Glory Be, Gloria!
We are at the height of a heat wave in Tel Aviv, and temperatures have skyrocketed to 40 degrees Celsius. Yikes! To deal with the sweltering heat, one either has to get naked, or get into a Gloria dress by Make My Lemonade, also known as Wear Lemonade. The latter method of cooling down may be the more stylish option if one is not living in a nudist colony.
Wearing the Gloria does feel like you’re not wearing much anyway with its daring bare back plunging down to the waistline. Besides providing good ventilation with its back opening, it’s also incredibly sexy. So you can be sizzling “hot” without actually being perspiration-sticky hot.
A peek of the front view of the dress shows another surprise: the collar lapel in the neckline becomes the revealing cut-out in the back. This collar/back lapel is one long graceful piece that folds over from front to back. I love this detail by Lisa Gachet (@lisagachet on Instagram), who is the designer of Make My Lemonade. It makes this dress fun and flirty, sweet but sexy.
I was a member of their pdf subscription for about a year. For less than 8 Euros a month, I got to download unlimited patterns from Lisa’s stockpile. The subscription is only compulsory for 3 months. So when you do the math, that’s a whole load of patterns for not so much money. And every month she adds a new pattern. As you can see, I’m quite a fan since I’ve reviewed 3 patterns in the span of 10 days. The only catch is that I think one needs to have some sewing experience, confidence and patience to decipher some of the English instructions written in its own brand of sewing jargon. Some steps, which I feel are essential, are also left out in the makes. Which means that it takes some know-how and common sense for a successful make. What is useful are the sew along videos that come with every pattern. For example here’s the video for the Gloria Dress. All in all, I do love their clever and eye-catching designs. I do not mind the problem solving process involved. I love adventures. And it builds muscle. I promise it’s completely worth it for the design element.
Now back to the dress. The slightly gathered skirt is secured by an under-wrap in the back by 4 small fabric-covered buttons at the waistband, two on each side seam. You can’t really see it in the pictures but the front bodice has another neat detail of front darts meeting in a V at the centre front waistline. It is recommended to use light fabrics for this dress. The only tricky thing is you have to source for light fabrics that are opaque enough so that you don’t lose all sense of modesty with the front bodice. Or, it can be solved by sewing in a lining. The wrap in the skirt is in the back, so the derriere is covered nicely, but the front skirt can be easily lined as well if your fabric is too translucent.
The dress comes in sizes 34-46. I sewed a size 34 with the following adjustments:
1) I applied interfacing to the waistband. I found it strange that there wasn’t any interfacing indicated since buttonholes need to be installed here. Anyway, the light cotton that I used needed some reinforcement to be the waistband of any garment. In addition, I reduced the width of the waistband to one and three-quarter inches. The original pattern was too wide for my short torso.
2) The original length is a midi-version. I shortened mine for the hem to end above the knee.
3) The armholes require a teeny hem folded twice over. Instead, I used some self-made bias binding, which allowed me to contrast the openings with a lighter shade of the fabric.
The fabric I chose is a light Indian cotton with a contrasting border of light blue flowers on one of its selvedge sides. I used the border for the bottom of the skirt and used it to highlight the collar-lapel and the armhole openings.
My photo shoot standing on chairs in the midst of clutter is not an attempt to be avant-garde. The punishing sun made us retreat to a sheltered corner of our balcony, and I think it is not a bad backdrop for future shoots – jumble rumble and all. I am not a Marie Kondo enthusiast. At least not for now. In the meantime, stay cool and glorious on this sun-soaked day.
