Hem Your Own Kika Skirt

You may have read my other blog post on hemming your own kika pants so this one is just a follow up to that post. I am short and often many maxi skirts and pants are too long for me. What I like about kika is that you can hem your own stuff with a pair of scissors (or a rotary cutter). I am not home right now so I had to use scissors to hem my Cameron skirt. It is about 2 inches too long and I really want to wear it while I am in Sweden. I probably only cut off a little less than 2 inches as I wanted to make sure I didn't make it too short either.

I started off with only cutting a little off just in case I screwed it up and had to hem it with a sewing machine later. The trick was to go slow, have a really sharp pair of scissors and also have someone help you keep the fabric taught. I highly recommend a rotary cutter as it makes the whole thing so much easier but if you don't ... scissors will do just fine. Take a look!

BEFORE!

AFTER!

I Made the Top 40!

How exciting is this? I got an email the other day telling me that I made this blogs "Top 40 All-Natural Stain Removal Solutions" and I am listed as item #33! I got a great new badge to put on my blog and you should check out all the other great tips on stain removing. Are there any that you swear by? 

Find the complete list of All Natural Stain

Removal Solutions at FlatRateCleaners.com

Skinny Girl Sparkling Cucumber Lemonade

I taste tested this recipe last week and it was a big hit. I kind of modified a few other recipes to make my own. I didn't measure so you might want to adjust it according to your own tastes. I know I had to add a little more sweetener when I first made it. I just really don't like the taste of artificial sweeteners and the recipes I found called for Crystal Light (yuck) so that really threw off my water/lemonade ratio. Anyway, I will make it again and if you want to schedule your own kika trunk show, I will make up a pitcher and bring it with me! 

Monica's Skinny Girl Sparkling Lemonade
No fancy party glass here ... just fancy plastic!

Simply Lemonade
This is the lemonade I used because I drink it all the time. It has that fresh squeezed taste and I am too lazy to make my own lemonade. It certainly tastes better than that horrible Crystal Light!

Skinny Girl Cucumber Vodka
Maybe there are other cucumber vodkas out there but this was the one called for in the recipe and I really like it. It is not sweet like some flavored vodkas can be and smells and tastes like a cucumber!

Blentec blender
Ok, one more note ... I didn't chill my cucumber vodka before I made this drink so I just used my blender to quickly chill and blend the lemonade and vodka together. This may have been the reason why I needed to add more sweetener to it because I added the ice?

Monica's Skinny Girl Sparkling Cucumber Lemonade

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup Skinnygirl Cucumber Vodka
• 2 cups Simply Lemonade
• 1 cup of ice
• 1 freshly squeezed (organic) lemon 
• Sugar or sweetener of your choice (I used a combination of Lemon flavored Stevia and honey)
• 1 cup club soda
• Cucumber (organic) wheels (for garnish)
• Lemon (organic) wheels (for garnish)

DIRECTIONS

• Combine the vodka, lemonade, ice, lemon juice and sweetener in the blender. 
• Pulse until ice is pulverized and well blended. 
• You can either top it off with the club soda or pour it into each glass separately. Don't blend the club soda! 
• Garnish the pitcher with sliced cucumbers and lemon wheels or add to each cup individually.
• DRINK and ENJOY!

New Home on YouTube

I had an issue with my old account. It was personal and business videos that I had uploaded so it is a good thing to have a separate account now just for kika. However, it is very frustrating to have lost access to all my old content! I love Google for so many things. It provides us with a very nice lifestyle and vacations and so on. I use it for my email. I use it for my calendar. I use it for my blog. I use it for my photo organization. 

So you see, I do love most things Google but there is one thing I hate more than anything and that is Google+. I refuse to convert my old account to Google+ so therefore, I have lost access to everything there. Grr. Believe me, my husband has gotten an earful already.

Well, that leads me to this blog post where you can visit my new "Monica with kika" home on YouTube. I could only find two of my scarf tying demos to upload to this new location so please go take a look. Let me know what else you want to see posted!

 

I also went and searched for a number of eco-friendly videos for you to watch. They are things I highly suggest educating yourself on. The topics include ... why we don't have sweatshop factories anymore ... how Tencel is made ... how water bottles are made into clothing ... why pesticides are so heavily used in the cotton industry ... the benefits of organic cotton ... chemicals in your clothing ... what is GOTS. Click the video below to watch them all.  

One last Playlist to share with you. These are some of my favorite scarf tying demos. Be sure to watch them all and let me know what you think!

Hem Your Own Kika Pants

Did you know that for many of our items you can just hem your own pants? I am petite and spend a fortune on alterations over the years. I have used hemming tape in the past but I knew that wouldn't be an option for my leggings that were just a tad too long for me. I got a tip from another kika gal to buy a rotary trimmer to make cutting a straight line easier. It was super easy! I just used an old cutting board that my daughter uses for coloring on and a ruler to make a straight edge.

I would use this method on most items except our Twill pants/capris. Other pants that other kika gals that have had success with cutting are ... Ponte Bootcut Pants ... Skinny Pants ... Bootcut with Pockets ... Yoga ... Leggings. The edge won't fray and only roll a tiny bit. 

Here are my Leggings before I cut them. I did cut them straight!

And here they are after. I will post a photo of me wearing them trimmed later.

This is a photo from another kika gal who trimmed her Yoga Pants

DIY Fabric Softener

Here is another DIY laundry tip. It is almost too easy!

Vinegar Laundry Softener
Vinegar is all I use now to soften my clothes and reduce static cling! Aside from being a natural softener, it also removes soap residue in the washing machine and reduces static in the dryer. You can add vinegar to a Downy ball and throw it in with your laundry, or pour vinegar directly into the fabric softener dispenser if your washing machine has one (which mine does). I like to add 1-2 drops of my favorite essential oil to the vinegar in the softener dispenser. It gives my laundry a nice light scent after it is washed but I also always use an unscented laundry detergent.  

If I have time to make up my fabric softener, I will often add baking soda to the mix. Just be careful as it effervesces quite a lot! Baking soda is another natural softener, plus it helps to clean and deodorize clothes. Here is the recipe for that one:

 6 cups of vinegar
1 cup of baking soda
Essential Oil

SLOWLY mix together in a large container. I add enough essential oil to give it a nice scent. Store it in the vinegar bottle or a squirt bottle. Shake before each use. Use 1/4 to 1/2 cup during the rinse cycle. I have an High Efficiency washer so I use less but if you have the regular kind ... just add more. 

Sometimes I don't have the baking soda handy so you can mix up just vinegar and essential oils and that will do the trick. Or if you like to change the scent, just use plain vinegar (or the vinegar/baking soda mix) and add a few drops of essential oil right in the machine. 

Sweet orange brightens and fights stains


Lavender offers a calming effect


Peppermint can help fight tough odors on clothing

MonicaHubinette @ kikaPaprika.com ~ http://kika.hubbe.net

DIY Stain Remover (Mostly Natural!)

I started posting these things on Facebook as "Notes" before I had a blog and I think I should put them here instead. Then you can pin it on Pinterest and it is easier to share in general from a blog too. Let me know what you think of these kind of posts! I also have to think of a new category to put these in too ... so how about "DIY"?

This whole post was inspired by a laundry accident I had recently where one of my white kikaPaprika shirts got washed with my husband's new dark blue denim jeans. I didn't discover it until it had been dried so I thought the stain was set in and ruined. My white shirt was now a soft blue! Crap!

I didn't want to buy a new shirt so I decided to go online and look around and re-discovered this recipe. Turns out ... all I needed to do was make a big batch of my DIY Stain Remover that I had tried out a few months ago. I soaked the shirt and did a little hand wash to see if I could get the blue out. Well, I couldn't tell because my Dawn is blue (which makes the stain remover blue) and my shirt was blue. I decided to toss it in the wash and dried as normal. My shirt is WHITE again!

Dang, this is where before and after photos would come in so handy! 

Anyway, here is the recipe...

Photo and recipe courtesy of One Good Thing by Jillee.

I made a batch a few months ago and tried it out on old blood stains and they came out! I was shocked how easy and great it worked. I am throwing away all my stain remover sticks and sprays that never seem to work anyway. Let me know if you want me to mix up a bottle for you to try out. I give them out to my hostesses for free!

DIY Stain Remover

1/3 cup Dawn Dishwashing Liquid

1/3 cup Ammonia

3 TBSP Baking Soda

1 cup Warm Water

Directions: Mix everything together and pour into a spray bottle or squirt bottle.

To use: Shake well! Apply directly on stains. Let soak for a few minutes and launder as usual. For stubborn stains, rub material together and stains should disappear!

MonicaHubinette @ shopkika.com~ http://kika.hubbe.net