Short n' Sweet: Sabrina Carpenter Custom Doll

It's that her, espresso.

Let me start by saying I’m a huge fan of Facebook Groups.

They can be incredible for finding jobs, buying rare collector items, and meeting collaborators you’ll work with for years. I would know. I've gotten some of my best deals and met some of my best colleagues through Facebook Groups.

I’ve been in a handful of doll-related Facebook Groups for a few years now, and I love posting in them. One day, I posted a photo of a doll I had customized to look like Ashnikko, one of my favorite singers. I used an Ever After High doll as the base, did some repainting, rerooted her hair with vibrant blue strands, and styled her after Ashnikko's "Stupid" music video look.

Not long after posting, a young woman messaged me asking if I make custom dolls. I told her I could, depending on what she wanted. She requested a doll inspired by Sabrina Carpenter, a popular and very adorable singer who has risen to prominence in the past few years.

I immediately agreed. I love Sabrina and think she has a very recognizable style, perfect to turn into a doll. I requested a deposit and got to work.

Blondie Lockes and the hair I rerooted her with.

I started with a Blondie Lockes Ever After High doll. I debated using the "shorter" model from the EAH line, but the client requested she not be too short. The doll was a bit worn from years of play, but a good scrub quickly fixed that.

I removed her original hair, which had become sticky from the original product styling, and rerooted her with a mix of light and dark blonde shades to give her a highlighted look. Then, I slightly repainted her face to resemble Sabrina. I kept the factory eyes but removed the brows, eyeshadow, lashes, and lips. Using Sabrina's makeup style as a reference, I gave the doll thicker, darker eyebrows, shimmery pink eyeshadow, and rounded mauve lips.

I was pretty happy with my work, so I sent a quick photo to my client.

Her reply was my worst nightmare.

"I'll be honest, I'm not really happy with her face. It looks messy."

My heart sank. No one wants to hear their work isn’t up to par, but I saw what she meant. The lashes weren’t uniform, and the eyeliner was a bumpy. She didn't look as clean as she needed to. I immediately told the client I could start over.

Removing the work I’d done was terrifying. I knew it was the right thing to do, but I wasn’t completely confident in my skill set. Still, I was determined to make this project work.

Sketch of her new face before painting.

I removed the entire face with acetone, prepped the doll with priming spray, and redrew a new face using a mechanical pencil. I bought the tiniest brushes I could find at the craft store and meticulously repainted her new face, making sure every line was clean and the features were as symmetrical as possible. I normally use eyeshadow as blush on my dolls, but Sabrina’s blush is such a key part of her look that I decided to use pink paint and a dry brush to lightly smudge a wash of color on her cheeks. I finished with a light dusting of pearlescent paint to mimic highlighter.

I decided not to send any progress pics and only reveal the doll when she was completely finished.

Next, I worked on styling her hair. To flatten it, I secured a rubber band around her head, put her in a plastic bag, dunked her in boiling water, and immediately transferred her to the freezer. This quick temperature change melts and molds the plastic of the doll’s hair to hold the style.

After cutting some bangs, I sectioned Sabrina's hair, wet it, rolled it around cut straws, and secured each strand with bobby pins. I wrapped her entire head and repeated the hot-to-cold process. This method essentially gives the doll a spiral perm, which can then be styled. Though the hair I rerooted her with could take direct heat, I prefer this method for better results.

Sabrina Carpenter performing at Lollapalooza, 2024

The next step was to work on her outfit. The client requested I make Sabrina's Lollapalooza outfit from 2024, which has become an iconic outfit for her. It consists of a hot pink, bejeweled heart-shaped top and a low-rise matching mini skirt. I made a pink satin bandeau and then tackled the heart, which turned out to be the hardest part.

Originally, I cut out two tiny heart shapes in the same pink satin and sewed them together. However, when I flipped the shape inside out, it resembled more of a blob than a heart. I tried this method at least four times, both with a machine and by hand, before deciding to sew the heart shape before cutting it out. I traced the pattern with a white pen on the satin and carefully sewed the shape before cutting it out. This worked like a charm, and I finally created a shape I was happy with.

I positioned the heart on the bandeau while it was on the doll I hand-stitched it in place. Afterward, I added bright silver elastic straps to mimic the rhinestones on Sabrina’s original outfit. Finally, I glued tiny pink rhinestones one by one onto the top. It was surprisingly fun and not nearly as tedious as I expected.

The skirt was next. I initially tried snaps but decided that elastic would give the best fit. I hand-sewed a small piece of cascading fabric to the side and covered the seam with a matching rhinestone.

Custom boots designed by @halomonsterkid

The shoes were the final piece. SSabrina is known for her enormous platform boots, but Ever After High didn't have any shoes that would do the job. I decided to find an artist who could design a pair of shoes that could be 3D printed. After consulting my trusty Facebook Groups, I found @halomonsterkid, a skilled young artisan from Mexico. She perfected a pair of platform boots that I 3D printed using CraftCloud. The boots ended up giving Sabrina at least an inch of height, which made me wish I had used a shorter base, but she was able to stand on her own, which was a great bonus.

I sent the finished photos to the client. As I had dreaded, she decided that she didn't love the doll and wasn't going to go through with purchasing her. As an artist (or anyone, for that matter), it always hurts when your work gets rejected. Even though this was a commissioned project, I felt like I had chipped away a tiny piece of my soul and handed it to the client, and she had turned me away. But I was proud of the doll anyway, so I wanted to share her.

Outfit details. Check out those gorgeous rhinestones!

I posted the process of creating her on TikTok, making it clear that the doll was going to be available for sale. After only a week or so, someone bought her for more than what I had offered the original client. It was so validating to know that someone thought my art was worth paying for.

I've been dealing with lots of rejection these days. I’m young and inexperienced in a city full of professionals and creatives who’ve been in the game for decades. I’ve been ghosted after interviews and subsequently spent hours ruminating on what went wrong and how I could have changed the outcome. Whenever I do get a chance to prove myself, I flail and make mistakes. It’s been hard.

Getting told that this doll wasn't good enough felt like the final straw, another failure to add to the list. Nevertheless, I was proud of her, and I was certain someone would love her just as much as I did. And there was. As silly and small of a victory that was, it felt like a glimmer of hope. And it only makes me want to keep working for those little victories.

I even painted her little nails!

xoxo, Meredith