Making Tonner Full Body Hangers Function Properly

This article and it's accompanying images was written by Miriam Shepard of Chevy Chase, MD who has granted permission for it's reprint.

Why in the world did Tonner design hangers for his wardrobe trunks that do not function for 90% of the clothing he makes? I love the look of the plexiglass body hangers but the shoulders won't hold the clothing in place so I figured out a way to make clear plastic shoulders for the hangers that make them work and aren't an eyesore. I wish Tonner would take up my idea and make these himself with cute little TW insignias to fit his hangers. Dream on Miriam.

You will need:
Strong scissors
An Exacto knife or cutting blade
Paper to make a pattern.
One clear plastic boxes that UB Tylers come in or similar flexible plastic. Cut it up along the fold lines.

Here are pics of the pattern and of the clear plastic shoulders

From paper cut a rectangle that is 2 inches wide by 3-5/8 inches tall. Fold it in half lengthwise. Trim the corners on two sides as shown in the picture above.

Use your paper pattern as a guide to cut your plastic. I find it is easiest to first cut the plastic box into panels and then cut them into 3- 5/8 inch sections and then fold the sections lengthwise and trim to 1 inch folded.

Finally, trim the "shoulders".

After folding and trimming the plastic, use the Xacto knife to cut through the fold so that the body hanger will slip through and the plastic shoulders slide down in place on the "shoulders of the hanger.

This is a dress falling off the Tonner hanger. Boo!

Finally, the dress is hanging on the new shoulders which look good with the plexiglass hanger.

Mattel Barbie at NY Toyfair 2011 by Michael Williams

Here is a link to Michael William's fabulous photos from 2011 NY Toyfair's Mattel Displays.

Photo By Michael Williams/mawphoto.com

Click here for more.

New Ellowyne and Evangeline Items at Wilde Imagination & Free Shipping

Some very pretty new items went up on the Wilde Imagination sites today. For Ellowyne there are two new dressed dolls, one new basic and three new outfits. The new dolls have inset eyes. The dolls look more alive to me with inset eyes. Both dolls are LE 1,000

Tears of Endearment $149.00        Wit's End    $155.00

 Wit's End must be channeling Daniel Boone era. Perhaps she's a dancehall girl from old western movies.

The new outfits below, seem to be toned down compared to prior releases. All are LE 1,000.

Stolen Moments $74.00        Fur Real $74.00        Ties That Bind $79.00

 For Evangeline there are 10 new outfit items that have been added since I looked last week. They are blouses, skirts, jackets a cape and a bustier ranging in price from $58. to $72. One can buy the "Attic Collection Three" for the tidy sum of $520. It includes all ten items. There are definitely four must haves in that group - maybe 5....

 

The items are gorgeous!
There is a period of free shipping until the end of February in the continental US with a purchase of at least $75. Add the promo code SPRING11 to your order form.
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I'm not thrilled with the articulation/engineering of Evangeline. I like to play with my dolls and pose them and photograph them. These girls are awkward and difficult to pose. Their joints are kicky. Their heads do not move properly. They can't sit up. I may not buy any more dolls in the line until they improve the poseability. It's definitely not out of the range of the company's abilities. I have less expensive dolls with better articulation. I know that people were influenced by my first reviews and bought dolls. The market definitely has room to grow. The quality of the product needs to grow to meet the demands of a discerning collector. I'm sad to say that Evangeline has the least posing ability of any other fully articulated doll in my collection.

Impressions of the Jason Wu Fall RTW 2011 Collection

Jason Wu - Image from his Facebook Page

I made some notes while I was watched Jason's Fall RTW 2011 collection twice. Link to the show here. It takes a long time to load so be patient! If that doesn't work, go to Facebook and the Jason Wu page.

Slide show at WWD

All about beautiful shape of the female body and surface embellishment. Spare. Toned down. No wasted energy. Body hugging slacks. Drapey slacks. Blouses with lacey faux turtlenecks. Skinny ribbon ties around neck.
Lots of skirts and blouses; slacks and blouses.

Brown, ivory and black A few jewel tones here and there. Beautiful embellishments: embroidered, dangly crystals. Embellished shoulders and arms.
Sexy, shapely, minimally made up models with hair tied back.
The very few gowns were shiny, sparkly, flowing and gorgeous.
Overall the designs looked fabulously wearable, sophisticated and classy but nothing daring here.
Most women would love to have these in their wardrobe, me included.
Happily gone are the gladiator and heavy, clunky shoes. Classic pumps.
Could have been gone: feathered garments and some of the lace head and face covers.

Even More Reinterpreted Runway Fashions

Posted by Aruam on Dolly Daily

Left: IT's Jordan "Fire Within"                 Right: Louis Vuitton Fall, 2009

I love it in black, collarless, strong shoulders, longer sleeves. It works. Jordan's outfit missed the mark.

Left: IT's Lillith "The Great Pretender"      Right: Louis Vuitton Fall, 2009