September, 2021 - Hilary's Cabbage Patch Clothes Closet

#514 – Button Romper

One of the more popular boys outfits, these rompers have such a fun colour scheme, you can help but smile!

Summary of 500s Series outfits and a list of the outfits: The 500s Series

Description

This outfit consists of a romper that is either striped (heavy denim) or a solid colour (heavy cotton). The front bib is edged in piping and has six decorative buttons. The shirt is made of three solid-coloured sections: the trunk and each sleeve. This outfit came with either regular lace-up shoes or blue striped sneakers. This outfit came exclusively on ‘boy’ dolls.

Coleco started selling this outfit in 1985. It likely ended production no later than sometime in 1986. We know it was sold later, as it has been found packaged. Packaged Button Romper outfits, and those found on later kids, were likely because the company was using up old stock.

Packaged Button Romper outfit that is black and white striped with red piping and buttons. The shirt has green and blue sleeves and a yellow trunk. — Packaged Bubble Romper, 1987 – 1989.
Photo courtesy of Rebecca Russell.

Version Information

My goal is to find every version of every outfit that was produced. Below is a record of each version of this outfit that I have. To understand clothing codes, factories, and variations, please refer to these posts: 1st Blog – Why do this project?, What are Clothing Tag Codes?, Factories and Companies

Long-time collectors believe that this outfit only came in the six versions described below. However, if you have an outfit that is not recorded here, I would like to hear from you. Information is best sent in the form of pictures. For details, visit Taking Clothing Tag Pics.

Factory Variations

Only two factories have been recorded producing this outfit, and no factory variations have been noted. Some variation can be seen in the logo patch, but I’m not sure if that’s a factory variation or not.

Similar Outfits

I believe that The Button Romper is most closely related to the original jean romper outfit. However, the button Romper doesn’t come with a hat.

Picture of outfit 16J OK, the Jean Romper outfit. It has a green plaid shirt and red cap. — 16J OK

Other Information

> Fun fact: A prototype version of this outfit can be found in the 1985 Coleco Catalogue (p. 3, 17). As far as I know, this version of this outfit was never produced. The logo patch looks very different too.

Picture of a prototype version of the Button Romper on a lemon looped boy with blue eyes. He's wearing blue striped shoes.

#513 – Snow Suit

Warm and cozy and ready for a romp in the snow! Don’t forget the toque!

Summary of 500s Series outfits and a list of the outfits: The 500s Series

Description

This outfit consists of a one-piece suit, toque, and scarf. The suit is made of corduroy and has a cotton ruffle that runs from shoulder to shoulder across the front and a matching ruff at the neck. The scarf and hat are knit. The hat generally has a pink pom-pom except for the yellow and purple outfits, which have a matching coloured pom-pom. The scarf is striped by the two colours of the outfit and white. It has a curved Cabbage Patch Kids logo near the fringe.This outfit came with regular lace-up shoes.

Teal and pink verison of this outfit. The Scarf is laid out beside the one-piece and the hat is laid out on top of it. — 513H OK

Coleco started selling this outfit in 1985. It likely ended production no later than sometime in 1986. If it is found on later kids, it was likely because the company was using up old stock.

Version Information

Spread sheet showing all the outfits I have recorded, and their information.

Factory Variations

As there are only two factories recorded for this outfit, no factory variations have been noted. The PMI factory did not make many 500s series outfits, so this is the rarest version of this outfit.

Yellow and white version of this outfit with peach accents in the scarf. The Scarf is laid out to the right of the one-piece and the hat is above the one-piece. — 513S PMI; Picture courtesy of Jodi’s Punki Patch.

Similar Outfits – none

Other Information

> Fun fact: A prototype version of this outfit can be found in the 1985 Coleco Catalogue (p. 2). As far as I know, this version of this outfit was never produced.

Picture of a looped wheat haired kid wearing a royal blue and dark pink prototype version of this outfit. the hat has a white pom-pom instead of coloured.

Why are Jesmars hot commodities?

Why are Cabbage Patch Kids made by the Jesmar factory so sought after by collectors? What makes them special?

For a variety of reasons (that I will not be detailing), these dolls are generally highly coveted by collectors.
Jesmars and J Clothing

Apparently, this is a frustrating statement, especially for new collectors who want to absorb all the information they can. Oops. In my defence, I was trying to keep the Jesmar post short. Yeah, I know, it didn’t work.

Anyway, after hearing about one reader’s frustration, I decided to add the information in a separate post. So, here it is –

Jesmar dolls are highly coveted by collectors for the following reasons:

1 – Initially, Jesmar dolls were not legally allowed to be sold in North America. This makes them rarer than regular Coleco dolls. They were also produced for a short amount of time; therefore, fewer of them were produced at all. Refer to my Jesmar post for details on their sales history.

2 – Jesmar used hair colours that were not used by Coleco. Most of these odd hair colours can be found on Early Jesmar kids, dolls likely produced in the first few months when they were still experimenting. Examples include:

3 – Jesmar used hair colour/ eye colour combinations not produced by Coleco. They also produced a wider variety of combinations than Coleco.

4 – A) Jesmar freckled all the head moulds for their entier production period.
Coleco only did one head mould each for two years, 1983 and 1985. (Ref #3, p. 198)

4 – B) Freckles on Jesmar dolls come in a variety of patterns and were hand-painted. Coleco used only one pattern, and they were machine applied. (Ref #3, p. 199-201)

Shot of my freckled Jesmar doll collection sitting on a bed. — My freckled Jesmars. It’s actually harder to find a Jesmar without freckles than with.

5 – Jesmar used the single ponytail hairstyle with more hair colours than did Coleco. For example, lemon.

Picture of a lemon single ponytail girl with green eyes. She's wearing an orange shoulder-tie dress and Mary Jane shoes. Head mold #1.

6 – Jesmar clothing came in a wider variety of colours/patterns and fabrics than did the Coleco clothes. They were also known to put ‘boy’ clothes on ‘girl’ dolls. Incidentally, the construction of Jesmar clothing often tends to be described as shoddier than the Coleco clothes. For details about Jesmar clothing and how to recognize them, visit Jesmars and J Clothing.

Pictures courtesy of Jennifer Pelfrey, Michelle LeRoux, Chris Hansing Tallman, and Jacklyn O’Connor.

7 – Although some Coleco factories did produce the odd ‘smaller’ kid (i.e. KT factory), Jesmar dolls are known for coming in three distinct sizes. Some were almost 2” taller than Coleco kids while others were much shorter. (Ref #3, p. 198)

Picture of a taller lemon haired Jesmar boy and a regular lemon haired Coleco girl. — Tall Jesmar vs. Regular Coleco

8 – Jesmar used the Fuzzy hairstyle on a wider variety of hair colours than did Coleco. For example, they did lemon, auburn, and dark red fuzzy-haired boys. (Ref #3, p. 220)

Fuzzy dark red haired jesmar boy with paci and freckles. He's wearing a wine red elephant romper with no patch, and white shirt. — Dark Red fuzzy courtesy of Callie Anne.

Special thanks to my mentors on foreign kids who helped with the content and pictures for this post: Callie Anne, Jennifer Pelfrey, Kat Perhouse, and Tammy De.

More information and pictures about Jesmar dolls can be found in the post Jesmars and J Clothing and in Fundamentals of Cabbage Patch Kids, pages 198 to 230.

#512 – Ruffled Windbreaker Outfit

Ruffled and frilly, this outfit allows for an outdoor adventure while feeling all dressed up.

Summary of 500s Series outfits and a list of the outfits: The 500s Series

Description

This outfit consists of a shirt, a jacket and pants. The shirt’s solid-coloured cotton with an arched Cabbage Patch Kids patch front middle. The pants are a solid colour or slightly striped cotton. The jackets are made of windbreaker material with a zipper at the front. There are coloured/patterned ruffles that run around from the front and over the shoulders. A matching ruffle is at the armholes.
This outfit was sold on dolls identified as girls.
This outfit came with striped sneakers.

512A KT – Photo courtesy of Jodi’s Punki Patch

It is believed that the outfit did not start being manufactured until 1986, instead of 1985 like most of the others in this series. Consequently, it has a shorter manufacturing time and is harder to find. There’s no known explanation for this. For details, refer back to the summary post. This outfit only came out on kids. If it’s found packaged, it was done during the ‘inventory clean out’ that happened later.

Version Information

My goal is to find every version of every outfit that was produced. Below is a record of each version of this outfit that I have. To understand clothing codes, factories, and variations, please refer to these posts: 1st Blog – Why do this project?, What are Clothing Tag Codes?, Factories and Companies

If you have an outfit that is not recorded here, I would like to hear from you. Information is best sent in the form of pictures. For details, visit Taking Clothing Tag Pics.

Variations

This outfit was made by the KT and OK factories. I have not recorded one instance where an outfit was made by both factories. I can not see any difference between the outfits made at the KT factory and those made at the OK factory.

Similar Outfits

#10 Windbreaker Outfit: This is part of the 1983 series and was likely the inspiration for this outfit. The major differences include a sold coloured shirt and jeans, not cotton pants.

Picture of the #10 Windbreaker outfit with a blue jacket, yellow and white striped shirt, and jean pants.

Multi-coloured windbreaker Outfit, #516 – This is part of the same 500s series but was worn by boys. (Post to come)

Picture of outfit #516A with a white jacket with red and orange accents, a white shirt and blue pants. — 516A

Other Information

> Fun fact: A prototype version of this outfit can be seen in the 1985 Coleco Catalogue (p. 5). The most interesting difference is that, in the final design, the logo is no longer on the jacket, it’s on the shirt