs and Dorothy or Irene makes up many special ones. The customer tells them what she has in mind. It may be something she has seen, she may have a picture or she may just give them a rough sketch. Once the Ditty is made and if it looks promising and there is no objection from the customer, it is placed on a new sheet of paper and added to the sample book. For this privilege the customer is charged only for the labor and material of her Ditty, not the designing. On the other hand, if the customer wishes her Ditty to be exclusive she is charged accordingly.

The experience of the three women in exclusive designing have been varied and interesting. Many customers have requested their favorite or pet dog made up in individual markings and coloring. One customer, being a western fan, ordered several western Dittys. Another, a racing enthusiast, sent them a picture of her racing car to be designed and made up in true colors. They have discovered, too, that many people are sentimental about time. In the sample book is a Cuckoo clock which is quite popular. Many times, when this has been ordered, the customer makes a request that the hands of the clock be set at a specific time.