We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chelsea Weiss a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Chelsea, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I am a child of the early 2000s, a time when Slim Fast, heroine chic, and tabloid body shaming was normal media for a girl to consume. I learned from a young age that my body did not fit the standard of the models I saw on the runway and magazines. I was very lucky to have learned to sew at such a young age because this gave me the autonomy to alter clothes to fit my body and style. While I still struggle with body image, being able to modify my clothes to fit me made me feel like I could participate with fashion and trends affordably and without harming my body. I was radicalized about this at a young age- through every stage of my life I saw friends and family struggle with disordered eating and how being able to “fit” into clothes was a huge motivator for self harm. So what if we all agreed that our bodies weren’t the problem and that a consumerist industry feeds off of us hating ourselves? What if we stopped saying our bodies were the problem and focused on making clothes work for us? That is what I do. I show people that they do not need to change themselves in order to feel good. Alter your clothes, not your self.

Chelsea, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I did not choose this life, it chose me. My grandmother taught me to sew at a young age and it just became standard for me to thrift and alter my clothes to experiment with my style and keep up with trends. I went to college and fell into theatre and learned the creativity and magic of costume design. After taking a hiatus and seeing if I could be successful in the corporate world, my life got flipped upside down and I had to fall on the only skill I had- sewing. Once people found out what I could do, my DMs were flooded. Who knew that so many people were dissatisfied with shopping and had piles of clothes that were “almost perfect.”

What I provide is slightly different and more nuanced than your usual dry cleaner alterations specialist. I ask the tough questions and make you really think about how you want to invest in your wardrobe. I talk about comfortability and body fluctuations so that the focus is on making the clothes work for you and not the other way around. I provide adaptable alterations to make your clothes everlasting and able to shift with you as you change and grow. I lean towards sustainability and ethical fashion so that we can further connect ourselves to humans and nature. From this value, I have experimented and explored with clothing upcycles- casual and bridal- to make you something unique, tailored to you, and that won’t end up in a landfill. I am here to help your personal style blossom, and if that isn’t important to you I can at least make sure you look good and feel comfortable.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

In 2022, my life (as I knew it) ended. I had bought a house and I was almost engaged to someone I thought really cared about me. I was also diagnosed with OCD and started to learn my brain patterns, but felt grateful to have a supportive partner and flexible part-time work. That all changed when I got the “Hey girl” message. All I needed to see was who it was from and every suspicion I had over the last year was confirmed. After one phone call I found out that my partner was having an affair, using my mental illness to gaslight me, and spreading rumors about my mental stability in our town. Obviously, I was shattered. Not only emotionally, but also financially because this partner was trying to make me financially dependent on him. Also because I had moved to Chattanooga with this partner and all of my friends and family were 10 hours away. So naturally, I was catatonic for a few days.

The thing about me is, I don’t stay down very long. I pivot and I adapt. So with a few friends and no community, I started offering my services publicly. The outpouring of support I received for my work and compassion for my life implosion made me realize that I could be successful here. I could even thrive here if I wanted to, so I decided not to move back and build some serious roots in my community. Now three years later, I have over 300 clients, many of them loyal and returning. I have become very active in my community hosting clothing swaps seasonally. And I even met other business owners in the same industry and we have begun to daydream about building a textile hub.

I wanted to give up many times, and sometimes I still do, but seeing the impact and the community I’ve built keeps me going and reminds me that you can always start over.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

In a lot of ways it feels like a right place, right time situation. We have been more educated about fast fashion in the last decade and we are seeing the tragic effects that consumerism has on our planet. We are also in a constant tornado of micro trends, body shame, and social media. I have been on this soap box since I was 13 and I have only gotten more passionate in the last 20 years. I am loud and proud of my beliefs and invite questions from my community- being chronically online means that I am always chatting with clients and potential clients which makes me feel more connected and casual. I initially took on jobs that other tailors turned away and provided creative solutions to my clients’ problems, many times doing something the non-traditional way. Also as we return to the art of domestic crafts, I began to teach my skill to show people that they can do so much on their own- always keeping accessibility and affordability in the front of my mind. I think I just do things differently. I show up online and in person as I am, sometimes messy and usually frantic. I am not conventional; I’m creative, cheeky, and a little corny, but being my authentic self has helped people explore what their authentic self looks like and then I turn that vision into their reality.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://holymolytextiles.carrd.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/holymolytextiles_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/holymolytextiles
• Other: Google: https://g.co/kgs/t7VEjSf

Image Credits

Photographer: @kellymlacy