Detatchable peplum

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
- pattern paper & a pencil
- measuring tape
- about a yard of fabric
- some super wide elastic
- scissors
- sewing machine

TUTORIAL:

[ MAKE PATTERN ] – Start with creating your pattern for the skirt. You’ll need to know your waist measurement and the length that you want your peplum to be. We’re going to need to get the radius of a circle because we’re making a pattern for a basic circle skirt. Take your waist measurement, add two inches and then divide it all by 2?. This will give you the radius measurement for your inner circle. I did about 4.75 inches for the radius, which is about a size 4 to 6 skirt.
You can draw a circle very easily by holding your measuring tape at the corner of your paper & drawing multiple points at the same distance away from that point. My second circle was about 7 inches greater radius than the first, making the length of the peplum about 7 inches! Draw a second circle that is 7 inches greater on your pattern :) Any questions?

[ CUT PATTERN] – Cut out your pattern piece. It should be a quarter circle.

[ CUT FABRIC ] – Fold your fabric into quarters & then cut using the pattern you just created.

[ SEW ELASTIC ] – Use your waist measurement and add an inch for seam allowance to determine how long the elastic should be. Cut the elastic & then finish the edges by serging or zigzag stitching the ends. Then sew the ends together.

[ FINISH TOP ] – Serge or zigzag stitch the top of the peplum (the inner part of the circle). You need to do this to prevent the fabric from fraying!

[ PIN ] – Pin the serged edge of the fabric to the elastic. Start by pinning a single point and then pin the opposite mid-points of the circles. Then pin at the quarter-way points.

[ SEW TOGETHER ] – Sew the elastic waistband and fabric together with a single straight stitch. You’ll notice that the fabric is longer than the elastic, so you’ll need to stretch the elastic while you are sewing. This will cause the fabric to gather very slightly.

[ HEM ] – Make a simple rolled hem at the bottom & sew with a straight stitch. Make sure to iron the fabric after & you’re done!

No sew bikini

It's that time of year again! Time to get all up in the sun and sand (don't forget your SPF!). 

Bikinis are expensive and sometimes it's tough to find the right sizes, so this year, Faith and I made our own. It was super easy, in fact-- this style is a NO SEW! That's right!

All we did was take a string bikini bottom and opened it up onto our elasticized fabric. Using the bikini bottom as a pattern, we cut out around the shape, leaving extra fabric on the hips for ties. Next, for the bando top, we literally cut a 6" wide strip of fabric, and cut 3 fringes on either end to tie together in front.

The whole thing took about ten minutes, and cost about $5. No stress and no fuss. Race you to the pool!

Bralet

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

- pattern paper & a sharpie

- a strapless or balconnet style bra

- about a 1/4 metre of a knit fabric

- scissors

- sewing machine

TUTORIAL:

[ TRACE ] – Start with tracing the outline of half of your bra. Be sure to carefully trace the shape of the underwire (inside the cup) as well.

[ DRAW ] – Draw a straight line from the center gore down (the center front) and draw a slightly diagonal line at the end where your bra buckle is. Draw a line at the bottom & that is the hem of your bralette. Mine was about 4.5 inches from the bottom of the underwire. Be sure to measure your natural waist & check that the length of that bottom line is about one quarter of your waist measurement. Make sense?

[ CUT PATTERN ] – This pattern was drawn to the exact measurements, so there were no seam allowances left. Cut it out & you’ve got a half pattern!

[ CUT FABRIC ] – Place your pattern on your fabric (folded in half along the center front) and cut out the fabric piece. Be sure to leave a 1/4" seam allowance around ALL sides, since it was not added to the pattern.

[ PIN ON ] – Fold the fabric under & pin it to the bottoms of the cups. This might be a little tricky because of the underwires, so be careful!

[ FINISH ENDS ] – I wanted to keep the closure of the bralette as the hook and eyes from the original bra, so I decided to make the back of the top with a keyhole. To do this, I just made a large angled cut of the top corners of the back & hemmed the edges. This will leave the band of your bra exposed & make a cute keyhole shape at the back as well. So just cut & hem!

[ SEW TO BRA ] – Now you can sew your fabric to your bra! If your bra has an underwire, it will help if you change your foot to a zipper foot. That way you’ll be able to get the straight stitch to lean right against the wire. Also, when sewing the fabric onto the band, try stretching both the band and your fabric so that your band remains stretchy.

[ BACK SEAM ] – See those little pink lines I drew on the photo? Sew those ends of the fabric together face to face.

[ HEM ] – Using a cover stitch machine or a zig zag stitch, hem the bottom of your top.

[ EMBELLISH ] – This step is optional, but you can now embellish your bra with any rhinestones, studs, beads, zippers or lace! I went with little pearl beads :) & voila!

Naturally Fair ?

1. If you have a bathtub, then pour two cups of whole cream milk into the water,
 add a lemon and throw in a couple handfuls of ground oats.
While you soak in the warm water, the natural skin bleaching properties of milk and lemon will work away at your skin. Oats have exfoliating, nourishing as well as lightening qualities.
You will see your overall skin tone become fairer by doing this twice a week for a month.

In case you do not have a bath tub, then you can soak some freshly cut lemon slices in a cup of milk, strain after an hour, add two spoons of rosewater and thicken with yoghurt. This paste can be used as a natural skin whitening cream.

2. Exfoliate your face regularly.
Dead cell buildup makes the skin look dull and darker than it really is.
Allow fresh skin cells to grow by timely removal of dead skin, and you’ll see a natural glow.
If you want to become fair naturally, exfoliation should become a regular part of your beauty regime.

3. When you choose your daily use skin creams, look for an ingredient called hydroquinone.
This is a melanin inhibitor. Melanin is responsible for pigmentation in our skin and inhibiting it makes us look fair. When you use a cream with this ingredient, you must never forget to apply sunscreen outdoors, because hydroquinone reduces skin’s melanin content, making us more prone to sun-damage.

4. You can bleach tanned areas such as the face, neck and even hands and feet with one of the cosmetic bleaches available in the market to become fair.

5. Swimming in chlorinated water regularly (but not in the sun) will also lighten overall body skin tone as chlorine is a bleaching agent.

6. Make a face pack with turmeric, olive oil and ground gram flour (besan) and use on a regular basis for exfoliating and lightening complexion. Turmeric also adds a golden glow to the face, which helps you become fairer.

7.For a fair complexion, mix equal amounts of egg white and lemon juice.
Heat on a frying pan till it thickens. Cool in the refrigerator. Applying this paste on your face and neck daily will show a gradual lightening of skin.

8. Mash a few quarter of a cucumber along with the skin. Apply this paste all over face and neck and keep for 20 mins before rinsing.

9. Honey, milk, lemon, oatmeal and brown sugar can be combined to make an excellent fairness scrub at home.

10. Another great recipe for fair skin is fennel seeds brewed in water. You must boil 2 tsps of fennel seed in a glass of water for an hour on low flame. The water will reduce significantly by this time. Strain out the seeds and add a tbsp of buttermilk or curd whey to this preparation. Apply all over face and neck. Rinse off after 15 mins.

11. Use the pulp of papaya to cleanse twice a week to become fair. Or you can use premade papaya face packs and face washes by popular cosmetic companies. But fresh is always better.

12. Buy a serum containing vitamin C to regularly dab on your face for a fair look. Vitamin C is a natural bleach. The natural alternative to this is lemon used in most face packs for fair skin, for it is a great source of vitamin C. Applying a mix of lemon juice and yoghurt once daily can show results in as little as two weeks.

13. Always use a good sunscreen of adequate SPF content as per the sun conditions of wherever you stay to maintain your fair complexion. In summers, one usually needs SPF 40 to 60 depending on the harshness of the sun and your exposure to it. Even in cloudy weather, a minimum of SPF 20 is required in most Indian cities.

14. Incorporating many fruits and veggies in your diet and drinking tons of water will ensure you get the right vitamins and antioxidants essential for healthy and fair skin. Dull and dry skin tends to look darker. Keep your skin hydrated if you want to appear fair.

15. Consuming fish oil capsules or eating flaxseeds will nourish your skin with omega fatty acids and keep it younger-looking, fresh and supple. Healthy skin is a must if you wish to become fair, because faults and damage show much more on fair complexions.