Lola Tanks

When I made those awesome elephant MC Hammer pants for my nieces (remember those?), I didn't really anticipate that it would be impossible to find tops to match, but it was.  So I made some instead!

I had some bright yellow cotton that exactly matched the yellow in the elephant fabric, but I wanted to tie in more of the elephant fabrics into the top, too.  I found this (free!) pattern and tutorial for the Lola dress from Climbing the Willow (of Izzy top and my Liebster award nomination fame!) and thought it would make cute tanks to go with the elephant pants if I left off the bottom ruffle.

I made 1/2 inch double fold bias tape (starting with 2 inch strips and following the directions at Colette) from each of the elephant fabrics and then made the Lola tanks according to the tutorial, although I left the armhole bias tape long enough to tie into bows at the shoulders to keep them adjustable (I left 13-14" of bias tape hanging off the end of each point on the tank).  I also bound the bottom hem with the elephant bias tape.  The pink/purple is size 3 and the blue is size 2.

Super easy and very cute!  Definitely take a look at the Lola pattern.  

In the meantime, can you picture how the Lola tanks will look with their respective elephant pants?:

Too Legit To Quit

To quit making toddler-sized genie pants, that it.
Another day, another pair (or two) of MC Hammer pants.

As a seasoned (sorta) expat, I feel it is my duty to mock tourists in Southeast Asia who purchase and immediately don elephant themed genie pants around town. Many times I see large groups of people (adults! tour buses full!) wearing matching elephant genie pants around town.  A bit ridiculous. But making matching elephant themed genie pants for my toddling nieces?  No problem.

I used Suburbia Soup's "You Call It" pants pattern again after my first pair (in batik) was such a big hit, both for Zoe and for the internets (it's one of my most visited posts!).  The fabric is from Chatuchak weekend market.