Sister Avontuurs

I've been admiring this fabric at Hobby Lobby all year,

But I really didn't need anymore fabric (my fabric stash is a little scary). So, I've been a good girl and haven't bought any. That is, until two weeks ago.

I had the opportunity to test the Eli Monster's latest dress pattern - The Avontuur Dress. It's a comfy looking knit dress that strongly resembles the dresses my mom bought for me when I was my sister's age. Maybe not the most exciting dress, but it looked the perfect, comfortable, play dress. It did not disappoint.

Please excuse the blurriness, swinging children are hard to photograph.

This dress seemed like a pretty darned good excuse to buy the green jersey knit with chevrons, so as soon as I was selected as a tester for the Avontuur dress I was ready to run into town to pick up a few yards.

While at Hobby Lobby I also picked up some silver chevron fold over elastic to finish the neckline and sleeves with.

Fabric in hand, I sat down one evening to make this dress. It was a quick sew and the finished product met with my sister's approval easily. 

Apparently the dress is incredibly soft and comfortable, and of course it's cute!

Easy to sew and easy to play in, this is definitely a dress pattern worth having!

Now, when I bought this fabric, I picked up a little extra. I wanted something to wear out of it too! I didn't need a dress (though I wanted one), but a T-shirt I can bring along on the World Race next year? That would be a welcome wardrobe addition. A shirt that matches my sister's dress, so even when we're on opposite sides of the world we'll be thinking about each other.

At training camp I bought this very simple T-shirt and fell in love with the fit. It would be my pattern for my Avontuur (the Dutch word for adventure) shirt. 

I laid the shirt out on a single layer of my fabric and cut half way around it, adding an extra 1/2 inch for seam allowance. I slightly altered the hem shape while I was at it.

Next I removed my shirt template and folded over the cut out side of my fabric onto the uncut side. Then I finished cutting out the front of my new shirt. This method insured both sides of my shirt would be symmetrical.   

Since the front and back of the original shirt were identical, except for at the neckline, it was really easy to repeat the process for my new shirt back. I used my newly cut out shirt front as my template and just raised the neckline slightly and lengthened the hemline for a slight hi-low hem.

I got the shirt sewn up in about an hour one evening. With only two seams it was really easy! Serge up the side seams, hem the bottom and sleeves with the double needle on my sewing machine, add a neck binding, and it's done! 

Of course, before I did all that I traced my front and back pieces onto paper so that I don't have to make a new pattern if I want to make this shirt again.

Once I find another fabric I want to use I intend to do just that, with a few adjustments. I'll lower the neckline slightly as this one came out really high. I added seam allowance to the neckline, which I really didn't need to do because of the binding I added. (If I'd finished the neckline with a facing then, yes, a seam allowance would have been necessary.) Also, I think a pocket in the front of the shirt would be cute.

Hmm, I might need to go ahead and add that pocket to this shirt. A pocket on the front of my sister's Avontuur dress might be cute too. . .

So, should I add pockets to these or just make us a second matching set? After all, I do need a few more T-shirts to bring along next year and my sister always loves a new dress!

*If you like the Avontuur dress you can buy the pattern here, it comes in sizes 12 months - 12 years, and it's currently on sale through the weekend!

** If you like my shirt you can copy my method to make your own :)