I remember reading about it from a developer interview before I saw the movie, I was looking into it to see what the movie was like before I watched it. The whole memory thing was closely tied to a few lines made in the movie. When Chihiro was at the other witche's house and she tells her that even though you cannot remember everything, that does not mean that things are actually forgotten. And this is how she remembers her name and her falling to the river when she was younger and her first encounter with Haku. This caused Haku to remember everything too. And at the end she forgot her whole experience from her adventure in the other world but was still changed from the experience anyway. she was still more mature and ready to take on life ahead of her even if she did not consciously know why. The theme of the movie was her growing up, finding some independence and learning how to rely on herself without her parents. But we are left knowing that it was not "completely" forgotten. I guess that was why she did not completely revert back to her old self when she left at the end.
Synopsis - Spirited Away Wiki
After a simple interview with Hayao Miyazaki, he stated that after Chihiro passed the tunnel, she forgot everything happened in the spirit world, including Haku and the other friends of her. In this case, we should remember Zeniba's quote, "You can't never really forget something, you just can't recall it"
And chainmail was an interest of mine for a while, I tend to immerse myself into various crafty skills every so often. I love learning about a new skill and learning then crafting things from it for a while only to move on to the next. I have been doing it for years. I think the only thing I ever really stopped at because I had little skill in was glass blowing. I just never got into it. I have also toyed with leather tooling, carving, sculpting, etc. Whatever new skill I learn about at the time.
Making the shirt really is one of the most daunting things to make from it, but it is also what everyone that gets into chainmail wants to make. It's a weird issue relating to the skill.