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Grace Ovenden

@gracomakes

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🇨🇦 sewing and other slow makes
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I made the mango pillow of my dreams!! 🥭

As much as I love it, I can’t tell you how happy I am to be done this thing. What i thought would be a cute quick mango pillow got out of hand so quickly 😂

Among other things this silly thing involved:
- a lot of math
- 154 different pattern pieces
- dyeing fabric
- frustratingly weak followed by frustratingly strong magnets
- so much hand sewing
- crippling perfectionism
- very nearly giving up several times
- battling through and ending up w the most whimsical pillow I ever did see 🥳

Stay tuned for a some upcoming process videos!! I have much to say about this journey 😂🫶🏼 by @gracomakes

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4 months ago

Mango pillow process: part 1 🥭🥳

Making this pillow was an at times extremely frustrating but overall very satisfying challenge, that started with a lot of math and 3D modelling. I might have had more fun doing the pattern work than the sewing 🤓

36 pattern pieces per half for the skin = 72 pattern pieces (ok the two halves could have just been the same but i had my heart set on each side being ✨unique✨), one for each face of each of the inner mango segments = 80 pattern pieces, plus 2 for the leaf and stem for a grand total of 154 pattern pieces 🥵

Dyeing fabric is also new to me but I might be addicted now!! I was so uninspired by the colour selection of linen fabric I found online and in my local shops. Dyeing my own felt SO over the top at the time but I’m happy to committed to it with blind optimism because I love how it turned out. A regular dye bath of Rit or something similar wasnt going to work for the gradient vision I had so I used Procion MX dye which I’d never even heard of before this project but worked perfectly ⭐️

In the next video: cutting and sewing!! by @gracomakes

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4 months ago

i love making bags!! the brief for this one was simple but not boring ✨

interested in making one? 👀

pattern coming soon!! by @gracomakes

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2 days ago

stripey set that I made ~2yrs ago finally getting its moment!! 🚂

I actually rarely wear these pieces together because i find the pants slightly too high waisted and the top slightly too long to go together with the stripe. Like i just think the stripes need to be broken up a bit by the band on the pants. So this time I decided to just fold the top at the front?! a little high/low situation?! and i think it worked out?! idk i am happy!

Top is the #sparkletop by @jessilous_closet and @evan.ihde and bottoms are the #coetrouser by @daughterjudypatterns.

Fabric is a stretch denim from @folkandfiber.fabrics 🫶🏼 by @gracomakes

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9 days ago

A few more days for 25% off all of my patterns ✨

Sale ends September 23. Link in bio and discount applied automatically at checkout 🫶🏼

Happy to answer any questions you have about any of them so please lemme know!!

And a big big thank you for all of the support with these patterns over the last few years. I’m so grateful to this community 💕 by @gracomakes

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21 days ago

Finally getting around to sharing this #lakesstripetee that I made for my mom this spring!! This was my first @ozetta pattern and I loved it, I will absolutely be making more. The fit is so beautiful, and all of the techniques and construction felt satisfying and elevated.

My mom taught me to knit when I was a kid, so getting to share this hobby with her is one of my favorite things 🫶🏼 We update each other multiple times a week on our various sewing and knitting projects, and it’s so special to me. In the second photo, we’re both wearing sweaters we made for each other!!

I used the recommended @knittingforolive merino and knit most of this over the course of a climbing trip in Spain. Knitting outside+in nature makes me so happy!! I just try not to think too hard about the amount of chalk and sunscreen that probably made its way into this sweater along the way lol sorry mom by @gracomakes

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24 days ago

Getting back into the swing of things after a summer away from my sewing machine and wanted to celebrate with a lil sale!!

All of my patterns are 25% off until September 23. Link in bio and discount applied automatically at checkout 🫶🏼 by @gracomakes

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a month ago

been enjoying so much time playing outdoors + visiting with friends and fam this summer and very little time at my sewing machine!!!

we’ll be back to sewing content soon but in the mean time, I wanted to share some art from the archives ☺️

I’ve dabbled in drawing and painting on and off since I was a kid but haven’t done almost any since I learned to sew ~4 years ago. Recently I’ve been really interested in getting back into it though so it was fun to go digging through the camera roll for some inspo from myself circa 2017-2019 😌 by @gracomakes

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a month ago

Mango pillow process: part 2 😋🥭

When I dreamed up this mango, i really thought the inner mango segments were gonna be the hard part so I didn’t think very hard about how I was gonna put it all together until I got there, which proved to be a bad strategy 😂

First of all I thought about my mom so much while sewing all of the skin triangles together because she’s an amazing quilter and would’ve had those points lined up PERFECTLY. I was successful maybe 50% of the time 😂 Side note: a lot of people commented on the last video and asked why I didn’t dye the fabric after sewing the triangles together for the skin and the answer is that this kind of broken up patchwork gradient is actually what i was going for so I chose to dye first!

Second, the magnetic border nearly got me but I refused to give up on my vision!! Apologies for the lack of footage from that part of the construction, frustration was at an all time high so documentation fell by the wayside a bit 🤷‍♀️

In the end the border isnt perfect, like I would have preferred if it was magneted all the way around without the little wavy edges but you know WHAT im pretty freakin happy with how it turned out regardless.

This project took me weeks of work and in the end I love her and all of her imperfections hehe. Thanks for all of the love on this mango pillow journey!! It’s been fun sharing it 👋 by @gracomakes

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3 months ago

Anyone else been confusing consuming creativity with actually being creative? by @gracomakes

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4 months ago

camera roll spring cleaning 🧼🤗💐

1. stay comfy stay colourful
2. mantra
3. welcome to spring
4. new friend
5. girl on floor
6. chalkin up
7. tote bag for a squirrel
8. fave new pants
9. prototype from the archives
10. crux tank in action
11. messy process
12. nature knitting by @gracomakes

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5 months ago

This hat started with me googling how to crochet and somehow turned into one of my favourite things I’ve ever made 💫

Here’s a little look into the process!! by @gracomakes

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5 months ago