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Enid Hicks has a way with stuffed toys and it is paying off for her. During World War II when toys were scarce in the stores, she began making stuffed animals and dolls for her little friends, and soon found that the demand for them was tremendous. For awhile she took orders in her home for particular toys, but later found that making them up several at a time and putting them out in retail stores on consignment was more efficient. The stores in Los Gatos, California, like to display her hand-mades, and sell the toys for 33¹/3 per cent commission. This may seem like a lot, but remember that the stores can get a higher price for your toys than you can, as a rule, and further, they can give you ideas about other items that their customers wish to buy.

For instance, one of the shops that handles Mrs. Hicks's stuffed toys told her that doll clothes, done up in packaged sets, were in demand, and taking advantage of this information, she now makes cunning baby layette sets, boxing them in pink and blue boxes to sell for $2.95. The layettes consist of a flannel nightie, sacque, diaper and shirt which she makes up in different sizes for baby dolls the store sells. She uses pinking shears to cut these layettes, which necessitates little sewing. She buys tiny pink and blue enamel baby pins, and pins the diaper in each set with a pin matching its box, making a most attractive set, dear to the hearts of little girls.

The stores also commission her to make doll dresses for the dolls they display, and these she makes up from inexpensive curtain material and the larger scraps from her workbasket. The prices for these run from $1.50 up to $5, depending upon how much handwork she has put into them.

Mrs. Hicks usually has one or more large sized rag dolls and animals on display in the stores, for which she takes orders, but these she does not produce in quantity because of their expense. Instead, she has found that smaller sized animals are the best sellers, mainly because they are easier for little tots to carry and play with, and then, too, they sell for a more nominal sum. They are easier to make and may be made from small scraps of material and they use less kapok or cotton for stuffing, which is a big item in hand-made toys. She does not advise your buying new material for the toys unless you can get remnants or mill end pieces, as the cost of material will cut down on your profits.

WHEN SHE began making the toys, Mrs. Hicks begged or borrowed the patterns from her friends, and she also watched the pattern books for them. She traced all of them onto heavier paper, as the pattern tissue soon wears through. As she grew more proficient she changed the patterns somewhat, so that now most of her toys are unusual and more her own. She also has designed some of her own patterns.

Baby stores love to display her handmade ducks, bunnies, giraffes, Scotties, elephants, donkeys and zebras, one of which often goes into the box along with a gift purchase for a new baby. A stuffed monkey she makes is more elaborate and sells to older children, while the beanbags she has designed go to children of almost any age group. At Easter time, she makes up an extra number of bunnies and ducks, and at Christmas sees that she has an extra large assortment of all her toys, both in the stores, and in a reserve supply at her home. Her hobby of toy making is so interesting to her that when she is in another city or town she always visits toy stores or toy departments to find new ideas for her hobby, and to keep up with what people are buying in her line.

She makes most of her toys out of printed cotton material, using contrasting plain colors for the ears, feet and tails. A sitting-up bunny, always popular, holds an orange or yellow carrot between his paws and has pert dental-floss whiskers. Clever finishing touches are highly important, and often make the difference between a good seller and a commonplace toy. Cotton rug yarn may be used for the giraffe's neck-trimming, and small bits of the same yarn give the little donkey lush fringed eyelashes to match his mane. Touches such as these may be worked out as you go along.

One of Mrs. Hicks's favorites is a girl bunny which has a rag doll body and a bunny head. She puts a simple print dress on her, and sometimes a felt hat with two slits for the long ears. These bring $5 and are about ten inches tall. The ducks are very simple, about three inches tall and very popular for baby gifts, selling for $1, as do the beanbags. Donkeys and zebras sell for $1.25 while giraffes are $1.98. The monkeys bring $3.50. The tiny Scottie, a cute mascot for a teen-ager, or toy for a tot, sells for $1.25. These prices may vary in different parts of the country, and local store managers can best advise you on this point.

Button eyes should be sewed on with heavy cord and sewed firmly completely through the head from side to side, attaching both buttons at once. The eyes must be firmly anchored because young children often chew on them, a dangerous practice if the button should become dislodged and the child should choke.

ONE OF the clever touches Mrs. Hicks has added to her toys is a printed cloth tag, naming her products. Since Barr was Mrs. Hicks's maiden name, she had the legend "Toys by Barr—Los Gatos" made up in quantity at Montgomery Ward's. She stitches these to a seam of the toy, identifying herself as the maker, thus perhaps selling another one of her toys by the tiny advertisement. The tags are regular identification tags for clothing which are printed and made up to order, several dozen to a card, ready to cut off when needed. It adds a small touch of quality to a home-made article.

A round turtle with felt legs and head, button eyes, and bright print body stuffed with beans also sells for $1, as does a frog with an embroidered face. These are very easy to design and make, and need only to be three or four inches long.

BEANS ARE one of Mrs. Hicks's problems, since they have gone up somewhat in price, but there seems to be no substitute for them. Macaroni breaks and is apt to become gummy; pebbles won't do for quantity production and will wear out ordinary material too fast. Garbanzos (a Mexican bean) used to be cheaper, but now they are higher in price, too. So, when making beanbags, there is nothing else to do but to watch the bean counters at the grocery store, and purchase the least expensive you can find.

Kapok, too, is expensive, but is the best for stuffing as cotton packs down into hard unattractive lumps. In a letter to Profitable Hobbies a reader recently suggested using milkweed floss for stuffing, if it is obtainable near you. It can be gathered from the fields and left in the pods, stored in paper bags, until you are ready to use it. Since it is as buoyant and light as kapok, Mrs. Hicks feels that this is an excellent idea and should be taken advantage of if milkweed grows in your vicinity.

The monkey made by Mrs. Hicks and shown in the photograph is a rather special stuffed toy and as monkeys usually do, each one has a personality all his own which makes him fun to work on. First, obtain a pattern of a monkey from the pattern books (most all of them have a monkey doll pattern). Your imagination can then go to work on how to fashion it. Mrs. Hicks uses velvet, velveteen, corduroy or wool coating scraps to make his body and face. The hands, feet, ears and hat are made of contrasting felt or a stiffer wool or velvet than the body. Felt is expensive if you have to purchase it especially, so she advises that you reserve the stiffer woolen materials for this use.

Black corduroy is used to make the body of one monkey, small scraps of coral and yellow velvet for the face and chin pieces, and tan woolen coating material for the hands, feet and ears.

First, the hand pieces, which are cut out like paws, are machine-stitched onto the arms. As these pieces are usually of lighter colored material than the body, use a lighter colored thread. Stitch all of the light parts first before changing to the darker thread for the body.

The fingers and feet are delineated before stuffing by stitching on the machine. You may want to draw the hands on the paw-pieces before stitching. Be sure to stitch the left hand on the left-curving paw, and the right hand on the right-curving one.

After the arms and legs are stitched, stuff them, then stitch up the body and stuff it. Sew legs and arms, stuffed with cotton or kapok, or milkweed floss, to the body with Number 5 crochet cotton, by hand, whipping the seams securely.

Then head and face pieces are stitched together, and the contrasting colors used here can make a delightful monkey face. Mrs. Hicks used a scrap of white poodle-cloth for the chin of one monkey, thereby giving him droll, fuzzy chin whiskers that children loved. Shoe-button eyes are the best if you can find them; if not, small black, brown or gold ones will do. The nose and mouth are embroidered on with red or black, and the monkey is finished, except for his curving tail which is stuffed and sewn to the body last.

If you are serious about making and selling stuffed toys, you will get many ideas by visiting the toy stores, gift and baby shops in your town. Dolls are very expensive nowadays, and rag dolls are always in demand. If your toys are well made, and have clever personal touches there will be a demand for them. There are many good patterns in the pattern books, but be careful not to make any to sell that are copyrighted, such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Raggedy Ann or Andy, and so on. But you will soon find a favorite pattern which you can change to suit yourself, and many original ideas will occur to you which will help make your toys unique and different.

MRS. MARGUERITE SULLIVAN, proprietor of the Porch Window, a gift shop handling Mrs. Hicks's toys, has been kind enough to give some pointers to handicraft makers. She emphasizes that gift shop owners are always looking for clever, unusual hand-made articles for their customers. They must be well made, she points out; and the different and individual touches, such as Mrs. Hicks puts on her toys, are always watched for eagerly.

The handicraft maker usually takes samples of things he or she makes to the store, and asks the shopkeeper to look at them and place orders for those which he feels will sell. Mrs. Sullivan says that if the article is different, and if it is better made and sells a little cheaper than factory made similar articles, it is almost sure of finding an eager market.

It is not good to price your article too high. Although the average income is much higher now than heretofore; still, living expenses are high, too, and there is not much money for extras. Buyers still look for bargains, and if they can find a hand-made article, cleverly and well made, and a little less expensive than the factory made articles, they will buy at once.

Mrs. Sullivan says that she buys either outright or sells on consignment the hand-made articles that are brought to her gift shop. Often a handicraft maker will bring his or her articles in a basket and sell them at so much apiece to her. Sometimes, he will bring only one example of each item and she will offer to take a certain number of each one and sell them on 33¹/3 per cent commission. It all depends upon how the handicraft maker wishes to sell them.

She also gave some good tips on wholesale outlets for handicraft makers, if they wish to sell their wares in large, commercial lots. On the Pacific Coast, those who have a large amount of items to sell and wish to have their output handled by wholesalers, who will place the items with the retail stores, may contact the Arretta King Company, Western Merchandise Mart, 1355 Market Street, San Francisco, California, distributors of gift wares and handicraft items to retail outlets. The Merchandise Mart displays the gift items in booths and takes large orders from buyers who in turn distribute the articles to gift shops and department stores all over the country. As you can see, this would call for a large production of items, as they would order by the dozens of items, and would definitely put the handicraft maker into business if he had an item that sold well, and if he could supply the demand for dozens of his item.

You would have to take a decreased profit on each item, however, as there would be two cuts into the price of the item: one for the wholesale distributor and one for the retailer; whereas, by going direct to the retailer there is only one discount. However, if you are able to put out a large amount of goods, the amount of money you would take in would increase in relation to your output.

E.H. Vorhees of the Arretta King Co. stresses that his company handles only those products which fit into its needs and must be allowed to use its own methods of selection. The company cannot enter into any lengthy correspondence and will not be responsible for any sample material sent to the company unless requested by the company. The maker of the object must also pay all transportation costs to and from the company.

MRS. SULLIVAN advises hobbyists outside the Pacific Coast area to look in the classified section of your telephone book if you live in or near a large city. By looking under Gifts or Toys or Wholesale Distributors, you should be able to find something similar to the Merchandise Mart in San Francisco. Write them, telling them what you have to offer, your approximate price, and how much you can supply of your items. That should bring results.

Watch the stores for ideas. Watch their prices and try to make your articles better, with more tricky, individual touches. And offer your items at a little lower price. Make your animals and toys different and you will find markets for them. Many businesses have been started by some clever person's inventiveness. When you have made something different from anyone else, the world may beat a path to your door, just as in the old saw about the better mouse trap. It's true. People always want something different to give or show to others. It's just plain human nature. Take advantage of it.