Holiday Weekend Savings Announced

As a thank you for your continued support during this unprecedented year I am offering a weekend of savings to you. There is no code needed to access these savings. They will be applied immediately at check out from 12:01 am to 11:59 pm on the days indicated.

On Saturday the first 20 orders over $10 will get a free swag bag. If your order is shipped the swag bag will ship with your order. Watch Our Instagram Stories for updates on Swag Bags.

All weekend long: Local Indianapolis folx can use code PORCHPICKUP to avoid shipping and pick up orders on the Near East Side of Indianapolis. Porch pick up orders will be emailed with pick up instructions when they are ready which may take 1-2 business days.

BLACK FRIDAY - FREE SHIPPING ALL DAY

SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY- 15% OFF ALL DAY PLUS A FREE SWAG BAG FOR THE FIRST 20 ORDERS OF THE DAY

Small Business Saturday swag bags are a canvas silk screened by me and include a Women’s Suffrage sticker, a Ladies to the Front Button, a You Can Do Hard Things button and a coupon good for use in January 2021. Total value of the swag bag is approximately $25! All you have to do is be one of the first 20 orders on Small Business Saturday!

CYBER MONDAY- 20% OFF ALL DAY

Summer is for Wildflowers, Butterflies and Herbs!

It is peak summer time right now. As I write this, it’s about 90 degrees outside in the shade and basically unbearable in the sun unless you’re sitting at the pool. Despite the afternoon heat, summer is by far my favorite season. Everything is alive in the summer. I love the greens of the trees and blues of the sky. I love the sprays of wildflowers neighborhood gardens. I love the endless amount and varieties of birds that visit my feeders and most of all I love growing in my garden the flowers and herbs that attract pollinators such as butterflies and bees.

If you know me personally, then you probable know I am completely obsessed with butterflies in the summer. I have spent the last few years raising butterflies from caterpillars. This summer I am raising Eastern Black Swallowtails, Monarchs, and Painted Lady butterflies and Luna & Polyphemus moths. You can follow along on these adventures on my Instagram @LattasLepidotera where it’s all butterflies, pollinators and native plants all the time.

While you might not be ready to jump head first into raising caterpillars on your kitchen counter like me, but did you know there are some simple steps you could take this summer to improve your yard for birds, butterflies and other pollinators? In the book Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard New York Times best-selling author Douglass W. Tallamy provides 10 concrete steps each of us can take to make our back yards and local ecosystems healthier. I was completely taken in by this book from the moment I started reading it. I truly think everyone should read this book.

A must read for anyone who cares about improving the environment!

If you are interested in how to attract more beautiful butterflies to your yard then I suggest picking up a copy of Planting for Butterflies which contains some basic tips for getting started with landscaping for butterflies as well as some interesting facts and tid-bits about caterpillars and the butterflies they become.

A primer for anyone looking to begin attracting butterflies to their yards.

If you have children at home then I can’t say enough good about A Butterfly is Patient which includes stunningly beautiful illustrations and walks children through the life cycle of butterflies as well as introduces readers to the large variety of butterflies in the world. I can’t say enough how much we love this book in our home.

If you’re more interested in plants than butterflies, Nature’s Remedies: An Illustrated Guide to Healing Herbs is an very beautiful primer with information about how to use herbs for energy, digestive health, skin care and probably most importantly in these times, emotional balance, stress management, and strengthened immunity & cold relief.

All of the titles listed above are available on my website. When my retail store Stomping Ground opens later this fall, they will be available there, too! Did you miss the news about Stomping Ground? You can read more in here in my past blog post and you can follow Stomping Ground on Facebook or Instagram. I just walked through the shop space today and I can’t wait for you to come in and see it all for yourselves when renovations are done and the doors open to the public!

Stomping Ground: Future Home of Sunday Afternoon Housewife

The plan for Stomping Ground has been in the works for nearly 6 years. In 2014 I found a space I wanted to rent as a store front and print shop. I had several conversations with the landlord and started to move forward on the lease and for so many reasons, it just fell through. Even thought I drove by that space daily and mourned the loss of possibility, my outlook all changed in late 2014 when I found out I was pregnant. Now I decided, was not the time to open a new store front and print shop with my first baby on the way, so I reeled back on my plans and as things would have it, that decision to wait was the best I could have made.

Picture by Robert Sheer / Indy Star

In 2016 at a Windsor Park Neighborhood Association Meeting, Tom Battista came and pitched the idea of Kan-Kan Cinema (then they were calling it Windsor Park Arts Cinema) to the neighborhood. They had acquired the 100 year old church at the end of my street as well as 4 adjacent houses and planned to open and art house cinema, Amelia’s Bakery and have a few small retail shops. Two days later I met with Tom and committed to one of the retail spaces. My plan, to move my print studio out of my house, and have a small boutique where going to happen and right in my own neighborhood! I was so excited! Oh but how things dragged on and on. First we had to fight over a several month period for the re-zoning as a small group of neighbors opposed us at every turn. And then, unfortunately, the development plan to reuse the church proved to be too costly due to severe foundation deterioration, and so we had to go back to the zoning board and advocate again for allowing them to tear down the church and build a new building. The same group of neighbors fought tooth and nail against the planned development. You can read about that here if you’d like. On December 5, 2018, I wrote this in a Facebook post a year after our first and second win at the Zoning Board:

I can’t believe this was a year ago. We did gain the favor of the zoning board that day, and then we had to do it all again this fall. Now, things are finally moving and shaking. Like today, things are literally shaking my dear 115 year old house, as they are out there drilling holes into the ground prepping for building the theater and restaurant.

It’s been a year of dreaming and of growing, and practicing patience. Stomping Ground, as I currently plan to name my little boutique - will also house my print studio for Sunday Afternoon Housewife, is like a baby in the womb of my mind right now. It’s slowly growing and I can’t do anything to speed it along. It will come when it is ready. It’s going to come out perfect in the end. I have so many amazing ideas for the space. I want to share more of them soon, not today in the winter, but in spring when new things are born and the sky is blue and the trees are green. In the meantime I dream, I manifest, I practice more patience.

No, I don’t know when I will be in yet. Patience. When it’s time, I will share more about Stomping Ground. I know I am not the only one anxious to see this all through.

As I look back on that post now I really can’t believe that was in December 2018! They tore down the church in the fall of 2018 and began working on the theater that winter and finally finished in Spring 2020! And oh my is it beautiful! Take a look:

Photo from Kan-Kan’s Instagram @kankancinema

In the mean time the developers were slowly working on the house that is to become Stomping Ground. The zoning for the house turned retail has hit so many road blocks from the permitting office. It has, at times, ground the project down to a complete halt. And then, in March 2020 on the cusp of Kan-Kan’s grand opening and the arrival of all the needed permits, Covid struck. So the last few months things have been going really slow, then this past week they have really started to get so much work done! Today I walked by and they were prepping the ground for a new sidewalk and had dismantled the old faux brick porch to re-do it with more appropriate wood banisters. They also recently installed new windows including the so lovely large retail-style window on the front of the house. If you’d like to look at some older pictures of the house, this little walking tour is from last year and you can also see a few updates of changes through the inside and out on my Instagram and you can follow Stomping Ground on Instagram, too!

Because there were so many fits and starts and talks of timelines of opening in mid-March 2020, in early 2020 I began to order inventory to stock the shelves of the store, just little bits of it here and there. I am so exited to share some of that when the times comes, but because of the delays I also decided to add a section to my website featuring some of the goods which will be for sale in the store when Stomping Ground opens. The store will also be home to my print shop and office for Sunday Afternoon Housewife and I’m really looking forward to being able to expand my space and improve my print equipment when I get my new space up and running so I can print faster. Right now my small spaces makes my process a bit slower than I would like, but we’ll get there. I also look forward to offering classes, hosting book clubs and yoga classes and doing a little gardening outside the store too. I’ll be selling seeds and plants and other things like books, candles and handmade good from some of my favorite local artists.

Pollinator friendly Seeds will be sold at Stomping Ground

All the titles listed above are in stock and ready to ship now! You can click on the picture or check out all we have to offer online for Stomping Ground on my website under the Stomping Ground Tab!

I’m really looking forward to sharing more in the future as the progress on the store progresses, but I also appreciate all the support I get now through book and tee shirt sales as that is helping to keep the dream of the future store alive! Thank you!

Happy Pride Month from Sunday Afternoon Housewife

I attended my first Pride Festival when I was 18 years old (in the summer of 1999-whew!). My friend and I drove from Kokomo to Indianapolis to check it out. We had, believe it or not, never heard of such a thing as a Pride Festival until probably the day before we decided to go. I think we heard about it from one of our co-workers, but I can’t even recall how we learned about it.

My friend was so brave. She came out at our rural high school in the late 90s. She walked hand in hand with her girlfriend though the halls in the same year we learned about the murder of Matthew Shepard on Channel One in study hall. When she said she wanted to do something we had not done before and asked me to go with her to a Pride Festival, I was excited to go along. We loved adventure and going to the big city of Indianapolis for a Pride Parade- that was some serious adventure for us! I also remember the first time she and I went to our first gay bar. We dressed up and she even put on makeup that night and we danced the night away. Despite being underage, the place was welcoming and let up slip through the door. That night was one of the first times I met a drag queen in drag. I share these memories because I am trying to think back to when I began to realize that gay people were important people in my life. Before my friend came out there were only a couple of gay men I knew who worked with my mom. But I didn’t know them, I just knew what people said about them. When my friend came out I realized I really know someone gay. Of course she was not the only person from our class who has come out, but she was the first. It’s possible she was one of the first ever at our school, period. It was quite a thing, trust me. But with her coming out there was also this quick learning curve for me that people who didn’t just make fun of gay people, but many hated them and considered their life style illegal, immoral and worse. I attribute this time in my life and my long time friend coming out as one of the first things that pushed me toward advocacy for the LGBTQ community.

The Original We Like You Here Shirt by Sunday Afternoon Housewife

Now let’s fast forward about 10 years. The original idea of the We Like You Here shirt first began not as the six-color rainbow design as it exists today, but as a solid black or blue image of the states of Indiana and Ohio. The first We Like You Here shirts were printed in 2010 and sold at craft fairs in Indiana and Ohio as well as a few retailers in Indianapolis. The original idea of the shirt was just intended as a message of the Midwest Hospitality of Indiana and Ohio that many of us are personally so familiar with. After the 2012 re-election of Barak Obama, the solid blue and black shirts became very popular sellers as some people saw them as representing their vote for Obama. The shirt became very popular in my then only 2 year old tee shirt company, Sunday Afternoon Housewife. 

A very blurry cell phone image of the first printing of the rainbow We Like You Here shirt. Better pictures followed but I think this was the first picture I shared of the shirt.

In 2012 in Indiana, Mike Pence (yes, the now Vice President >insert barf emoji< ) was running for Governor of Indiana. The Attorney General Greg Zoller was filling amicus briefs in support of same-sex marriage bans and it was clear the two were were ready to start directly attacking the LGBTQ community in Indiana. Pence was a major supporter of laws such as the RFRA, Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was an attempt to restrict the rights of the LGBTQ community and allow blatant discrimination against them from businesses that chose not to serve them.

After the election of Mike Pence the idea came into my mind to change the We Like You Here shirt from the solid black and solid blue images to a rainbow. Once I had the idea, I had to save to make the first printing happen with help from a friend who had a 6 color press (I only had a 4 color press at that time). The first rainbow We Like You Here shirts were printed in the late summer of 2013. A full two years before the Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states, the We Like You Here shirt was created. 

In 2013 when I released this shirt, Pride shirts were not for sale at every big box department store. They were not even for sale at small boutique stores in Indianapolis. While others introduced their versions of Pride shirts shortly after, I know I was one of the first small, local businesses to offer a shirt combining LGTBQ Pride and Indiana. Since its creation, this shirt has been proudly worn by both members of the LGTBQ community and allies in Indiana. From the adult shirt also has come a children’s shirt, We Like You Here buttons, stickers and enamel pins and most recently earrings. There is also an Ohio state and Washington state (sold here exclusively by Monster Shop in Seattle) versions of the We Like You Here tee.

One if the most heart-warming things I have been told is by a teacher who buys the We Like You Here buttons by the handful and gives them to her students in need of support. On the other hand, I have had people say nasty things to me while selling the shirt at craft fairs. The most common is the nastily spat, “well, that certainly is NOT true. We don’t like them here.” Because I feel very strongly as an ally to the LGBTQ community that I have a responsibility to challenge people with that view point and to support the community. 

As a result of my desire to support the community, over the course of the last several years, this shirt has been used to raise funds for the LGBTQ community. My small, one woman owned and run business has donated over $5,000 to Freedom Indiana (the organization that fought the RFRA bill), the ACLU, Exodus Refugee, Indy Pride. I have also donated items to Indiana Youth Group for silent auctions and more.  

Like other projects I have done and shirts I have created, and other shirts I have made, I work hard to create them and do I what I can with what I have. I have the ability to produce a shirt that makes people happy to wear it and show their pride or for other to support their LGTBQ family and friends and with that shirt I also can make donations to organizations fighting for LGTBQ rights. 

Indiana Transgender Pride Tee released in 2018 by Sunday Afternoon Housewife

 In 2018, at the request of many community members, I started printing a Trans Pride tee shirt and have since made financial donations to Trans Student Educational Resources based off sales of the tee. I consider it an honor to create shirts that support the LGBTQ community and I will always to fight for equal rights for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Hoosiers. Despite anything our state (or federal) government does, please know there are so many of us who truly support and like you here in Indiana!

Sunday Afternoon Housewife Stands with Black Lives Matters

I’m not sure how to start or how to finish this post. This week I have seen the city I love and the people of this city battered. The last 7 days have been heavy and hard and it is not over. Windows can and will be repaired. The trauma from the police violence against the citizens of Indianapolis is going to last for a very long time. I need to be clear, if there was any doubt where I stand, where my business stands, I support @blmindy & Black Lives Matter.

Masks I screen printed then sewed for the Indy 10 Black Lives Matter Organizers

This week my family and I went to protests downtown more than once. Yes, my mama heart quakes in fear at the thought harm coming to my daughter when we are there, but it is nothing compared to what our Black friends have felt for a lifetime. My heart has been split wide open. Listening as George Floyd called for his mama... hearing Dreasjon Reed’s mother speak about his ruined face. As author Glennon Doyle says, “There is no such thing as other people’s children.” At the protest Tuesday a stranger gave Scout her googles to protect her eyes because she was worried we were going to get gassed. Another mother came up and talked me through the steps of what to do when the police fired tear gas at us. I had to explain to Scout when she got excited about the police mounted on horses that other people see them and fear for their lives. I had to explain to her the goggles were to protect her from the police. Today I see a video of IMPD firing tear gas directly into a car with two black babies inside. Still, my family came home safely. A friend shared something from MLKJr, “Other families may be fortunate enough to protect their young from danger.” We are the other families. As soon as we ride away from the crowd, we are safe. White friends, I need you to put on a mask and show up to stand in solidarity with Black Families. Saturday there is a sit in at the Indiana State Capitol Building from 3-5:30pm and I want to see you there.

The was the second round of BLM masks I made. I am working on getting some mass produced masks that I can print directly on and will let folks know when those are available.

Framing the Neighborhoods of Indianapolis Map

Edited 10/19/2022 to update pricing and details on locations that can provide framing services.

Today I’d like to answer the number one question I get with almost every sale of the Neighborhoods of Indianapolis Map, “How do I frame this Naplab map?” But before I get to details I wanted to share a little about Naplab’s Neighborhoods of Indianapolis map.

Neighborhoods of Indianapolis map mounted on gator board and on display in my home.

In 2015 I became the caretaker of Naplab’s Neighborhoods of Indianapolis map. I like to say I am the producer and distributor of the map because I am the one person that pays to have them printed, rolled, boxed, stored and I am the one person who distributes the maps around Indianapolis (and Carmel!) to different store such as Silver in the City, Homespun, the Indiana Historical Society and several locations of The Great Frame Up, and I ship them across the country from California to New York, and even to countries as far as England and Israel.

You can read more about the history of the Neighborhoods of Indianapolis map in this anniversary story from 2017. I think it’s important to clarify that I did not originally design the map. The map was designed by NapLab’s Matt Hale and Josh Anderson and that sometimes causes confusion because as Sunday Afternoon Housewife I took over the map printing and distribution in late 2015. In 2017 I worked with Josh to update the map for the 2018 and 2021 anniversary edition.

Aside from framing questions people always ask me about the updates to the maps over the years and ask, “Do the neighborhoods really change that much?” and the answer is both yes and no. Since I took over the map production we did a full overhaul on the west side of Indianapolis thanks in large part to assistance from City Councilor Jared Evans. Some neighborhoods have chosen to change their names over the years and you can compare those changes from edition to edition. The 10th Anniversary Edition has sold nearly 2,000 copies and nearly everyone seems happy with the current updates but that doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be changes in a future edition. Because I print the map 1,000 copies at a time it makes sense to re-evaluate any necessary changes before doing a reprint. I always tell folks to send me an email if they have a documentable change that needs made to the map and we will add it to our research and reviews. Also feel free to comment below on this post with any possible suggestions.

Now, on to the topic of framing. First of all, as a reminder I did not design this map at its massive 46”x48” size. At Nearly 4’ square it’s really easy to think a smaller version would be ideal and yes I get asked for that a lot, but it’s not going to happen any time soon. If you’ve ever taken the time to look at some of the smallest neighborhoods, take Woodruff Place as an example, you will see they are already so small and printing the map at a smaller scale would make them nearly microscopic. So yes, we have made a large map and you bought it and now you want to frame it.

Map on display at The Great Frame Up on Delaware Street

If you’d like to get it professionally framed I personally suggest any of The Great Frame Up locations. You can take a pre-purchased map to their store and they can frame it for you for $430 (this is the price as of 10/19/2022 and is subject to change) or you can purchase maps from them in the store and have it framed with their discounted package for $450 (again, this is the price as of 10/19/2022 and is subject to change). For this package, The Great Frame Up on Delaware Street in Downtown Indianapolis uses an approximately 1” black metal frame and framing grade acrylic (instead of glass) to cover the map. To care for the acrylic you use a microfiber cloth or acrylic cleaner instead of paper towel and Windex which will scratch the acrylic.

The alternative option to the metal frame and acrylic cover is to have your map mounted on something called gator board or Mount Core which is a 1/4”- 1/2” very rigid board that keeps the map stiff but does not protect the paper from scratches. Please note that this can no longer be done at The Great Frame Up. I have been told that Repro Graphix and Northside Glass and Frame are both places which can provide this service but I have not used them personally or seen their work or know their price. It is up to you to call and ask if they provide this service. This is the process I chose for my map but it was done at a place that not longer provides the service (pictured above near the stair case and yellow couch). This mounting process has worked well for me as I was not sure our 100+ year old plaster walls would even be able to bear the weight of a framed map and I generally like the way the map looks when mounted. Some people choose to cut the white edge off and have it mounted that way which also looks very cool. The only real issues I have had in the 3 years since I had my map mounted is that I bumped an edge when moving the map from my pop up shop to my house and bent it a smidge and that dust likes to gather along the top edge of the gator board and it isn’t super easy to remove, but I have found a dry microfiber cloth works well enough for dusting the mounted map.

A DIY Frame made by a friend’s husband.

Other options for framing including getting DIY and making a frame yourself which my friend Robyn’s husband did. As you can see the frame doesn’t have glass or acrylic covering the map, but this is a cost effective option if you are handy with a table saw and a staple gun.

A customer shared this photo with me of a wood magnet frame which she made herself.

The last option that I want to mention I have not tried myself or seen in person but have had several people share with me. Amazon sells a poster hanging kit and you can purchase the size of wooden bars needed to hang the map or you can use a magnet and wood frame to hang the map. You can find instructions for how to make a magnet wood frame on YouTube. This works relatively well and can be accomplished for around $40 or less, but of course this method does not keep the map from getting torn, bent or otherwise damaged. It’s great however if you can hang it this way and get it up and don’t plan to move it around often.

These are just a few of the options for DIY framing and if you visit my Instagram and scroll through you will see a wide variety of DIY frames, hanging methods and even a Neighborhoods of Indianapolis coffee table!

Do tell me in the comments below if you have a Neighborhoods of Indianapolis map and how you have it displayed in your home. If you would like to purchase a map you can order the Neighborhoods of Indianapolis map on my website.

Virtual Crafty Supermarket This Weekend

This Friday and Saturday take some time out of your holiday weekend to support handmade businesses and check out the first ever Virtual Crafty Supermarket! Join the Facebook event we are hosting here Friday and here Saturday and watch over 30 crafters go live for 20 minutes segments sharing new products, sneak peeks into their studios and support these handmade vendors by liking their pages, following them on Instagram and most importantly buying their handmade goods!

If you’re shopping during the time of the Virtual Market I have created a special free shipping code to know that you found me just from the market. Use the virtual market code and get a bonus prize with your order! How do you get the code? I’ll go live from 1:20-1:40 pm on Saturday. At 1:18pm you’ll see a post appear in the event here and you’ll find a set of pictures for Sunday Afternoon Housewife. Take a look at the items for sale by collection including my Ohio collection and my Kentucky collection and keep scrolling to the last picture for the free shipping code with bonus prize!

I think one of the coolest things about the Virtual Crafty Supermarket is that folks from all over the country are going to get to experience this uniquely Cincinnati event. I am so thankful and honored to be a Crafty Supermarket vendor since 2012 and while the Virtual market certainly isn’t what I had hoped for this spring I am thankful for the opportunity. The big catch is they only made all our hard work worth if if you do a little shopping! Pretend you are at the market and open your wallets wide! Artists and handmade vendors have been especially hard by the Covid19 crisis and this is a really great opportunity to help!

I’ll see you live on Saturday!

Why supporting small business matters for quality and what you pay for when you don't

Welcome! A dear friend suggested I begin blogging again for my business (some of you long time fans may recall when I used to blog for Sunday Afternoon Housewife years ago) and I while I know she is right, I was struggling with where to begin or what to write about. Then, not when I was working, but when I was folding laundry, it struck me and I knew where to start this new blog.

If you aren’t familiar with my business yet, I wanted to give you some back story first. Sunday Afternoon Housewife is a woman-owned design and screen printing company located in Indianapolis, Indiana. All of the designs I sell are created by myself or in collaboration with other artists. Most of the artists I collaborate with are other women, but I have worked with a variety of people over the years. All my shirts are printed by hand here in Indianapolis. I do the majority of the printing myself, and I also work with one other high-quality print shop. I started this business myself in 2009 and I am self-taught when it comes to both design and screen printing.

One of the challenges I face as small printing operation is keeping shirts in stock and ready to ship. New designs require screens to be made and tested and I am very vigorous about my quality control. I have a seconds sale each year and I have lots of people tell me they don’t even see what’s wrong with the shirt or don’t notice a mistake which seems so obvious to me, but I do my best to make sure my shirts are of the best quality in both fabric and in printing. The reason I mention that I must keep all shirts stocked is because I am not the type of company that prints one off shirts or shirts on demand. Everything is designed with the intention to sell a large quantity of the shirts.

The majority of my shirts are printed on Bella and Canvas brand tees. These are the gold standard for new tee shirts these days. These are the shirts you want to wear, not the cheap kind of fundraiser shirt you turn into a rag or give away before it even wears out. These quality shirts are printed mostly with water based inks or other inks that have a soft hand feel. “Soft hand feel” is lingo for inks that aren’t stiff and scratchy though the inside of the shirt. The inks move freely, fold easily and do not crack or peel. Over a very extended period of time the inks will begin to fade, but they do not crack or flake of off the shirt. And that fact is exactly what inspired me to write today.

I know you probably have seen advertisements for tee shirts on social media. I won’t name any specific company names, but most are not locally owned small businesses who give you a direct line to the person printing the shirt, and I can promise they do not care about quality. When you get spammed by shirt advertisements, the images you see online might look bold, bright or beautiful, but it often does not last. The first thing you find if you order a cheap tee shirt from a faceless company is that the shirt may not feel soft or fit well or even fit terribly. Also, sizing may not be consistent. Even if your shirt fits and you decide to wear it, you might notice the ink feels stiff. After the first wash you might notice cracks. After a few months the ink may start coming off the tee and THIS was my AHA moment to share with you!

So, for Christmas I caved and ordered my husband a shirt off of Facebook from a company that honestly looked too good to be true. The design was great and I knew he would love the message. I tried to do some digging and from what I could tell the quality of the shirt would be good so I hope the printing would be also. Well, you be the judge:

For the record this is NOT ONE OF MY SHIRTS. This is a shirt ordered from a nameless company off the internet in a moment of weakness.

I am hope you can see what I am talking about. The shirt pictured above was purchased from an internet company in December and so it has only been worn for 3 1/2 months. The ink is so cracked and peeling off that in a few more months it will be in the rag pile. Now, let me show you a few of my shirts:

Of the three shirts above, the 46201 tee and Indiana State Parks tee are well over two years old. The writing center tee is even older. You’ll notice no cracking, no peeling, and hardly any fading. I don’t do anything special for washing my shirts. Everything goes in the washer and dryer. Sunday Afternoon Housewife shirts also don’t shrink, the ink feels soft and take years to fade.

As a favor, if you ever see a shirt online, especially in a pop up advertisement, that you’d like to buy, feel free to email me a screen shot or send me the link. I’ll tell you right away if you can expect good or bad quality on that purchase!

I am very curious if you have ever had the experiences I described above with a cheaply purchased (or sometimes not even cheap- as the shirt I purchased for my husband cost more than any of my tee shirts!) or online purchased tee shirts? Please share your experience, good or bad in the comments.