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Fay settled on the name Little Squaw bags for several reasons. First, leathercraft similar to this was made by nearly all the early Indian tribes. Then, the squaw dresses and skirts have been very popular with women and girls, and the name, Little Squaw, followed this trend. Also, Oklahoma is Indian country. Indians of all tribes have entered almost every phase of public life. Intermarriage of the Indian and white race has created a heritage of Indian influence that makes itself felt over much of Oklahoma. Fay, herself, is a small part Cherokee Indian.

For several years Fay has been marketing her hobby items—artificial flowers, pot holders, dolls, and bean bag frogs—through stores and souvenir shops in and around Tulsa. One day in a souvenir shop she met an Indian trader who buys leather goods from Indian tribes of United States and Mexico. He in turn markets these articles on a wholesale basis to souvenir shops all over the country.

Among his purchases was a quantity of women's drawstring suede leather handbags which he had been unable to sell. Their conversation ended in a deal for Fay to tear up and remake the handbags into bags for small girls. After several months of spare time work, the job was finished; but this new hobby article had so interested Fay that she was not satisfied to quit making the bags for small girls.

"My first thought," recalls Mrs. Corbly, "was that I might spend money for hides and supplies to make a quantity of the bags and then not be able to market them. However, I figured that if the Indian trader could sell the small bags, I could too. Also, I was well established in making the small bags, and I had all the equipment necessary for the project."

FEW TOOLS are needed to make things from soft leather. The family sewing machine will sew soft leather if the foot pressure and thread tensions are properly adjusted. Special needles for leatherwork can be purchased through your sewing machine supply store; however, regular needles for forty to sixty thread will sew soft leathers satisfactorily. Scissors, a leather punch to make holes for the drawstrings, and bead needles are the only hand tools necessary for this kind of leatherwork.

Leather most suited for making small bags and other small leather articles is usually called suede and lining leathers. Suede has a nap finish on both sides. Lining leathers are lightweight leathers which are usually tanned smooth on one side with a nap finish on the other side. Suede and the various kinds of lining leathers are dyed in a great variety of colors which make them ideal for making small leather articles. Some kinds of the soft leathers are embossed lightly on the smooth side, which makes a pleasing appearance on the finished bag.

Since leathercraft has become such a widespread hobby, most cities of any size have one or more stores that stock the various kinds of leather, lacing, and other materials used by leathercraft hobbyists. At present in Tulsa, soft lining leathers and suede leather can be purchased for thirty-four cents and up a square foot according to grade. Hides vary in size from four to eight square feet each. By making quantity purchases of hides, the price is usually reduced accordingly.

Plastic lacing ¹/8 inch wide and in a great variety of colors costs $1.15 for a 100-yard spool with a reduced price in quantity purchases. For drawstrings in the small handbags, plastic lacing is more durable than leather lacing; and the type which has a cord inner lining will not stretch as plain plastic or leather lacing will. For handbag decorations, Indian seed beads, bugle beads, sequins, silk bead thread, and beeswax for use on the bead thread can be purchased at variety stores, hobby supply shops, and Indian stores.

As a beginning one should buy three or four small hides of different colors, plastic lacing in three or four colors, a variety of Indian seed beads, bugle beads, and sequins. After the hobby is on a sound basis and a market established, quantity buying will increase the end profits.

"Looking at the profitable angle of any hobby," says Mrs. Corbly, "the original cost of materials very much regulates what one can make from the hobby. For this reason, whenever practical, a person should shop around and buy enough of each material to get quantity prices. This buying policy will apply profitably after you have mastered the making of the hobby article and are selling it in quantities."

FAY HAS found that usually she can cut the parts for three Little Squaw bags from each square foot of hide depending on the amount of waste. Figure 1 shows patterns of the top and bottom pieces for a round Little Squaw bag. Figure 2 shows the patterns for the top and bottom pieces of a patchwork round Little Squaw bag. This patchwork pattern utilizes the small pieces of the many colors of leather left over after cutting other types of bags. From these basic round patterns, a person can easily with a little experimenting make patterns to cut the parts for oval and other shapes of bags.

To mark out a hide ready for cutting, Fay places the hide smoothly on a table. By using cardboard patterns, she marks out the entire hide after which she cuts it up and stacks the pieces in proper piles. She then punches the holes in the top pieces for the plastic drawstring. The patchwork tops must be sewn together before they can be marked and punched for the drawstring.

The top pieces of the bags are then decorated with beadwork in various designs, using Indian seed beads, bugle beads, and sequins all in brilliant colors contrasting with the colors of the leather. The great variety of bead designs, leather fringes, and appliqued designs either glued or sewn to the top pieces of the bags is practically unlimited due to the great variety of colors of the beads and leathers.

To assemble a Little Squaw bag, Fay first sews the ends of the top piece into a tube shape with the design on the inside. The bottom edge of the top piece is then sewn to the bottom piece and then turned right side out. This places the seams on the inside of the bag. Heavy duty thread in colors to match the leather is used to sew the bags together.

Next, Fay glues a cardboard reinforcing disc in the bottom of each bag. These small cardboard discs cut from cardboard boxes, when glued in the bottoms of the bags, help to hold the bottom of the bag in shape.

The drawstring for the top of the bag is made from two pieces of plastic lacing fourteen inches long. These lacings are threaded through the holes in the bag top and knotted, thereby making two loops for carrying the bag.

"Various color combinations of the materials for Little Squaw bags can be utilized to match the seasons of the year and the holiday season thereby helping in the sales of the bags," Fay says. "Green and red color combinations are good the year 'round but especially at Christmas time. White, blue, pink and light brown are suitable for spring and summer sales while the darker colors are best for fall."

AT THE Tulsa State Fair each year, Fay has her Little Squaw bags on sale at a hobby product or leathercraft booth. She gets some publicity, meets other hobbyists, and then realizes a neat profit for her trouble.

However, through several years experience in marketing small hobby items, Fay has found that selling in wholesale lots to large department stores handling little girls' clothes, children's specialty shops, and souvenir shops is the most satisfactory way to market items like the Little Squaw bags. Fay keeps accurate records of sales, purchases of materials, and car mileage to figure income tax returns each year.

Wishing to make connections with a chain of large department stores, Fay contacted the general manager of such a group of stores. He and his staff were impressed with the Little Squaw bags and immediately gave her a letter of introduction to present to the individual store managers who could purchase Little Squaw bags on invoice at $7.20 per dozen.

Since this chain of stores consists of more than 100 separate units, Fay had a permanent outlet for her Little Squaw bags. Also, more than half of these stores are located in Oklahoma, so on a two-, or three-day trip she can visit a great number of the units. The store managers can purchase on invoice in dozen lots, and Fay receives her check from the general office on a monthly basis.

"Although department stores are a good outlet for a hobby item of this kind," says Mrs. Corbly, "their sales are seasonal—mostly during the holiday season; and to make a hobby really profitable one must make sales the year 'round, so I sell to the department stores during the holiday season, then in the early spring I contact souvenir shops located at resorts and on good highways. These outlets have a sales period of the tourist season covering spring, summer, and fall of each year. Also many airports and bus stations have concession stands which purchase hobby items for souvenir resale.

"It's not hard to get someone interested in what you have for sale. Just ask for the manager or buyer of the department store, or the owner of the souvenir or specialty shop and show them what you have for sale. The hobby product will usually speak for itself. Remember just to be yourself—be at ease—the buyer or shop owner is just a person like yourself; and a little good-natured friendliness may pave the way to a substantial sale."

FAY SELLS Little Squaw bags wholesale in dozen lots at $7.20 a dozen. At this time her material costs average about $2.15 per dozen, which leaves her a profit of about $5.05 on each dozen bags. Material costs of the bags vary, since the price of leather is variable. Fay has bought hides for as low as twenty-two cents a square foot, which would lower the cost accordingly.

Fay has had quite a lot of experience in marketing small hobby articles during the last few years. From this she has found that usually to make a hobby profitable a person must make the item in quantities and sell likewise; and for the average person the wholesale basis is the only way one can get this volume of sales. If possible, sales should be made on a cash or invoice basis rather than on a consignment basis where the goods are paid for after they have been sold.

Not wishing to get into business too deeply, yet wanting individualism in her work, Fay adopted a business name, made a drawing for a printing cut, and had decorative business cards printed to leave at the stores and souvenir shops she visits for sales. In this way, should the store or shop run out of Little Squaw bags before she makes her next sales trip, it can order a supply from her address on the card.

Fay has always had a hobby of some kind since childhood; but she did not try a commercially profitable hobby until about five years ago when she started selling decorative kitchen flowers, pot holders, novelty dolls, and bean bag frogs to stores in and around Tulsa. About this time she was taking treatment for arthritis in her hands and arms. The doctor told her that the continual use of her hands in making the artificial flowers was very beneficial in retaining the use of her fingers and helped in her recovery.