Tunic Avontuurs

This pattern is quite a fun and easy to sew.

Just sayin'.     

As soon as I received the Avontuur dress and tunic pattern for testing I was ready to get started, as I often am with new projects. It's rather hard to get started, however, without the proper materials. This pattern required knit fabric. While my stash of wovens has reached epic proportions, my stash of knits is nearly non-existent. Beginning the Avontuur dress, it appeared, would have to wait until I could get to Hobby Lobby and buy that green jersey with little chevrons on it that I'd been admiring for so long. 

Or did it? In my stash, I stumbled upon a remnant of this reversible blue and silver knit denim. There appeared to be just enough to squeeze a tunic-length Avontuur out of. Oh, did I mention the other day that the Avontuur pattern has some fun variations? You can pick dress or tunic length, crew neck or henley, and long or short sleeves. For this tunic my sister requested long sleeves (chilly weather has finally officially arrived) and I decided it would be fun to try out the henley option.

So, a long sleeved, snap-front henley style, Avontuur tunic is what this denim knit would become! The bodice would be blue, the skirt and sleeves would be silver. I got it all cut out and ready to be sewn. I did, however, run into a couple of small issues while cutting it out. First, I didn't yet have the long sleeve pattern piece, so I just lengthened the short sleeve piece according to my sister's arm measurement. I didn't taper the sleeve in toward the cuff so these sleeves have a little extra volume. I adore the look, it's just a bit different than how the pattern is supposed to look. Of course, the day after I got this tunic cut out Steph, the designer behind The Eli Monster, sent out the actual long sleeve pattern piece, without extra volume to get in the way of doing stuff. So, I used that on the green dress a few days later. 

Then came the second minor issue, I didn't have quite enough fabric to cut out the tunic skirt as directed. I would have to piece the back skirt section, while totally disregarding the grain of the fabric, if this tunic was going to get made. So, that I did, and I rather like the result! We'll call that pieced back skirt a design feature.

Once the tunic was cut out I found some silver chevron fold-over elastic to finish the neck and sleeves with and I got that tunic made. My sister loved the result and was thrilled when I told her that next I would be making her the dress version. She was less thrilled with standing outside in the wind for pictures. 

Upon finishing this tunic my mind started turning, as it often does, and I started thinking of all the fun tunics and dresses I could making using the Avontuur pattern. If I extended the button placket on the henley version all the way down the front, into the skirt, I could easily make this pattern out of woven (non-stretchy) fabrics. I already had a fabric in mind to do this with.

My mom bought this plaid back when she was pregnant with my sister to make a baby blanket out of. There was just one yard left over that has been sitting in my fabric stash waiting for the right project. I figured this could be the right project as I just might be able to squeeze an Avontuur tunic out of that yard.

Well, that I did, by combining it with some red linen from my stash. (Darn, that girl just keeps growing! It wasn't that long ago that I could easily make an entire tunic top for her out of only one yard of 45" wide fabric!) I also used that red linen to make bias tape to finish the neckline and elbow-length sleeves with.

When cutting out this tunic, I lengthened the short sleeves to elbow length and made some adjustments to the front skirt piece to allow for the non-stretch fabric I was using. I cut that front skirt in two pieces instead of one and added an extra inch and a half of seam allowance to each piece, down what would be the middle of the shirt so that I could make the button/snap placket. 

To finish off this tunic I added pearl snaps all the way down the front.

The finished tunic turned out just as I'd hoped when I began to plan it, and my sister has no complaints either!

Now, no surprise, my mind is beginning to turn again, thinking of more variations I can make with the Avontuur pattern, but first I have a dress to finish for my mom!

A dress just happens to be made out of this red linen.

*You can get your own Avontuur pattern here if you're interested, (and I would highly recommend it if you have a girl between the ages of 1 and 12 that you sew for) it's on sale through the end of today!