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

writing, thinking & napping

05 Aug 2015

what's in the works

Each Wednesday, I take stock of the projects I’m working on. What I’m Working On… : wrapping up the self-made wardrobe! It’s done, it’s done!! : so, it’s been a week of writing & thinking : I’m slowly getting my wardrobe unpacked (and I realized yesterday that no sweater can take the place of a sweatshirt). : yesterday, I posted about the final garment I made for the project. : Plus I have some other things I want to write about, including some notes I took on Day 366, and some interesting numbers, like how many times I wore each piece, or how the cost of each garment in relation to how many times it got worn, stuff like that. : and napping. This weekend involved a lot of napping. No related posts.

The final garment I made for the self-made wardrobe – 2nd Archer Button Up Shirt

04 Aug 2015

FOs, The Self-Made Wardrobe Garments

I don’t have a whole hell of a lot to say about this piece other than that this is the final garment I made for the self-made wardrobe project, and I’m sure it’ll get plenty of wear now that the project is complete. One of the upsides to making your own clothing, is that you get to make clothing that lasts for lots and lots of wears, so I’m looking forward to having this shirt in my closet for a damn long time. Now lets get into the details: MATERIALS 3 yards plaid cotton twill 13 half inch buttons Black thread Starch (lots) PATTERN The Archer Button Up Shirt from Grainline Studios – just like for my first shirt, I cut a straight size 4 & made view A. Then I added length and worked an inverted box pleat (instead of the regular box pleat the pattern calls for). PATTERN...

The End – 365 days of 100% handmade clothing – The Self-Made Wardrobe Week 52

31 Jul 2015

The Self-Made Wardrobe

The Self-Made Wardrobe is a project where I only wear garments I’ve made. It’s a year long experiment in getting dressed without clothing labels – it’s a year about noticing patterns, trying things, and observing what happens. Day 358 – Friday, July 24th 2nd Archer button up // black tank top // black maxi skirt robot clock necklace // bracelets // rings // flip flops Day 359 – Saturday, July 25th black tank top // grey maxi skirt princess necklace // bracelets // rings // flip flops Day 360 – Sunday, July 26th black tank top // vine flowers skirt princess necklace // rings // wedges Day 361 – Monday, July 27th black tank top // jeans princess necklace // bracelets // rings // black flats Day 362 – Tuesday, July 28th black tank top // black maxi skirt princess necklace // bracelets // rings // flip flops Day 363...

Welcome! I'm Holly Chayes.