Make a Mini Me Doll

A mini me doll is a small soft doll of a real person, sewn by hand from a few of your photos. Portrait dolls start from $365, usually take 2–4 weeks to make, and the quote is free.

It works like this: you send photos, our artist draws the doll, you approve the drawing, we sew it and show you photos of the finished doll before it ships.

It isn’t a clay figurine, a bobblehead or a pillow with a printed face. It’s a cloth doll you can hold, made to order for one person. We don’t keep a shelf of ready dolls. See every one we’ve posted on Portrait Dolls.

Painted face. The eyes, lashes, blush and lips are painted onto cloth by hand, following your photo. This is the one for fine detail. Our wedding dolls were a bride and groom sewn from the couple’s photos, and the Little Witch has a pocket on her back for a sound module, so she can speak in a voice you recorded.

Plush face. Soft all over, with the face sewn or embroidered in thread. It doesn’t copy every freckle. It picks what people notice first, like a beard, a haircut or a favorite hoodie, and makes it big and clear. See the bearded look-alike and the girl in the orange hoodie.

Most portrait dolls are about 30–50 cm (12–20 in) tall. If you want something smaller, a cotton doll is about 20 cm, with a big head and clothes that come off.

Painted faces: a bride and groom sewn from the couple’s photos.

A plush face: her hair over one eye, a toothy grin, the bear-ear hoodie.

A mini me doll can look like the person in the photo. It can also look like them drawn in a style they love. For our anime doll, a young man sent one photo of his girlfriend. Our artist drew her in a soft anime style first, then we embroidered that face onto the doll.

Another customer turned his girlfriend’s photo into a stylised picture himself, and we sewed a portrait doll with four felt wigs from it, because she never keeps the same hair color for long.

Either way, the doll has to read as that one person. We make likeness dolls, not caricatures that blow up a nose or a chin for laughs.

An anime-style doll of a girlfriend, drawn from one photo, then sewn.

One doll, four felt wigs: pink, green, blond and black.

One good photo can be enough. A few from different angles help more.

• Clear photos of the face, from the front and from the side
• A photo that shows the hair: color, length, how it’s parted
• The outfit you want, or a photo of the clothes they’re always in
• What has to be there: glasses, a beard, tattoos, a necklace they never take off
• The size you’d like, and your date if there is one

The small things are what make people say “that’s me”. A cap with a patch, rolled-up cuffs, a scarf with big red letters.

1. Send your photos through the quote form. You get a free quote with a time estimate.
2. Approve the drawing. Our artist draws the doll first. Nothing is cut until you say yes.
3. We sew it by hand. Making usually takes 2–4 weeks. The face takes longest, because a few millimeters decide whether it looks like them.
4. Approve the photos of the finished doll. If something looks off, we change it first.
5. It ships. Delivery usually takes 7–20 business days and is paid separately, usually $50–60 by regular post.

A racing driver’s photo, the sketch our artist drew from it, and the finished doll in his red team suit.

Many of the dolls on our site were gifts for a girlfriend or for a couple on their wedding day. Some people order a copy of themselves.

A blogger sent us his own photos and got a puppet of himself back: the same gray hair, black glasses and purple T-shirt, with a mouth that opens so it can talk on camera. Someone else ordered a fisherman doll of a man holding a plush tuna almost as long as he is. His whole outfit comes off, cap included.

A doll of someone is the one gift they can’t pick up anywhere else. Extras like a sound module or clothes that come off can be added on request, and we can sew their pet as a separate plush to stand next to them.

A blogger’s puppet of himself, sewn from his photos.

A fisherman doll with his cap, leaf-print shirt and a big tuna.

Two of them, in their own words. Sheba ordered two character dolls; Alex, a lizard plush from a picture. Different toys, same job: match the picture.

“Impeccable craftsmanship and attention to detail, and excellent communicators.”

Sheba, Australia, about her Ellen and Viola dolls from The Witch’s House. Read her review

“Great likeness with a picture I sent as an original. … Frankly speaking, I had some doubts in the possibility to achieve such a similarity with the original picture. So I am doubly happy.”

Alex, about Bill, the lizard plush he ordered for his daughter. Read his review

You see photos before it ships, so most fixes happen then. And on a personal order, if the doll arrives and you don’t love it, tell us within 14 days of delivery and you get a full refund. See our guarantee.

We’ve made toys to order since 2009.

Send them with the size you have in mind. We’ll reply with a price and a time estimate. For Christmas, order before 1 November.