Made Up Initiative- completed!

I had so much fun making these items for the Made Up Initiative! I pledged to make two items back in August and here they are.

First up, the Torchon bookmark. I’d not made much Torchon lace for a while so this was a lovely project to do on holiday in the quiet time after the kids were asleep. I used ecru fils a dentelles thread and a dusky pink Cotton Perle 8 gimp thread which I think work beautifully together.

The only changes I made from the pattern were to swap the leaf plaits for spiders, and the edge fans to whole stitch with a twist before the edge. Like many Torchon bookmark patterns, this pattern lends itself so well to customisation- I’ll write about the different effects you could create, and the stitches I used in a separate post.

I mounted the bookmark onto hessian and some pink linen ribbon which give it some stability.

I’m really pleased with how it’s turned out and it was a good alternative from the Honiton fillings I’ve been wrestling with recently

For the the sewing part of my pledge I made this Bronte top and I have to say it’s turned out to be one of my favourite things I’ve made.

It was refashioned from an old pair of my PJs and some leftover eyelet fabric and as I already had the pattern this was a completely free project- gotta love that!

I used the ribbon which was previously the waistband for the front bodice binding which I think adds a nice feature. The buttons are from Duttons in York.

When I cut the pattern out I kept the original leg hem for both the sleeve hems and back bodice hem which reduced the sewing time considerably and meant I could make it up in an evening. One of the original leg side seams also runs down the centre back:

It’s a lovely snug fit and so comfy- and I can legitimately now wear PJs to work, ha!

And the best news is that (as I write) the initiative has raised over £2500 for the National Literacy Trust. Well done, Karen for organising this and to everyone involved in making things. It’s been great seeing some of the amazing finished items over on Instagram.