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?:

Izzy Top and Fancy Pants Leggings

After seeing Needle and Ted's adorable version of Climbing the Willow's free Izzy top pattern on Kollabora, I printed it out and made it immediately for Anna... so simple and quick to make, but so cute. It's not dissimilar from the Maggie Mae top with the curved bodice seams, but it's got some little differences, like the cute button tab and lack of waist. 

I used some thick-ish Japanese cotton I got off the remnants table at a local fabric store, lined with some thin, soft check fabric from Martha's stash (also used to line my twin Lucy tunics).  

After making the top, I decided it necessitated bottoms. 

I had an old t-shirt that was too stretched out for me to wear anymore, but it matched my Izzy top perfectly... combined with the Titchy Threads Fancy Pants Leggings pattern (in my stash thanks to the Sew Fab pattern bundle, which had already paid for itself, seriously): an outfit is born.

I hope the up-cycled leggings work... not sure my t-shirt material was sufficiently stretchy or recovery-y (you know what I mean... right?).  Also, I definitely cute and sewed one of the legs inside out.  Anna won't notice, though, I hope?