Gonk Girl!

I wrote a post all about gonks last November. The original 1960s ones were designed by Richard Benson. In the 80s those little sticky message bugs used for advertising were often called gonks. And now people frequently refer to the Scandi gnomes/tomte/nisse as gonks.

I had an email from a lady in Norfolk, called Christine, saying she was having a "senior reflection moment" - and wanted to make gonks for her grandchildren for Christmas [proper vintage 1960s ones, that is] Did I have a pattern?

Well, short answer was No. So I dived down various internet rabbit holes. Yes the patterns are out there, but some people are charging a lot of money for them. Christine wanted something akin to the PlaySchool Humpty. I found lots of pictures. Some were round, some squat, some flat, some very egg shaped and some just plain weird. I wanted one that was straightforward to produce, with not too much curved stitching. And very important, with a flattish base so the little chap would go onto the shelf or bed and not fall over or roll away too easily.

So I played about with some paper and made patterns - then created the basic gonk in some spare fabric, stuffed it, and pinned on paper features. Once I was satisfied with that, I made up a proper little chap with Stash stuff, and sent the gonk,the pattern, and the instructions off in the post. 

Now Christine can see how big he will be and make her own modifications [eg adding a collar, or smile, or buttons etc] and create lots for her family.
I am calling him Al. 

And if he is a success, that will be an Al-Gonk-Win [apologies to any Dorothy Parker fans]