New Information Page: Bum Signatures

I received a bunch of dolls that allowed me to add to the PA and JP signature lists, so I just create a page for all of them. Take a peek and feel free to bookmark for future reference.

I received a bunch of dolls that allowed me to add to the PA and JP signature lists, so I just create a page for all of them. Take a peek and feel free to bookmark for future reference. Otherwise, it will be available on the right side menu whenever you need it.

CPK Bum Signature Information

PTP: What can the fabric tell me?

Sometimes the fabric an outfit is made out of can give you an idea about where it was made.

Do you have an outfit made from an unusual fabric? What does it mean?

From experience, I’ve noted that from 1983 to 1984, certain factories used specific fabrics for some outfits. This means that if an outfit is made from a certain fabric, you’ll have some idea of what factory/place may have made it.

I’m sorting this list in two ways; first by fabric type, second by outfit. The first group had more than one or two outfits made with it. Please note, I’m not an expert in fabrics, so if I’ve used the wrong term/label please let me know!

BY FABRIC

Regular Corduroy

This fabric was used by the Chinese factories for the Corduroy Suit (#5), Ruffled Overalls (#12), and P factory preemie Elephant Rompers (P#13).

Softer Corduroy

This fabric was used by all Taiwanese factories for the Corduroy Suit (#5), Ruffled Overalls (#12), and preemie Sailor Romper (#14).

Soft Felt-like Material

This fabric was used by Taiwanese IC and WW factories for the Corduroy Suit (#5), and Elephant Romper (#7). NOTE: WW factory outfit from the 1983 series are HTF.

It was also used by the SS and WS factories for the preemie Sailboat Romper (#14).

Blue preemie sailor romper (#12) with white blouse. It's made of a heavy polar fleece material.
Photo courtesy and Jodi Isaacs.

Velveteen

I believe that this fabric was only used by the OK factory for the Elephant Romper (#7), however, I have a very limited sample size. It was also used for Jesmar Preemie bunny outfits.

NOTE: Velveteen was used for other outfits too, but they are later outfits and it wasn’t factory or outfit indicative.

Heavy Canvas fabric

This fabric was used by some Jesmar factories for Swing dresses and Yoke dresses.

BY OUTFIT

Striped Jogging Suit (#18)Most of them have cotton material at the arms and legs. However, some are made with a silkier, thicker, more synthetic material. This fabric was used by the P, PMI, LF, and IJ factories (that I know of).

Kitty Jogging Suit (#5) – Heather-grey coloured fabric was only used by the PMI and USA factories.

31 Tracksuit (#8) Taiwanese material is not very fuzzy and is very thin.

USA Pinafore Dress The pinafore section of these dresses is a very thin cotton, almost translucent.

USA pinafore dress with white pinafore and blue and white check sleeves and bloomers.
Photos courtesy of Jodi Isaacs.

Fake jean cotton fabric – This was only used for Jesmar Denim Rompers.

Jesmar jean romper outfit with plaid shirt on a white hanger.

Jesmar Tights – Rather than the regular silky cotton material, some Jesmar tights are made of a more knitted type fabric. They were generally short and did not fit well.

A photo of Jesmar vs Coleco tights. Both pairs are white but the Jesmar tights are much shorter than the Coleco.
Jesmar vs. Coleco tights

Other Factory Tells

You can also determine factory based on:
– the thread pattern uesd on white t-shirts, see PTP: Wonderful White Shirts
– the type of silk label used, see PTP: Silk Label Secrets (Updated 08/21)

BBB Mimic Series: 670s-680s

A set of BBB outfits that look remarkably like other BBB outfits . . . but these came out in 1987 and I’m missing a lot of them! Can you help?

BBB Information Summary Post
1st BBB Outfits – Pt. 1 – 190s
1st BBB Outfits – Pt. 2 – 200s

This outfit series came out in 1987, as the 7- on the clothing tags indicate. (For more information about this aspect of CPK clothing codes, visit Tag Codes Continued: A 2nd Theory. ) However, it appears the knit outfits were all designed in 1985 (and copyrighted at that time) but not manufactured until 1987. On the other hand, the terry cloth outfits were designed and produced in 1987. They must have been a last-minute addition. Also, the knit outfits were all produced in West Hartford, CT, whereas the terry cloth outfits were produced in Amsterdam, NY. For more information on the significance of these manufacturing locations, visit Tag Codes Continued: A 2nd Theory.

Like other CPK kids at this time, these kids came with slightly different coloured boxes and newly formatted birth certificates. The new text is blockier, and on the boxes, the BABIES is in purple rather than aqua. Like the previous BBB kids, they also came with a footie outfit, a bonnet, a blanket, and a white felt diaper.

I call this the BBB Mimic Series, as many of these outfits look similar, or mimic, outfits that had already been produced. (See below for details.)

This series goes from #670 – #684. It may go as high as #688, as I know the next series starts at #689, but I have no evidence for that yet. At the moment, I am missing information on at least one-third of these outfits: #671, #675, #677, #678, #679. They may not have been produced at all. I do not know.

Most of this series is knit, like the previous BBB outfits, but the last few are made of terry cloth. This is a significant change that carried on in later BBB outfits. These outfits were manufactured by the SS and WS factories, but SS appears to be the primary factory at this point, as it is most frequently recorded. (See the pictures above.)

The Outfits

The outfits came in at least eight different pastel colours that were used in a variety of combinations. Unlike the previous BBB series, the colours do not correspond to a code letter. (See Series 1 for details.) Like the previous BBB series, I have created names/descriptions for these outfits because I am unaware of any conventionally accepted ones.

Outfit Colours

Version Information

My goal is to record every version of every outfit that was produced. Below is a record of the outfits in this series that I have recorded. To understand clothing codes, factories, and variations, please refer to What are Clothing Tag Codes? and 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.

Caring for BBB outfits

Similar outfits

  • 671 is similar to #192. There are no holes in the sleeves and booties of #671 and the necks are very different.
  • #672 and #681 are similar to #203 and #193. They are all dresses.
  • #673 is similar to #194 and #202. The chest area is the most obvious difference for all three.
  • #674 looks similar to #195, #199, #201 and #679. They are all two-piece outfits with sweaters and footie pants. The hat and the pattern on the sweater are the most obvious differences.
  • #675 looks similar to #196.
  • #676 is similar to #197. The collar style is the most obvious difference.
  • #670 and #680 are very similar to #202.
  • #682 is almost identical to #400. (FUTURE POST)
  • #683 is similar to #128, with the number of chest ruffles being the obvious difference.
  • #684 is similar to #103, #130, and an outfit with the number #12_(complete code unknown).

Other Information

> Unlike the previous BBB series, these outfits do not have ribbons used anywhere except for the odd bow.
> The 670s appear to be harder to find outfits than the 680s. This may change as more information is acquired.
> At this point, I believe the outfit hardest to find in this series is outfit #672 – Dress set, two bows at the waist. Having said that, those unrecorded at this time also likely fit in the HTF category!

> Fun fact: Examples of these outfits can be found in the 1987 Coleco Catalogue on page 7. The picture shows a combination of Series 1 outfits and Mimic Series outfits. Can you determine which one is from is which?

Picture of 6 BBB kids wearing knit outfits with blankets scattered amongst them. They are wearing various colours and outfits.

Twin Outfits, Part 2: 1986 and other interesting info.

Twins continued to be produced in 1986 but with some differences. Also, information on other types of twins, prototype outfits, and more!

Twin Outfits, Part 1 : 1985

Coleco continued to produce Twin sets in 1986 wearing the original four outfits, but they also started to use twin sets as a dumping ground to get rid of overstock. At this time, it wasn’t unusual to find a variety of combinations in twin boxes, for example:

Especially in the Canadian market, it wasn’t unusual for the dolls wearing these non-twin outfits to be Jesmar as it was at this time that Coleco was looking to rid themselves of the remaining stock from the recently closed foreign factories. (See Jesmars and J Clothing for details.)

The dolls used for twins in 1986 weren’t always P/OK factory and weren’t always the same factory. For example, there are records of sets being OK and PMI. (Ref #4, March 1988, p. 4) This was rare, but apparently, it did happen.

They also dumped twin outfits by putting them on individually boxed regular kids and Cornsilk kids in 1986 and 1987.

Finally, in a last-ditch effort to get rid of stock, twin outfits were sold packaged separately. Often these packages didn’t come with accessories like gloves or shoes.

Green velveteen girls twin outfits (T3) packaged on a board, to be sold separately.

Other Cabbage Patch Twins

> The Tsukuda factory is the only foreign factory that manufactured Twins (Ref #3, p. 247). Their twins wear regular 1983 outfits with the word “TWIN” silkscreened on them. These sets are very highly valued by collectors.

> Preemie twins were never produced, but prototypes are visible in catalogue pictures from 1986. (Ref #3, p. 178, 192)

Prototype Outfits

Many prototype outfits can be seen in catalogues from 1986. The outfits aren’t exact, but they’re pretty close! It’s too bad the white dresses were never produced, they’re very pretty.

Picture of two sets of girl twins wearing very frilly white dresses. One set has red braids, the second are AA dolls with brown hair.
JCPenny Catalogue 1985

Sewing Patterns

Butterick produced only one of the twin outfits as a sewing pattern. They are numbered #390 and #3564.

Butterick sewing pattern #390 for the velveteen girls and boys twin outfits. The outfits shown are grey in colour. The dolls are lemon haired, one boy, one girl.

General References

Ref #3, p. 104 – 110

Ref #2, p. 71 – 72

PTP: Have you seen a Donkey Patch before? (Update Jan 9)

Have you ever seen a donkey patch on a cabbage patch outfit before? I know I hadn’t until now!

This young man is wearing a mystery. He’s a Jesmar, wearing a Jesmar outfit. However, the donkey patch adorning his romper is a bit odd. Has anyone else seen one like it? Anywhere?

Wheat haired blue eyed boy with freckles wearing a brown romper and white shirt. The romper has a donkey patch on it.

Picture courtesy of David Compeau.

There are a few unusual patches that can be found on Coleco outfits (bunny, sheep) but they’ve been seen on more than a few. ( PTP: Plentiful Patches Pt. 1 ) This is the first time I’ve ever seen or heard of a donkey!

Close up of the donkey patch. It is brown with a yellow belly.

Now, it’s not difficult to add a patch, and many of the Jesmar rompers came without one, so this could be just an after-purchase addition. Or, maybe a Spanish seamstress decided to have some fun and add something different.

What do you think? Do you have a theory?

UPDATE: Jan 9, 2022

Special thanks to Erin Cavil for sending me this photo. It appears that this is a ‘vintage’ patch, so the time frame is correct, but it was also publicly available for use. Who do you think added it?

Twin CPK Outfits, Part 1

Official Cabbage Patch Kid twin sets wore special sets of beautiful clothing. At least, they did when they first came out!

Official Cabbage Patch Twins became available starting in 1985. They continued to be sold in 1986, but with some differences (see Twin Outfits, Part 2). They came with specially designed boxes, birth certificates, and hand tags. When they introduced Twins, they also introduced a few new hairstyles and hair colours.

Although called twins, the dolls were not always identical. They always had the same colour of hair and eyes, but the head moulds were often different. Most Twin dolls were made by the P factory, but there were some OK factory sets. Although billed as a Limited Edition, it quickly became apparent that they weren’t limited and that they weren’t selling very well.

For more detailed information on the doll’s traits, visit Fundamentals of Cabbage Patch Kids, p. 104.

Twin Outfits

Twin clothing consisted of four different outfits and had a separate coding matrix, T#. The great majority of twin clothing was manufactured by the P factory; however, at least a few were made at the KT factory. I’ve seen only one example of this.

There are between five and seven versions of each twin outfit. The two additional outfits appear to be caused by a change in fabric colour. In a few cases, there are two distinct colours associated with the same code. I theorize that they could no longer source the original colour and so carried on with the second (C2, E2). “It would seem that the rarest velvet to appear was burgundy, which appeared on only a few 1985 sets.” (Ref #5, p. 82)

T1 – Party Dresses

These dresses come in two versions, one made of a cotton damask fabric with a velveteen waist bow, and the other a shiny satin fabric. The structure is the same for both. I believe there are only three versions of the satin dress (yellow, light purple, vivid blue), although I do not know why.

Spreadsheet record of the T1 outfits.

These dresses came with fancy mesh gloves with line patterns, white lace tights, a regular diaper, and Mary Jane shoes. They came only on girl/girl twin sets, and the dresses were always the same colour.

Fabric close up of the demask version

T2 – Knit Overalls

This outfit consists of a knit long sleeve shirt under a pair of knit coveralls and a matching knit hat. It came with a regular diaper and lace-up shoes. It was worn only by boy/boy twin sets.

Spreadsheet record of the T2 outfits.

It is this outfit that I believe the BBB Twin outfit is based upon. For details visit PTP: The Twin Outfit That Isn’t (It’s BBB)

T3 & T4 Velveteen Outfits

These two outfits came on the only boy/girl twin combination that was produced but could also be found on boy/boy and girl/girl twin sets. Same-gender sets were much harder to find. (Toyland: What to Buy Report. Feb 4, 1986. p. 2)

Both outfits are made primarily of velveteen and come with a regular diaper and lace-up shoes. The girl’s outfit (T3) consists of a dress-like top, pants, and a matching tam, while the boy’s outfit (T4) consists of a white dress shirt, shortalls, a matching jacket, and a bowtie.

Spreadsheet record of the T3 and T4 outfits.

Wacky Fact:
T1 and T2 have rectangular-shaped tags, while T3 and T4 have square ones. I have no idea why, as they were all produced at the same factory!

Continue to –
Twin Outfits Part 2: 1986 and Onward