Summary of 500s Series outfits and a list of the outfits: The 500s Series
Description
This outfit consists of a t-shirt and a pair of overalls. The shirt always has a striped pattern. The overalls are a solid colour with differently coloured piping around the bib, buttons, and leg cuffs. It also has a large brown teddy bear patch with the Cabbage Patch Kid logo on the tummy, in the middle of the chest. This outfit came exclusively on ‘boy’ dolls.
This outfit came with blue striped sneakers.
Coleco started selling this outfit in 1985. It likely ended production no later than sometime in 1986. If it is found later on a kid or in a package it was likely because the company was using up old stock.
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.
It appears that some of the shirts may have come with more than one pair of overalls. This is a problem because it’s the shirts that have the information tag. This could mean that there’s more than one ‘version’ of some letters. (FB Conversation, May 2020)
Factory Variations
Only two factories have been recorded producing this outfit, and no factory variations have been noted.
Similar Outfits
Given the large patch on the chest of this outfit, it’s very hard to confuse it with any other outfit. However, if the shirt is separated from the overalls, they could potentially be confused with shirts from other outfits; however, as these shirts are always tagged, so the confusion would be short-lived.
Other Information
> This outfit is one of the most popular 500s outfits. Consequently, it has been replicated by many talented seamstresses. A pattern has even been created and is available from Diana’s Patch on Etsy.
Brazil outfit made by Dianne’s Cabbage Patch Finery (custom order) and the others were made by Leanne Tattersall.
> The red overalls (517?) are generally considered very hard to find.
> Fun fact: A prototype version of this outfit can be found in the 1985 Coleco Catalogue (p. 3, 16). The shirt isn’t striped like the final version, but the overalls are quite similar!
