Self-drafted jungle trekker shirt

I am somewhat ashamed to admit that the Amazon rainforest was not on my list of places to visit in Colombia. Although I love hot weather, I like that hot weather in proximity to a sea or an ocean. But last year, after we studied South American geography, Z announced that she just had to see the pink river dolphins in the Amazon. In October we finally made the trip.

Colombia has a tiny slice of the Amazon River, something like 50 miles of the Amazon's 3,977 miles, and 10 percent or the Amazon rainforest. We stayed in the town of Leticia, which is right at the corner where the borders of Colombia, Brazil and Peru meet.

<a href="http://www.noticiasser.pe/index.php/opinion/trapecio-amazonico-tierra-de-nadie">Photo credit</a>.

It was not a relaxing vacation by any means - and I've never sweat so much in my life. But it was a really neat experience. We did a night time jungle walk, an all-day river cruise, hopped over to Peru for lunch and bought chocolates in Brazil after dinner.

We saw frogs, lizards, lots of tarantulas, pink river dolphins (sorry, didn't manage any photos of those), black tamarinds, monkeys and the world's largest lilypads.

I also had some of the best fish I've ever had in my life, which I wasn't expecting at all. The Amazon is home to the pirarucu, one of the largest freshwater fishes in the world at up to 10 feet long, and, dare I say, one of the most delicious. 

So, the sewing. Panic sewing is a reliable precursor to any trip, but in this case, it really was panic-induced. I needed lightweight, long-sleeved shirts for my boys to wear during our evening jungle walk and river cruise to protect them from mosquitoes. I envisioned a loose tunic style, and I didn't want to buy buying a pattern.  Buoyed by my recent attempts at pattern drafting, I took my 6-year-old's measurements and started drafting my own pattern for a boy's tunic.

The blue cotton voile shirt was originally supposed to be for my 6-year-old, but I underestimated the necessary length of the front opening in order to get the shirt over his head and it just didn't fit.  When I went to modify the neckline so that it would fit my older son, I decided to change the style a bit. I really like the look I ended up with. Both front and back necklines are finished with an interfaced facing. The front closes with a coconut shell button and elastic loop.

The self-drafted top features a dropped shoulder and side slits.  The sleeves are a bit long because I dropped the shoulder a bit more when I revised the pattern after making the blue version, and forgot to shorten the sleeves.

The shirts were a success. Even though the humidity was at 100%, the boys didn't complain too much, and the long sleeves kept both the sun and the mosquitoes off. But not necessarily the monkeys.

I'll probably revisit this pattern again in the future. But for now, thanks for reading, and see you next time!