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?

A personal style coaching and content practice devoted to helping you own and wear your clothes intentionally, instead of being worn by them. Discover your own style guidance, and learn more about the practice of intentional style at WhoWearsWho.com

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

sweater amnesia, cold weather & a new shawl pattern – The Self-Made Wardrobe Week 24

The Self-Made Wardrobe is a project where I only wear garments I’ve made. It’s sort of a year long experiment in getting dressed without clothing labels. DAY 162 – JANUARY 9th Versio Sweater Black Scarf Graphic Silk Circle Skirt Black Tights Brown Boots Various Rings How do you guys store your sweaters? Prior to this wardrobe project, I didn’t knit sweaters, so I didn’t need to have a storage system. My sweaters currently live in half of a drawer in my dresser, there are two problems with this 1) they no longer fit in half of a drawer, and 2) some sweaters end up at the bottom of the drawer, and then I forget about them. The obvious solution is to rearrange my dresser so the sweaters get a full drawer, however I’m not sure that’s going to prevent sweater amnesia. Anyone have a better way of storing their sweaters,...
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The First of Many Archers

I’ve been planning on making at least one button up shirt since the very beginning of this self-made wardrobe project. The Archer pattern from Grainline Studios was perfect, and after this one I plan on making at least two more, (one of them in a solid so I don’t need to do any pattern matching). Materials – 3.5 yards (45″ wide) of a very lightweight basic plaid cotton that I got at Elegant Fabrics in NYC – 10 1/2 inch “la petite” buttons with a fake metallic looking finish (they say “not recommended for washing or dry cleaning,” which I didn’t notice when I was buying them – so we’ll see how the hold up in the wash) – lightweight black fusible interfacing – basic black thread Pattern “Archer” from Grainline Studio – Jen did a great sew a long on the Grainline Studio blog, which I followed for some...
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one sweater, one shirt, two shawls – lots of making happened this week

Each Wednesday, I post little snippets about what’s happening, and what I’m working on. In complete contrast to last week, lots and lots of making happened this week. My entirely handspun sweater got sleeves! It’s desperately in need of a good soak, but first a new neckline, a looser bind off at the hem, and about a million ends woven in. I started my 2nd Archer Button Up Shirt, and got through the side seams. Just the collar, cuffs, hem & buttons left. And this time, the buttons shouldn’t take me weeks to put on because I already have them. I started a new shawl! It’s my own design (pattern coming eventually), knit out of Toil & Trouble’s amazing and ploompy “merino/silk lace”. I’m holding two strands together and knitting on a US size 5 (3.75mm) needle. The colors are “Smoke Signals”, & “Apollo,” I love how it’s coming out....
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