Community Chat

[Enufstuff]

@meallen616   Thank you very much.

[Happy2BHere]

Another wonder from @Enufstuff  with this Easter Toni! Your skills - the tailoring, the story, and ...well, just all of them - are beyond compare! 

I can only offer a couple Easter jokes for Toni:

Where does the Easter Bunny like to eat out?

IHOP!

What do you call a line of rabbits walking backward?

A receeding hare-line!

I always enjoy what delights you and Toni will have to show us next time, and am waiting impatiently to see your post! 

[Tinkrbl44]

@Enufstuff 

Sorry to have to ask, but I've never seen Toni dolls before. 

Is this like a Mattel franchise that has Barbie?

[SportyShorty07]

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@Enufstuff wrote:

@SportyShorty07   Thank you so much. I appreciate that with your artist's eye, you notice all the details in Toni's photos.

  I hope that you and your family are having a lovely Easter with

all the culinary delights that you create.

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@Enufstuff  Thank you very much for your kind words and sweet Easter wishes, Enuffstuff 🤗💗! I hope that you and your family have a wonderful Easter Sunday celebration with your delicious meals and culinary delights too! You always have an eye for detail and you put your special and beautiful Donna touch on everything that you do. I'm making garlic herb roasted pork tenderloin, steamed green beans, and a side salad for my family tonight. Happy Easter 🤗🙌✨. 

[Enufstuff]

@Tinkrbl44  No need to apologize for asking about Toni Dolls.

                    Many of us "of a certain age" had these dolls back in  the 1950's. They were made by Ideal from 1949-1956.

                     Toni was one of the most sought after and popular dolls at that time. They were also one of the most expensive  

                dolls. The smallest size, 14" doll cost $10.00, which was more than most dolls back then. The dolls were also made in three larger sizes.

                     These dolls were created to promote Toni Home Permanents. Tonette was the children's home permanent. The

permanents were made by Gillette, who collaborated with Ideal and Dupont to manufacture the Toni Dolls.

                    Dupont made the nylon wigs for the dolls and their hair could be shampooed, "permed" and styled. That was

the big selling point for Toni Dolls, the first dolls with this nylon hair.

                    Gillette made a kit that came with the dolls, which

included a tube of cream shampoo, a bottle of "perm" solution (sugar and water), curlers, comb and end papers. It also included a little booklet with instructions and hairstyles for Toni.

                    Ideal had designers create the fashions and one of them was the famous Oleg Cassini. They were dresses made in the styles that little girls wore in the 1950's. Those styles are the ones that I re-create. I try to seek out vintage fabrics and

trims to make these dresses.

                     When I was six years old, in 1953, I received my first two Toni Dolls for Christmas from my two grandmothers.

As an adult, I have collected more Toni's and have fifteen Toni's in my collection. I also have all my Vogue Ginny dolls, clothing and furniture from the 50's and have collected more Ginny dolls as an adult. These were the popular dolls before Barbie appeared in 1959.

   My mother and I both have loved dolls and became collectors. There are still collectors for these dolls from the 1950's and these vintage dolls can be found on ebay and Etsy

as well as antique shops and estate sales.

   About fifteen years ago, I made Toni Doll dresses and sold them online to Toni collectors. But I never kept any of the dresses for my dolls, so last year, I decided to go through my stash of fabrics and trims and start sewing for my dolls. Then I thought that it might be fun to post Toni pictures here, since many of the ladies might enjoy seeing the dolls that they had as children. A lot of younger ladies seem to enjoy seeing them too

and are amused with my silly little stories about Toni and her adventures.

   If you are interested, you can do a search and see Toni's other fashions that have been posted here,over the past year. Toni's First Communion, I posted last May and that was the first dress that I made and sold fifteen years ago, and there are many others.

  Ideal also made other famous dolls like Betsy Wetsy, Patty Play Pal, Thumbelina, Crissy and Velvet and others. In 1903 Ideal invented the Teddy Bear and sold many Teddy Bears before making dolls. In later years they merged with other toy companies, making Viewmasters and Rubiks Cube.

  Ideal's manufacturing ended in 1997.

   Maybe I posted TMI, but I enjoy sharing this information.

I hope that you are not sorry that you asked. Thanks for your

interest.

   I'll be happy to give you the titles of the other Toni posts, if you are interested in seeing them.

[Enufstuff]

@SportyShorty07  Your dinner sounds yummy!

[SportyShorty07]

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@Enufstuff wrote:

@SportyShorty07  Your dinner sounds yummy!

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@Enufstuff  Thank you, Enuffstuff 🤗! I bet your Easter dinner will be a delicious crowd pleaser too! 

[on the bay]

@Enufstuff,
I enjoyed reading about some of the history of the Toni dolls and the other ones too that Ideal made. 

I remember Ginny dolls.

I had a Chatty Cathy and my cousin had a strange doll named Pitiful Pearl I think.

I did love playing with Barbies with my friend when a little older.

Thank you for sharing that and your history with them

[Enufstuff]

@on the bay    I'm glad that you enjoyed reading about  some of the Ideal Doll history.  I'm a history and research nerd.

  I remember Chatty Cathy, but never had one. I did have Tiny Tears, Betsy Mc Call and Madame Alexander dolls. I had many others, but Toni and Ginny were my favorites.

  When my oldest daughter was three she wanted Poor Pitiful Pearl and she got it for Christmas. It was not a pretty doll , but she loved it and was happy when Santa brought it. I sewed some doll clothes for her.

  The TV ads played on the sympathy of little girls and made them want to rescue this pathetic looking doll with her shaggy blonde hair, patched shabby outfit, huge brown eyes and that

big plastic tear on her cheek.

  A few years later, her younger sister would take the doll and scare their little brother with it. She was a little scary looking.

  Barbie came out when I was twelve, so I didn't have one then, but my three daughters grew up playing with Barbie, Ken, Midge and Skipper. I sewed and knitted Barbie clothes for them.

  My girls also had those adorable tiny Dawn dolls, Thumbelina and Crissy and Velvet. My youngest daughter collected Toni Dolls and she gave me the idea to sew and sell the doll dresses fifteen years ago.

[Enufstuff]

@Shanus  Thank you very much. I hope that you had a Blessed Passover.