Meet My Dancers and See Why They’re So Important

Our very first foster child loved to play with baby dolls. And as I watched them playing with the pale-skinned, blue-eyed baby doll that we had on hand, I thought to myself, “Whoa, that doll looks nothing like them.”

So I went on a quest: to find a baby doll that had darker skin, darker hair, sparkling chocolate eyes, with a goal of finding a bunch of baby dolls that looked like a bunch of different beautiful people.

But I struck out. I went to two large chain stores and a cutsie boutique shop, and you know what? They either had only light-skinned baby dolls, or they had SUPER BORING non-white baby dolls. There wasn’t a spectrum of skin colors, there wasn’t a variety of sizes, or styles, or options. I was so disappointed that I couldn’t just breeze into a store and find diverse baby dolls for my kids – all my kids – to play with at home.

We ended up ordering some dolls online, but it stuck with me: Why aren’t there more diverse baby dolls that are COOL and PRETTY and OH I JUST WANT TO PLAY WITH THAT BEAUTIFUL SWEET BABY right in my town? Our town is fairly diverse – a third of the residents are Hispanic, not to mention many many other cultures represented in our area. And yet, the white skinned baby dolls are what our shops say the dominant culture should be.

So this is my teeny tiny solution. I crocheted dolls – not baby dolls like my original quest – but dancers. Beautiful dancers with a variety of skin tones, different textures and styles of hair, and they are hella cute. You’ll notice each one has their own unique details, and I envisioned as I made them they would each have their own story, just like the child (or adult!) that cherishes the doll in their arms.

I was inspired to have dancers because of reading an article about Black dancers who struggle to find ballet slippers that were dark like their skin tone, and having to use makeup on their pointe shoes. I also love Aja Barber, a fashion and sustainability influencer and educator who enjoys ballet as a hobby and stress reliever. Dancer Number 7 was very much inspired by Aja. I also enjoyed an episode of Queer Eye where a ballet group was brought into conversation about identity and self to encourage a young Black woman as she found herself, and it further opened my eyes to why having crocheted dancers would be a perfect way to make more dolls in a variety of colors and styles.

I also wanted to include Hijabi Ballerinas because of the Muslim Ballerina, Stephanie Kurlow, who was the first Hijabi Ballerina. I also pulled inspiration in the design of the Hijabi Ballerinas from Ibtihaj Muhammad, the first Muslim American woman to compete and medal in the Olympics while wearing a hijab, as well as super model Halima Aden, who was the first woman to wear a burkini on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and is an incredible woman, activist, and courageous refugee.

As a refugee foster family who has cared for children that come to the US border – though right now our border is closed, but I’ll save my complaints on that for another day and at the polls – I was inspired to create dolls of Hispanic heritage, of indigenous North and Central American heritage, of the children I have loved and hope to meet more as borders open again some day.

I also have had a number of friends who are international adoptees, which brought to my attention that they entered families that may not have looked like them. It gets you thinking more about identity, about self, about family, of making sure our kids grow up knowing beauty comes in so many cultures, skin hues, and languages.

I’m only one maker here. And one thing I need to point out is that I am a white lady. It shouldn’t have taken me to my 30’s to realize that mainly white baby dolls were available locally. I’m not looking to culturally appropriate POC or BIPOC by making these dolls. I’m looking to increase the number of beautiful dolls of darker hued skin. You’ll notice among the dolls that the only pale-skinned dolls I have made are red heads, because I figured the rarity of beautiful ginger hair needs to be represented, too!

Sure, you can purchase one of these dolls, but we’ve got other things we can do, too. If you’re in a shop, and they only seem to have light-skinned dolls or baby dolls, SAY SOMETHING. If you want to support POC an BIPOC businesses, seek out doll makers like Harper Iman Dolls which are incredible and support other businesses. I’m definitely not aiming to be your one-stop-diversity-shop. My goal is just to make people aware, and hopefully tip the scales on diverse dolls in contrast to the assumed dominant white culture.

If your kids are pale and privileged like my own biological children, make sure their action figures, baby dolls, and other figures have all kinds of skin tones. If you are a Person of Color, or a Black Indigenous Person of Color, I am sorry it has taken me this long to realize my part in this.

And so, I present to you my first batch of handmade crocheted dolls. I haven’t named them, because I think whomever becomes their owner will get the honor of naming them and sharing in their story. Right now, I’m just starting off at number one up to twenty-one, and I’ll continue counting as I make more.

These lovely dancers will be going live to my Tugboat Yarning Etsy Shop on Thursday, September 24 at 8:30pm Eastern Standard Time.

If you would like to receive an email reminder the morning of the live date as well as 30 minutes before they go live, please enter your email below. (This is just a simple Google Form). This will not sign you up for a mailing list if you only want the reminder emails. No spam. I promise.

Want to see up close photos of all the dolls? See my post of all the individual dancers, and also alllllllll the juicy, stitchy details of the dolls for my fellow crochet nerds!

Each doll purchased will include a cloth bag to keep them protected and safe, and you can read the tutorial I made for a Simple Cloth Drawstring Bag just for this project.

My hope is this can be a safe space. I’ve been trying to be an ally in so many different realms…. working on being anti-racist, in recognizing privilege, in knocking down white supremacy and seeing how often it rules in our society and culture. If something isn’t feeling right in how I’m working on these dolls, please feel free to contact me. I want to make sure I’m doing this right.

Where are you seeing places we can pursue and encourage the beauty of diversity?

~Maggie