Keep Summer Cool: Pretty Gauze from Ulla Popken and Woman Within

Cotton gauze is showing up in many of the catalogues this season, so grab what you can before the heat soars and you wish you had it.    

Cotton gaze is a lightweight, crinkly fabric that dries very quickly, lets heat and moisture leave your body.  

If you choose light colored, or better yet, white fabric, it actually reflects the heat rays of the sun.  

If you get long sleeves and full length legs, you're giving yourself some protection from both sunburn and mosquitoes. 

Nothing's perfect.  I've gotten mosquito bites through thick denim jeans.  And the thinner the gauze, the less UV protection it affords.  Still, for summer, gauze does what every other fabric claims to do.  It absorbs moisture from you and then dries quickly, actually cooling you off in the process!

If you want to increase this cooling effect, fill a spray mister with water and lightly dampen your shoulders and chest.  (Remember, I said "dampen" not "soak")   As the water evaporates it will cool the surface it was on and that means a cooler you!

If you have hot flashes, you may want to live year round in this fabric.

Gauze is intended for designs that aren't tight.  But they don't have to be tent-shaped either.  Unless you're doing ballet stretches, the crinkled weave of the gauze has a lot of "give" and will get you through most daily activities.
Be aware, though, that if you add spandex to the blend it looks nicer in many ways (drape, flexibility, less shrinkage) BUT, it blocks part of the cooling effect.  

IS gauze a new invention?  Not at all, but until recently it was hard to find in stylish clothing.  Now several catalogues are carrying it.

You can find it at most sites.  I found a really nice cluster of gauze items at Ulla Popken:

Ulla Popken (ullapopken.com) has 32" long, button-front tunics with long sleeves.  These can be worn as shirts, jackets, or swimsuit cover-ups.  They come in reddish orange, lapis blue, green, white, black and a pretty teal, white, navy & blue stripe.#12441, $39. 

They also have matching pants which, at 28" long will hit you at the ankle or as a capri.

On the opposite page they feature a 50" long gauze dress (sleeveless) in a blue & white or red/orange and white fern print.  This is an empire shape, not a boxy or bag lady look.  
Next to it is a pull-over tunic in lapis or green, with white scroll work embroidery  directing your attention away from the hips to the chest area.

 Woman Within (womanwithin.com) has 20 gauze pieces available in bright colors and whites.  Woman within's prices run cheaper than Ulla Popken, but the price difference doesn't show in a quality difference.
Most of the Tunics are 30" long.
Especially worth notice is the "gauze skirt" which is full, fully lined, 34" long, $29-$34.  It comes in black and a cute print that incorporates all 6 of the the colors their cute "gauze tunic" (long sleeves, 30" long, $29-$34, comes in.  Great outfits for partying or just chillin'.

Be beautiful!  And comfortable!
Knuti