Page 104 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

scraps of lace and silks were used to make boudoir pillows, and jewel-colored
squares of velvet and satin were trimmed with looped fringe edgings or with
pipings of a contrasting material to make plain, tailored cushions.

Three weeks before Christmas they were ready to display their work. They
persuaded a local laundry agent to rent them his window space for the three
weeks for five dollars. After the mad Christmas rush was over, they found
that they had sold every pillow they had made up and had orders for about
two dozen more to fill. They charged good prices, too. As a matter of fact,
they discovered that people seem to appreciate handwork in direct proportion
to the price.

While a handsome profit was made on the Christmas sale there wasn’t
enough money in the travel fund to take them both to Europe that year. So
they designed, and planned, and sewed all spring and summer. The
magazines were scanned for ideas, and the silk sales eagerly watched for
bargains. They managed to buy a lot of kapok and down-filled pillows in
muslin covers from a wholesaler at a price cheaper than they could make
them. During the spring, the two girls had orders from a half dozen local
families for pillows and draperies and they sold pillows steadily through the
summer for porch use. One of the local gift shops gave them an order for
pillows which the proprietor admitted were more attractive and better styled
than any she could purchase elsewhere.

Late that fall they worked busily to get enough stock ready for the Christmas
sale. They figured that even if they made too many they could be sold during
the next year. By the time the Christmas season arrived they had more
pillows than the laundry agent’s window could hold. So a vacant store on a
busy street was secured for a month and it was so attractively arranged that
people came in just to look around. The majority of them, however, evidently
left with pillows under their arms, because when two tired girls figured up
their sales after the last mad scramble Christmas eve, they found only two
pillows left, one of which had been stepped on and soiled and the other
wedged behind a counter out of sight.

So the Tosdale sisters saw Europe the next year and evidently it won’t be