hehe! my friend amelia sneakily purchased a top from my etsy shop last week and sent me this amazing thank you note yesterday! she is kindly allowing me to brag away by showing it off here…but seriously! it’s too cute to keep to myself. thank *you* amelia!

in other news, i finally got those new liberty print undies in the etsy shop! the print is called “Amberina” and the undies come in three sizes and three color combinations. ive been told the print is not being made any more, so this might be it! i managed to order more of the blue, but wasn’t able to snag the multi or pink, so if you dig ‘em, have at it before they go the way of the carousel horse! poor carousel horse…

lastly and randomly, you know that (admittedly awesome) must-have poster that’s making the rounds with the slogan “keep calm and carry on”? that’s all well and good, a fine motto really, but somehow it hasn’t really Stuck with me. what i do find myself repeating (silently, mostly) is the slightly wackier version offered up by Of Montreal in their song, “forecast fascist future”; “may we never go go mental, may we always stay stay gentle” yep. find myself repeating this probably more often than is healthy. such a good message though.

ok so yesterday i took a much-needed break to have lunch with some friends and later, a much needed dinner with another. and so! that big ol’ batch of new undies isn’t going to make it onto etsy this morning. they still need to be screened, ironed, sewn, photographed, so the update will happen tomorrow morning. promise!
even though i have another lunch/snack/tea date this afternoon….hehe.
seriously! it will be done. this springtime sunny peepcheeping show is making a good argument in favor of playing hooky though, i have to admit.

i just uploaded a full size run of new undies to the etsy shop in the above print. have i mentioned already how much i like this print? it’s just so summery! while yes, once it is actually summer, i will be writhing in agony and wishing once again for fall, right at this very moment, i could use a little sunshine and sandals action.

in other undies news, i am hoping to have another print (in three color combinations!) in shop tomorrow, but there’s a tiny little problem. my usual supplier of liberty prints doesn’t often have many jersey options, so i took a chance and ordered from another. they arrived yesterday and while they’re really lovely and obviously of good quality, the fabric doesn’t feel quite the same as the other liberty jersey prints i’ve worked with. usually there’s an obvious hint of lycra and a certain stiffness (they soften with washing) but these new prints feel more cottony and have more of a drape to them. they’re really beautiful (as, ahem, they should be for the price) and i’m excited to work with them, but the slight difference is nagging at me, making me question their authenticity. i wrote to the seller and very (super extra) politely and apologetically asked him to verify that they are indeed liberty of london fabrics, but i’ve yet to hear back. if i don’t hear from him, i will go ahead and use them, but i won’t market them as liberty prints, since i feel i can’t be 100% certain. ugh. this does not happen to people who use their own prints! or people who can afford to buy vast quantities of liberty wholesale. well, i hope to do both some day soon.

EDIT: he wrote back! awesome. i absolutely love people like this seller. more new liberty print undies will be in the shop tomorrow!

Hi There
I dont mind you asking me about fabrics, you can be 2oo% certain they are genuine Liberty 100%cotton interlock jersey, Design no 03247153, I am reading this of Libertys invoice we deal direct with liberty and i personly collect the fabric from there warehouse,They tell me that this design is now finished for the time being.I understand why you are asking i see a lot of prints on ebay that call themselves Liberty and i know they are not. We do sell tana lawn and jerseys that are not liberty but we do not put the liberty name on them, Reguarding quality Liberty do many types of jerseys and different weights so giving a different handle. By the way i did spell Amerina incorect it should be Amberina,Thanks for your enquiry its nice to know you care,P S I will be putting on a nice cotton jersey white ground muti coloured but its not Liberty.If you want to know anything else i am at the end of your machine.
Jim

i spent a long time yesterday working on this bike tote, which is totally adorable, but totally not what i was going for. as a tote-bagger, i find carrying my unnecessaries somewhat troublesome when riding. sure, you can wear tote straps like backpack straps easily and yes, this is what i resort to, but when worn this way, the bag doesn’t sit properly and just…feels weird. maybe you’re not as tactily defensive as i, but still! it must be irksome to other biking ladies, right?

well anyway. this first version is clunkier than i’d like, but i was anxious to use this liberty print (which i first saw on a shirt from jcrew that my mom gave me for xmas) that i am in love with. so clunkiness aside, it’s a super cute and fully functional bag and is up in the etsy shop at a nice sample price.

oh! and speaking of etsy, if you’ve been reading over here for a few months, you may remember the entry in which i tried to work through the ins and outs of my etsy doubts…? well, i’ve come to a conclusion and it is this: etsy is awesome. that little part of me that felt like it was somehow stealing the soul of the handmade community was (i’m being a very big person here, listen up!) utterly snobbish and horrible. it’s a beautiful, totally democratic and fun thing and (and!!!) they don’t charge exorbitant seller fees. that said, i’m not apologizing for being skeptical! it’s important to find these things out for oneself.

happy easter eve, buns and bunnies. what arrived on my doorstep today (well, ok, on the doorstep of the beauty salon where i retrieve the mail) was better than any basket i could have hoped for–the first batch from a recent liberty of london jersey buying spree! i love this print mostly for its color combination of pretty pastels and grey, which is totally unexpected and in contrast with the big tropical bouquets. i will definitely be setting aside a pair of undies in this print for myself…heh. is that too much information??

well anyhoo, the resulting undies will be up in the etsy shop on tuesday. i seem to have run out of elastic already and have to make a supply run on monday. but! it will be worth the wait, as with this batch i’ll be introducing size L! hooray! undies all around!

happy easter to those who celebrate, happy spring sunday to those who don’t!

sorry for being so quiet. almost two whole days without a post! ha! well, after posting daily, it feels like a long time to me.
anyway, nothing much to report with the exception of the transferral of the two quilted jackets from dearbirthday.com to sodafine this week. they’re so special to me and as today was the first day of spring (tada!) and thus, in theory, it will be getting warmer soon, i worry that their time is coming nigh and they may go unappreciated (unworn) and that, well, that is just too too sad. so anyway, now north brooklyners can take a gander in person. one is currently in the window! put ‘er there myself just yesterday. thanks erin!

that is all. now i am going to eat ice cream (this may seem cruel, but rest assured, ian has a chocolate bar!) and watch a movie on…the television!

ian has given up dairy! temporarily! it is a test to see whether or not he feels better. less snuffly. more Alert! Awake! Alive!
since i’ve been a homebody, working from casa del solewhitmore (ahem…ha?) i’ve felt the need to make nice dinnerz for the boy, seeing as he has to, you know, work. however, my dairy-free repertoire is, come to find out, surprisingly limited!
a man cannot subsist on salad alone.
and so, this week i found myself making an unnerving amount of curried this and thats. don’t get me wrong! curry is important. vital, even. but curry every night? a bit too much.
so kathryn suggested i make some chili tonight, given that it’s all rainy and miserable outside, and i thought this an inspired choice. but! what to serve with it? no salad. no cornbread…(doesn’t it need milk?…butter?) the next logical pairing is, of course, scallion pancakes. and so it was.

sewn yesterday, in the etsy shop today

it’s rainy today, but at least it’s warm…ish. had a small lunch with kathryn at roebling tea room. nice and cozy. we groaned and griped about jobs and sounded like a couple of old ladies, but really it was awesome and life is good. sometimes a good, solid complain-a-thon is all you need to realize that there’s nothing to complain about. ha!

hey! so thank you to the ladies who bought up all the undies i made yesterday! that was pretty awesome and a completely new experience for me: make some things in the morning, photograph and upload in the afternoon, pack up the orders in the evening. nice. something tells me it won’t happen again for a while, but maybe! eh? wanna see? hehe.

well anyway, i just put four mini skirts in the etsy shop, three of which are fabulously soft Liberty of London Kingly cord (super lightweight, a springtime cord for sure) and one is the patchwork mini shown previously. did i show it here? i think i did…anyway, it’s there now.

in other news, i posted a half-hearted seamstress-for-hire ad on craigslist, which i find kind of hilarious. craigslist sort of creeps me out, but what else does one do? hey! i sew! maybe i should make a sandwich board and wear it around. maybe a megaphone mounted to my bike…?

thank you to everyone who wished me well on the thirty trip–so far, so fine. no major freak-outs or mourning of missed opportunities of youth, etc. ha! seriously, it just doesn’t feel like the big deal everyone makes it out to be. so i’m old, so what? i can still read moomintroll books and ride a schwinn stingray. who makes these rules anyway?

well, for my day in the sun, ian and i made the long journey up to the the cloisters, which was a great time. i almost took home a lop-eared bunny, but apparently it was someone’s pet (who lets their house rabbit hop around the city?)…shucks. also, we ate ice cream sandwiches and sat on a park bench and oh yes, saw some unicorn tapestries. later k and e joined us for some malai kofta in manhattan and then for some lambic back in greenpoint. all in all, a pretty much perfect way to spend a day. yes!

and now it’s back to work. and sadly, i think back to reality and the deepening realization that i will, indeed, need to be finding myself another little part time gig to fill the gaps. but! these past months of working to get dear birthday back and running have been awesome and i do believe that in time i can make it work full-time. i’m kind of like an awkward water fowl, trying to get the momentum to fly. wow. that was lame! haha! i am getting old. anyway!

enough nonsense! there are four new pairs of undies in the etsy shop, three of which are The Very Last of the carousel print. that’s all there is, folks. some of the best looking prints i’ve seen are on their merry way to me from jolly old england, but sadly, no more ponies ponied up. get ‘em while they’re prancy!