Category Archives: The Basics

Unpausing…

Posted on July 30, 2014 | Leave a comment

Unpausing.
Rearranging.
Restarting.

I’m unpausing this project! Whee!
But also rearranging it.

Making it more manageable.
More sustainable.
More interesting.
More helpful.
Hopefully more inspiring.

I’m going to be restarting this project August 1st. But maintaining along with my main blog over at hollychayes.com wasn’t working out so well.

So for take 2 of this project I’ll be rearranging things a little bit, and incorporating the self-made wardrobe updates & project progress, in with the knitting stuff I already talk about on the main blog.

There will still be outfit posts, sewing updates, and general musings on fashion/style/sewing/crafting/creating, they’ll just be in addition to the knitting content I already talk about.

You can keep following the project on HollyChayes.com.
And if you like following the project by email, sign up for new blog updates here.

Unpausing.
Hitting restart.
Let’s do this.
Come join me.

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Posted in Keeping What's Working, The Basics

Hitting the pause button.

Posted on June 30, 2014 | Leave a comment

Pause.
Hitting the pause button.
Taking a minute.
Reorienting.
‘One moment please.’

I’m hitting the pause button on this project, for the moment.

I already mentioned the stomach problems I’m dealing with.
Still not sure what it is. More doctors this week.

But on top of that,
my apartment needs to be treated for bed bugs.

The exterminator found sheddings, and I squished something that looks an awful lot like a bed bug (but was too squished for the exterminator to ID.)

So, the whole apartment needs to be treated.
This includes washing & drying, cleaning and packing everything.

Everything.
Clothes. Linens. Fabric. Yarn.
Everything.

Which means all my fabric & yarn, plus most of my clothes are currently sitting in giant Ziploc bags, and I’m living in jeans & black tank tops again.

Cleaning, washing, packing.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
(It’s a lot like moving without the change of address.)

So I’m hitting pause on the self-made wardrobe project.
I will hit unpause.
It just might take a bit.

You can always find me at hollychayes.com.

Hitting the pause button.
Reorienting.
‘One moment please.’
Pause.

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Posted in June, questions & thoughts, The Basics

T-shirt Reconstructions, yay or nay?

Posted on May 13, 2014 | Leave a comment

I’ve been thinking about the spirit of this challenge, mulling over my 2nd “rule.”

“2. if it feels like cheating it probably is.”

I put that rule there because cheating, even when the rules are self imposed, usually feels like cheating.

So I was digging through my current wardrobe looking for a piece of clothing and ran across the pile of t-shirts I never wear. I never wear t-shirts. Ever. And so I started thinking about t-shirt reconstructions.*

*a t-shirt reconstruction is where you take a t-shirt, cut it up, and reconstruct it into something else, they’ve kind of a been gateway into the larger crafting/DIY movement because everyone has old t-shirts they can cut up.

Anyway, I’ve never been a huge fan of reconstructing t-shirts partly because I think it’s very easy for a project to go terribly and horribly wrong, and partly because I think the best thing t-shirt material is good for is t-shirts.

I’ve also never been a huge fan of wearing t-shirts, I never like how they fit. They’re always too tight, or too loose, or too short, or too something. But I have gotten a couple because they had cute prints, or they were gifts, or whatever.

So, I’ve been mulling over the intentions behind this wardrobe project, and the goal of it, trying to decide whether or not t-shirt reconstructions feels like cheating.

My goal for this project is to explore identity, how clothing reflects & projects an identity. For this project, the making clothes aspect is something I thought would be a fun challenge, but the main goal is to explore clothing and fashion as they relate to the self.

In that spirit I think if I can reconstruct a t-shirt into a shirt I would wear, it’ll be an insightful lens into what kind of shirts I wear and why.

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Posted in One Month of Prep, questions & thoughts, The Basics

The Current Wardrobe Situation

Posted on May 3, 2014 | Leave a comment

my current wardrobe

This is my wardrobe as it currently stands. Pieces I wear. Pieces I don’t wear. Pieces I like, pieces I don’t remember, pieces I hate.

the part of my wardrobe that I actually wear

the part of my wardrobe I actually wear

While this is the part of my wardrobe I actually wear on a regular basis, and will very much miss. (wouldn’t everyone miss their crinoline?)

my current self-made wardrobe

And this is my current self-made wardrobe. 2 sweaters. 4 skirts.

…that’s a sobering thought.

(And shit just got real.)

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Posted in Keeping What's Working, One Month of Prep, The Basics

The Timeline

Posted on May 2, 2014 | Leave a comment

an embroidered skirt project that I started long before this project was an idea, and will probably still be working on long after this project ends

I’m envisioning this as a 13 month long project. I’ll take one month (this month, May 2014) to ‘prep’ (build clothes, get the blog going, make some plans, save my sanity, etcetera, etcetera.) and then I’ll wear the wardrobe for a year.

If I had planned the timing better, I would have shifted the start of wearing the wardrobe to line up with Me-Made-May, ah well. But I’ll definitely be following along and trying to pick up some tips.

But! My missed timing also means that I’ll end the year with a Me-Made-May! So maybe it wasn’t such poor timing after all.

Anyway.

May is going to be a month of ‘prep’ lots of making clothes, planning clothes, pinterest pinning, plus writing about clothes & philosophizing about clothes and sprinkled with a bit of freaking-the-fuck-out.

Then April 1st I’ll start wearing my self-made wardrobe and posting daily outfit photos here. I’ll post a daily outfit photos along with new pieces I’m working on, garments I’ve finished, and excerpts from the book that I’m writing to go along with this project.

I’ll keep that up until the end of May 2015. Then there will probably be some sort of wrap up, but I’m not sure what form that will take.

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This will certainly be an adventure…

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Posted in One Month of Prep, The Basics

The Basic Idea

Posted on May 1, 2014 | Leave a comment

the original idea, scribbled in a notebook

The super duper basic idea, is that I want to create a self-made wardrobe, and then I want to wear that wardrobe for a year.

I’ve been telling myself for years that I’d add more clothes made by me to my wardrobe. But I’ve never gotten around to it.

I design lace shawls, so I’ve knit piles upon piles of lace, but I can’t wear those. And I design costumes, so I’ve made lots and lots of clothes, just not for me. I think at the moment I have a couple skirts, a sweater or two, and piles of shawls. (I guess if push comes to shove I could drape those shawls into something, but it won’t come to that. Fingers crossed.)

I figure if I’m ever going to have a wardrobe that includes pieces made by me, I need to do it as a project.

And my hope is that by documenting this as a blog, and as a book, that it’ll help you bring a new level of awareness to your wardrobe. If you want to make your own clothes, I hope this project will make the idea of your own self-made wardrobe feel more accessible. And if you don’t want to make your own clothes, (that’s totally cool!) then I hope this project will help you clarify what you want your wardrobe to do for your.

Anyway. That’s the basic idea. One wardrobe, entirely self-made, for one year.

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Posted in One Month of Prep, The Basics