Holly Chayes

Welcome! I'm Holly Chayes.

This online space has been around in one form or another since 2010, it focuses on making, creativity and living a curious life, plus a lot of clothing.

Some of the projects I've worked on in the past 10+ years include...

Talking About Clothes with Holly Chayes

An interview podcast that's all about clothing (and also, not *really* about clothing at all). Find all the details and listen to conversations about comfort, style, change and shopping here. Or search for Talking About Clothes with Holly Chayes wherever you listen to podcasts.

Who Wears Who?

The Self-Made Wardrobe Project

Predecessor to Who Wears Who, a year-long challenge in 2014/2015 where I only wore clothes I made. That year would have been a lot easier if the clothes had magically made themselves. Learn more about The Self-Made Wardrobe Project and explore the archives here.

The Shawl Geometry Book Series

Enough shawl shapes to keep you knitting for a lifetime. A multi-year exploration of math, shape and space in knitting, where I documented traditional shawl shaping, and iterated on those traditions to create new recipes of shawl shaping. Ultimately this lead to 75+ shapes, and 400+ pages of common and uncommon shawl shaping instructions. This project was inspired by a dozen individual shawl designs, each encapsulating a love of geometric lace design. You can find The Shawl Geometry Series here.

Thank you for being here with me. –Holly

summer wardrobe infusion – a fabric haul

25 Apr 2016

Flourishing Wardrobes

I had a plan. And now I have fabric to match. I wrote up a plan for infusing some new handmade summery clothing into my winter/spring wardrobe on Thursday – then Friday afternoon I closed my computer and headed down to the garment district. I didn’t have a whole lot of time, so I made it a one stop shopping trip to Mood Fabrics – not my favorite fabric store, but if you’re looking for one stop shopping, it’s a pretty excellent bet (plus I had a gift card…) I bypassed their silks and laces, heading straight downstairs to cottons & jerseys. I knew what I was looking for, and that always makes for easier shopping. My list was: black substantial cotton jersey, black lightweight cotton jersey, fabric for a maxi dress, lining for the pink plaid I brought back from Stonemountain Daughter in SF, and possibly other over-shirt fabrics....

easy, breezy & beautiful – it is time for a summer wardrobe infusion

21 Apr 2016

Flourishing Wardrobes, Style

For the past fifteen and a half weeks, I’ve been living out of a suitcase I packed in the middle of December. We’ve been getting up into the 70s and high 60s pretty reliably the past couple days – beautiful! And luckily I packed this suitcase for Northern California weather (basically a NYC spring wardrobe). But! we’re meandering towards summer weather, and I don’t think there’s any sort of suitcase wardrobe that could (gracefully) deal with both NYC winter, and NYC summer. And so, I think it is high time for a summer wardrobe infusion. What I want to make… : a couple black tank tops : a couple black camisoles : a couple long, loose, lightweight over-shirts : pj bottoms : a couple maxi sundresses : that no-longer neglected, lace weight sweater (and by “a couple” I mean one or two) Tank Tops & Camisoles I live in them....

looking forward to photos, graphics, and a wardrobe infusion

20 Apr 2016

what's in the works

Each Wednesday, I take stock of the projects I’m working on, and where my brain is at. There are a lot of swatches currently sitting on my desk. I’m not quite sure if their quantity is more impressive stacked up or spread across the entirety of two bookshelves – but impressive either way. The words for the Shawl Geometry books update are written. Writing that feels a little bit terrifyingly final, and yet, it is true. Now it’s on to taking a ton of photos and making a ton of graphics, before delving into an editing palooza. Outside NYC is finally fully embracing sprint, and I’ve begin mulling over a wardrobe infusion – because I doubt that the suitcase I packed in December will be able to take me through an NYC summer with any grace. No related posts.

Welcome! I'm Holly Chayes.