Grannymar

About a month ago I promised you The Gigolo Story and finally I managed to find the instructions.

click on photo to enlarge

Right you have the instructions, off you go now and work hard!

You will require:

• Fabric for body and hat
• Plain silk,cotton or taffeta fabric for the face
• lining for body
• Vilene/interfacing to line body fabric
• Flannel for needle pages
• Wool for pompoms
• Four or five ½ inch bone rings
• Embroidery cottons for the face and to blanket stitch around the edge of the body
• 1cm wide ribbon to cover seam line at neck and make a bow at front.
• 1 metre of 2½ cm ribbon for arms and legs
• Polyester toy Filling for the head
• 1 Thimble for the end of one arm
• Small safety pins for the ear rings and a for the end of one arm and both legs.
• Card to make the pattern and for making pom-poms
• Spools of thread for sewing and for the legs
• buttons for the front of the body

Home made freehand pattern for hat, face and body.  I am sure you can make a better shape for the head.

Hat = 9cm X 3·5cm (place 9cm end on fold) and add ·75cm for hems.

Face = 9cm at the widest point, 4cm at the neck and 8cm long, add all around·75cm for hems.

Body = 15cms wide and 12cms deep, I used a bowl to get the semi-circle and extended the sides. Place the straight edge on fold and add ·75cm for hems.

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For the Hat, place fabric on a fold and cut one.

For the Face, cut two.

With right sides together, join the front face to the hat followed by the head back to the hat. Press seams. Next, on wrong side sew along each face side to top of hat. Turn right side out and pack the head with filling and finally turn up hem allowance and hand stitch hem at the neck edge to hold the filling in place.  Then embroider the eyes, nose and mouth in satin stitch, with suitable colours of stranded cotton.

The faces are slightly different on Elly’s needle case and my very old well used model above.

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For the body/book, place fabric on a fold and cut

• 1 in main fabric
• 1 in lining
• 1 in Vilene/interlining
• 1½ in flannel (to make three needle pages).
• Divide the 1 metre of 2½ cm ribbon in four for the arms and legs.

Start by making a three layer sandwich…

First lay down the interfacing.  On top place the outer fabric with the front side facing upward.  Next position the four ribbons carefully as shown on the paper diagram or on the finished gigelo above.  For the sewing stage the ribbons should be the filling of the sandwich with the ends placed just beyond the seam edge.  It is a good idea to fold & tack them in place, so a) they do not move in the sewing and b) can be released once the body is together.  On top lay the lining with the right side down.  Pin or tack all the layers together and machine sew just inside the seam allowance, leaving a small opening.  Secure the thread, remove the pins or tacking threads and turn the body inside out.  Finish the opening with slip stitches.  Remove the tacking stitches from the ribbons and press, then blanket stitch around the body edge.

Finish off the ends of the ribbon by turning in the raw edges and hemming, leave just enough space on the legs and one of the arms to slip a small safety pin through.  On the other arm end stitch one of the bone or plastic rings into the hem.  I almost forgot!!!

With left over scraps of fabric & lining make a little bag small enough to hold a thimble securely.  Attach it to the ring at the end of the arm.  Stitch buttons down along the front of the body.  The size and shape of the buttons will determine how many you use.  Elly’s gigolo had three glass buttons while mine has six baby buttons sewn in pairs.

Nearly there!

Now we are ready to add the pages. Fold the double page in half and insert the other one between them. Stitch across the the folded edge to enclose the third page.  Trim the edge with a pinking shears.  Fold the needle case cover in half and insert the pages as in the picture above. Machine sew through all the layers to give a strong shoulder line.

Now mark the centre point with a pin and do the same with the head.  Marching the pins hand stitch the head to the body securely, cover the join with the narrow ribbon and tie in a bow at the front.  Stitch the bone rings on for the ears and one at the centre top as a loop for hanging.  Add five or six pins each to the ears and the arm.  Feed the leg ribbons through toning spools and make sure to place the safety pin at the bottom crosswise to keep the spools in place.

Last but not least make the pompoms.  There are two versions of how to make them in this link

This is the type of pompom maker described in the video.  The three sizes interlink for safe keeping.  I have this for years.

Just like me - in the groove!

So when you have two matching pompoms stitch them to the corners of the hat and hey presto, you have your very own gigolo!

Now who is going to be the first to send me a photo of their finished masterpiece?

I was listening to a programme on BBC Radio 4 as I shifted the dust yesterday morning.  The name game.   From this I learned that the number of people changing their name by deed poll has doubled in the past five years and should top 70,000 this year.  With a one hour express service that costs just a few pounds, people are able to fill in forms and make the change to become someone new.

I suppose after an acrimonious divorce it is understandable for a woman to want to change her name.  A family name that can become the butt end of jokes is another, but 70,000 reasons?  Whatever could they be?

I do know three sisters called Faith, Hope and Charity, and another family where the mother Violet named her two daughters Iris and Heather.  With my luck, had I been born into the last family I might end up being named Dandelion or Daisy!  A perfect reason to make a change!  I heard of one couple who gave their son all the names of a football team – At least it was a soccer team (11) and not a rugby (15) team.  There was a friend of my father’s who called his first born William Pius, my father asked with disgust if he really wanted his son to go through life being called: Willie Pee?

What would make you change your name?

If you were to make a change, what name would you choose?

And for me, how about:

Chastity
Eudora
Fidelia
Jessamine
Letitia
Rufina
Sophronia
Theodosia
Vertiline or
Zylphia

Since this is a holiday weekend I have something a little Special.
A treat from The Magpie’s Nest.   Regular visitors here will be very familiar with hints, tips and recipes added in the comment box by Magpie 11.  On the day we were talking about Skittles Vodka, Magpie asked if we would like a recipe for Cherry brandy.  How could I refuse?  So over to Magpie 11:>

Cherry Brandy

Take as many ripe black cherries as possible and  snip the stalks off then prick the cherries a few times with a bodkin (or other large needle).  Place the cherries in a large jar and add sugar (just sling it in) cover well the whole lot with not too expensive Brandy or Marc cover/screw down the lid. Leave to mature for a minimum of 4 months (or, if you forget it’s there, for four years!!!!) in a dark place. (the dark place is actually important.)

After six months taste from time to time (you may want to add a bit more sugar or Brandy, or even more cherries) too much testing can lead to unforeseen results such as…nothing left at the end of the process.  When you are satisfied strain off the liquor and bottle in dark bottles.

The cherries can then be eaten a few at a time or fed to your local school site services officer (aka caretaker).

I once left a container full in the staff room fridge. The head accused the caretaker of drinking on the job. We let her taste the cherries and take a few home and she withdrew the accusation. Well, he wasn’t drinking.

Myself…I don’t actually like Cherry brandy or brandied cherries… I did enjoy the one I made with Blackcurrants and vodka(and a few leaves of lemon balm) and apparently using gin and blackcurrants makes a great drink…. and of course there’s Sloe gin or Sloe whiskey…..

Unfortunately I am not allowed  to set up a still other wise I’d be well set to experiment!

a smile
is a light
in the window
of your face
that shows
that
your heart
is at home

I have no idea where I found this poem, who wrote it or how long I have it.
I do know I like it.

On 8th April I wrote by way of apology for my enforced absence online, and to tell the tale of woe in having the service restored.

Once back in action harmony was restored and life continued as per normal.

Earlier this week my quarterly phone bill popped through the door.  I pay by direct debit so there was no great request for me to hand over my widow’s mite! :)  As per usual routine, I run my eye down the five pages of information to make sure that all is correct.

The line rental and other basic charges were there, the list of calls made and of course the VAT.  It all seemed in order.  Then I took another look.  Yes, I was charged for everything.  There was of course no reference made to the lack of service over five days.

I phoned the accounts department… well, I tried to phone them.  We had of course to play a game of ‘Options’ before I got there.  Eventually I was through to a very nice young lady in New Delhi.  I explained my dilemma and she was most helpful.

The final result is that a months rental will be deducted from my next bill.  Sweet!