I had this perfect pair of Tommy Hilfiger jeans: Relaxed fit. Bootcut. Fit like a glove and perfectly broken in. I think I had them for about 8 years until disaster struck. A terrible bowling accident. I was releasing my ball for what was sure to be a strike, but accidentally kind of stepped down wrong, half fell down and *RIIIP*—one of my leg seams had ripped from the knee almost clear to the crotch! I was so glad I had a sweatshirt to tie around my waist so I could finish playing.

I was terribly saddened by the loss of these favorite jeans, but around the same time, I was lucky enough to have downloaded this Liberty Jane Jeans Pattern for American Girl Dolls! Instead of tossing out the jeans, they would live on forever as a pair of adorable jeans for my doll collection! At first I was going to create the jeans exactly to the pattern specs, but then I found  a little article about adding a zipper to the Liberty Jane Jeans Pattern. I had to do it. I started looking for a tiny zipper, but then I thought, why not use the zipper straight from the jeans? Zippers can be cut to size, so I could make it fit! And then I started thinking, why stop at the zipper? I decided to make the doll jeans as close to the originals as possible!

Authentic Tommy Zipper!

I carefully removed the original Tommy Hilfiger branded tape from the zipper shield, so I could add it to my tiny jeans. I removed part of the actual waistband from my jeans and cut it down to the right size. I love the red contrast stitching on the inside! I also added on tiny belt loops. I couldn’t use the original jeans button since it was so large, so I found some dolly-sized ones online.

The Pocket Emblem

I cut a logo from a rear label inside my jeans to use as an appropriate-sized pocket emblem.
The Real Leather Label

My original jeans had an embossed leather label. It was far too big to use, so I decided to make my own! I cut an appropriate-sized piece of leather, and used a Creative Heatworks tool (bascally a woodburning tool with interchangeable points) to brand my label.
The Jeans!

Finally, I used a few different grades of sandpaper to add wear similar to that of my jeans. I think they turned out so adorable! Definitely one of the most detailed teensy things I’ve ever sewed! Those belt loops were tricky!