Precious and cozy, these pajamas’s are so cute. If you’ve got the slippers you’re lucky!
This series consists of five outfits, four for girls and one for boys. They are all a type of pyjamas. The girl’s outfits are all made of flannel and come with fuzzy pink slippers. Like with some other series, the boy’s outfit is unique.
Although their code numbers start with a 6, generally indicating that they came out in 1986, most of those I’ve seen mint-in-box are in 1987 boxes. I hypothesize that they were sold in 1987 or even late 1986 into 1987. Most sources list them as being sold in 1987. (Ref# 3, p. 160) These outfits are not common, so I don’t believe they were produced for very long. They are very hard to find with slippers now.
They were all made by the KT factory. There’s only one version of each outfit, and they were not made by any other factory. I believe I have this series entirely recorded, although I could use a better picture of outfit #693 with the slippers.
Girl’s PJ’s
689 – Bon-Bon Two-Piece PJs
This outfit has a dress-like top with matching pants. The fabric pattern is pastel-coloured bonbons and it has a V-neck with two purple buttons and a purple bow.
Photo courtesy of Kat Perhouse.
690 – NO OUTFIT
691 – Two Piece Sheep PJs
This outfit has a dress-like top and matching pants. The fabric pattern is pastel-coloured pink and blue sheep with flowers. The yoke has three bows; pink, teal, and purple.
Photo courtesy of Kat Perhouse.
692 – Ruffled gown
This gown is white with a pink flower pattern and three buttons at the neck. The neck area has a lot of ruffles, and there is a ruffle running around the hem, a few inches from the bottom.
Photo courtesy of Kat Perhouse.
693 – Striped gown
This gown has a large white bib front with three buttons. The remainder of the gown is a thick stripe pattern in pastel shades of teal, pink, and white. There is a ruffle around the bib, and the bottom hem is white with pink hearts.
Boy’s PJ Outfit
694 – Nightshirt and cap
This outfit is unique within the CPK clothing world. Unlike outfits #689 – #693, this one is made of cotton, uses darker colours, and includes a nightcap and booties with suede soles. The nightcap and booties can be difficult to find.
Mimic Outfit
This outfit mimics the look of the Pajama Series and is often thought to be a part of it. Outfit #142A looks very similar but came out in 1989 as a packaged outfit. The dark colours and yellow slippers are the immediately visible differences.
Photo courtesy of Kat Pershouse.
Special thanks to Kat Perhouse for her amazing pictures.
Based on classic 1983 outfits, these 1986 outfits re-imagine, reinvent, and rejuvenate to create amazing new looks.
Mimic: implies a close copying, often for fun
Miriam-Webster Dictionary
The 1986 Mimic Series
Three of the six outfits in this 1986 series closely mimic many dresses that came before them. The other three also closely resemble earlier outfits, although not as much.
As these outfits are much harder to find than some others, they may not have been produced for long. In addition, there are only two to four variations (letters) for each outfit.
Although the outfits are numbered from #655 to #661, no #657 was produced (that I know of). They were all produced by the OK factory and used letters H, J, and K, once again skipping the letter i.
Although many of the outfits have a copyright date of 1985, an outfit number in the 600s indicates that they were sold in 1986. Based on the tags, some may have been manufactured in early 1987 as well. I speculate that an outfit with an Amsterdam, NY tag (below) was produced in late 1986 or early 1987. I have only two Amsterdam tags recorded in this series, so very few of these outfits were being produced by that time. I have no idea why they changed the number to include a /3 or /__ instead of keeping the original code. I can only speculate that they planned to change the entire outfit numbering system but quickly changed their minds. I also have an example of two slash numbers for the same outfit. I can’t explain this.
These outfits came on the regular yarn-haired kids, as opposed to the Cornsilk kids, which also came out that year. They came in the newer pastel-coloured boxes with the aqua birth certificates. I have no evidence that these outfits came packaged.
Version Information
My goal is to find every version of every outfit that was produced. Below is a spreadsheet showing each version of the outfits in this series that I have recorded. 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 or does not match my information, I would like to hear from you. Information is best sent in the form of pictures. For details, visit Taking Clothing Tag Pics.
Outfit Information
#655 – Mimic Swing Dress
These empire waist dresses are a solid colour with a light white crosshatch pattern and a small white bow at the neck. I believe they came with tights, but I’m not sure if they were solid white or lace. I also believe they came with Mary Jane shoes, but I need to see one of these outfits in the box to know for sure. If you can confirm or debunk it, please let me know.
Outfit K comes in two different colours. I can only assume they could no longer source the first one and changed to the other. I don’t know which was first and which was second.
Photo courtesy of Jodi’s Punki Patch.
Mimicked Outfit:Outfit #1 – Swing Dress Significant differences between these outfits include the pattern and the size of the bow. To see other outfits similar to this one, visit Outfit #1 .
#656 – Mimic Shoulder-Tie Dress
There are no significant differences between this dress and the original dress, except that the white fabric in the #656 dress is sometimes a thicker ribbed cord-like material rather than the thin white cotton used in the original. Of course, there are differences in pattern and colour, but that’s it! I do not know what shoes this outfit came with, but I would guess white Mary Jane shoes.
Photo courtesy of Kat Perhouse.
Mimicked Outfits:Outfit #3 – Shoulder-Tie Dress, Outfit #504 Apron Dress To see other outfits similar to this one, visit Outfit #3.
# 658 – Velveteen Overalls
There are only two versions of this outfit. Although they look like Outfit #12, the Ruffled Overalls, it would be almost impossible to confuse them. These overalls are made of a lovely dark/light blue velveteen, and the bib is backed by the same fabric as the matching blouse. The blouses are made of flowered cotton fabric or white silky fabric. The most obvious difference is the embroidered winged heart on the bib. I have only one picture for reference, but this outfit appears to come with Mary Jane shoes.
Outfit #658HOutfit #658J; Kat PerhouseExample of bib backing
The tags in these outfits are different than those in the rest of the series and almost every other recorded outfit. I’m unsure if this is significant, but it is interesting to note.
It is also interesting to note that the velveteen fabric used for these outfits is only used in one other type of CPK outfit, two of the Jesmar preemie outfits.
Mimicked Outfits:Outfit #12 – Ruffled Overalls. Significant differences are found in the fabrics and blouse patterns.
#659 – Mimic Yoke Dress
The fabrics used for this dress appear to be textured, but all are a solid colour. The yoke and sleeves have frilly lace, and there is a small velveteen bow at the neck. It came with matching bloomers and either Mary Jane or regular lace-up shoes. I am unsure which.
Photo courtesy of Jodi’s Punki Patch.
Mimicked Outfit:Outfit #13 – Square Yoke Dress Significant differences include the frillier lace around the yoke and the velveteen bow. To see other similar outfits, visit Outfit #13.
#660 – Shadow-Stripe Dress
Structurally, these dresses are almost identical to Outfit #15, the Bib Dress. However, these outfits don’t have a bib, they have a silky ribbon running across the front, a small white bow and flower patch in the middle, and capped sleeves. The fabric has a shadow stripe pattern, and the arms, lower hem, and collar are all edged with frilly lace.
Photo courtesy of Kat Perhouse.
I’ve seen this outfit, minus the ribbon, twice. I believe the ribbons have been removed as they don’t appear to be well attached to the outfit.
#661 – Heart/Butterfly Dress
These dresses are also structurally similar to Outfit #15, the Bib Dress, but have a heart with flowers patch or a butterfly with flowers patch on the chest. It has cotton lace running across the front and at the sleeves and leg hems. For some reason, they used one patch for some outfits and the other patch for others. I’m not sure why.
Courtesy of Vanessa Brisson.Courtesy of Jodi’s Punki Patch.
There are two versions of #661H, red and dusty rose. Although both H’s are considered HTF, the red version is considered the harder to find of the two. (FB Conversation, Kat Perhouse, Feb. 2020) I don’t know which was produced first and which colour came second. Whenever the change happened, it was before the Amsterdam tags began being used.
These dresses are often confused with a great imitation aftermarket dress made by Happy Kids. Can you spot the differences? The most obvious differences are the embroidered patches and the lack of CPK clothing tag inside.
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.
670 – Scalloped neck, waist tie onesie671 – Mimic Body suit and booties672 – Dress set, two bows at the waist, white stripes673 – Onesie with wihte yoke and waist ruffle674 – Sweater set with dotted chest decoration675 – Overalls with shirt and hat676 – Sailor suit with tie679 – 2 piece with wavy pattern decoration680 – Striped onesie with waist tie681 – Dress set with one waist bow682 – Moon and stars terry onesie683 – Tri-ruffle teerry onesie684 – Terry onesie with white yoke and ruflePictures courtesy of Sabrina Vanessa Adams, Jodi Isaacs, Sarah Ransom, Zoe Milburn, and Kris Prieto Sams.
Outfit Colours
BlueMint GreenPeachPinkPurpleSteel blueWhiteYellowPictures courtesy of Jodi Isaacs and Sarah Ransom.
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.
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?
These 11” dolls were called Babies by Coleco, but most collectors call them Beany Butt Babies or BBB for short. They are the smallest of the Coleco dolls and have bags of ‘beans’ in their bum or tummy. If the bag is in the bum, there is stuffing on top at the neck.
Babies were manufactured by Coleco from 1986 – 1989 and then by Hasbro until 1992. (Ref. #2, p. 14) Early accounts indicate that they sold very well (Ref. #4, May 1986, p.5)
Babies’ boxes are quite different from the other Coleco boxes. The doll itself is laid down on its side, so the box is longer than it is tall. The look of the boxes, where the birth certificate was displayed, and the look of the birth certificate changed over time.
1986 BoxLater Coleco BoxHasbro Box1986 Birth CertificateLater Birth certificateTransitional BC
Babies were made predominately by the WS and SS factories. I have seen only two BBBs that were made by the P factory. This may have been a factory mistake, but I have no way of knowing.
Transitional Body TagHasbro Body 1Hasbro Body 2Photo courtesy of Zoe Milburn.Courtesy of an eBay ad.Baby found on eBay with a P tag.
Hasbro later used additional head moulds for their kids. Some of their kids had tufts of hair and they had a wider variety of eye colours and skin tones.
Keep in mind that as Hasbro took over from Coleco some rather strange combinations of kids, outfits and boxes occured. For more information visit Transitional Period CPK Outfits – A Summary.
The pacifiers used by BBBs are significantly different from the original yellow pacifiers. They are made of softer vinyl and are generally translucent. They have a flatter ring for the hand, and the projection for the mouth is shaped differently.
The early pacifiers were the same yellow colour, but later pacifiers came out in a wide variety of colours to match the doll’s outfit. Like the originals, they are marked with the factory, but it is on the flat disc portion. These pacifiers are also used for some transitionalToddlers and for Hasbro Preschoolers.
FYI: Not all colours shownFactory codes
Finally, Furskin pacifiers look similar to BBB pacifiers, but the mouth protuberance is larger in diameter.
Furskin vs. BBB pacifiers
BBB’s and Vinyl Discolouration (Pox)
Unfortunately, early SS factory kids are very likely to have developed or to develop vinyl discolouration. They have the dubious honour of being known as the worst for this, as the type of pox they get is generally darker and often more prolific than P factory kids.
BBB pacifiers, because they are made of vinyl, can also get pox. Unfortunately, zit cream treatment doesn’t seem to work very well on them.
There is one very special knit BBB outfit that doesn’t have a regular code. You can learn more about it at PTP: The Twin Outfit That Isn’t
Courtesy of Jodi’s Punki Patch.
BBB or Preemie . . . That is the question
In general, we can say that if the outfit has footies, it’s a BBB outfit. However, a few of the transitional preemie outfits did have footies. So, if it seems too big for your BBB, it may be because it’s actually a preemie outfit. For information on preemie outfits, visit Preemie Outfits – An Overview.
Courtesy of Heather Woodie.Courtesy of Jodi’s Punki Patch.
Transitional and Hasbro Outfits
Hasbro manufactured Babies until 1992, and the transitional period (1989-1991) BBB clothing is very interesting. Although Hasbro did start to manufacture their own outfits, they also continued to produce some of the Coleco outfits for a time.
There’s evidence that they intended to take some of the Coleco outfits and make them their own. For example, outfit 682 is almost the same as outfit 400. Why are there two of the same outfit? Because outfit 682 is the original Coleco one, and outfit 400 is the one Hasbro created.
Initially, it appears that Hasbro was going to continue coding their outfits but later changed their mind. Outfit 400 was created during this brief period. Instead of using the original Coleco code, they gave it a new one in the 400s. The outfits themselves are almost identical. The biggest difference is in the hat; one has a large fold-over, and the other does not.
Coleco #682Transitional Hasbro #400#400 pictures courtesy of Sabrina Vanissa Adams.
Some Hasbro outfits have tags, generally transitional ones, but most don’t have a tag. In this way, we can determine if an outfit is Coleco or Hasbro, even if they look identical.
Care of BBB outfits
The majority of BBB outfits are knit or terry cloth. Both of these fabrics should be hand washed to reduce damage to the fibres/yarn. I also suggest that before washing, you put small pieces of Velcro on the ‘sticky’ Velcro pieces to stop new pulls or damage from developing in the wash.
They can be soaked in oxi-clean and washed with regular laundry detergent. I suggest hanging knit outfits to dry.
You can also bring them back to life by ‘defuzzing’ them. A sweater shaver works well for most outfits. You may find you need to do the edges or decorations by hand with your ‘defuzzing’ scissors.
BeforeAfterHalf/ Half
Your sweater shaver will also work on the cotton-based outfits as it will remove the pills and pulls.
You will find that these wonderfully chatty kids, with their beautiful dresses and demands for their cup, will easily talk their way into your heart.
Talking Cabbage Patch Kids were only produced by Coleco for approximately one year and started becoming available in September of 1987. (Ref#2, p. 86) They are quite large and came with fancy outfits, cornsilk hair, a Parent’s Guide, special birth certificates, and a ‘magic cup’.
They were a remarkable toy for their time and had many surprises in store for their new parents, including a mobile moving face, numerous hidden sensors, and the ability to respond to their new parent and other talking kids! Two or more together will often be heard singing in around. It’s amazing! (Video) There seem to be a variety of different ‘scripts’ that the kids use when speaking, but the dolls can learn new phrases and words from other talking kids they interact with. (Ref#4, Vol. 2, Iss. 5, p.3) The first 250 sold at their ‘opening event’ were signed by Xavier Roberts. (Ref#4, Vol 2, Iss. 3, p.4)
The dolls came in only two head moulds, T-8 (one dimple) and T-9 (big grin, no dimple). Coleco produced AA talking kids but no boys.
Head Mould T-8Head Mould T-9
These dolls were pretty fancy, and unfortunately, may have been ahead of their time. Many considered them creepy. It got worse when the first of the Chucky movies was released in November of 1988. These kids were also plagued with poblems, such as:
A high purchase price.
They used a lot of batteries, four AA and one 9V, and went through them like candy!
Many didn’t work when they were purchased or stopped working soon after purchase.
They weren’t ‘cuddly’ like regular Cabbage Patch Kids.
Clothing Information
There are eight different talking kid outfits made by the OK factory, numbers #695 – 702. I believe there are six versions of each outfit, letters A – F; however, they used eight different colours of velveteen fabric overall. (Aqua, Burgundy, Grey, Medium Blue, Navy Blue, Pink, Purple, Red)
Four of the outfits consist of white cotton dresses with a velveteen pinafore and matching cotton bloomers.
#695#699, Picture courtesy of Kristi Prietos Sams#702#697, Picture courtesy of Denise Maggio
The other four have a velveteen dress and a cotton or taffeta pinafore. The outfits with cotton pinafores come with plain white bloomers, and the outfits with a taffeta pinafore come with taffeta bloomers.
#696, Picture courtesy of Eve Phillips#700, Picture courtesy of Eve Pillips#698#701
The lace used on the bloomers, dress, and pinafore always match. All of them come with solid white tights and odd white or black faux leather shoes. The black shoes seem to come most frequently with the navy blue, burgundy, and red outfits.
There are hints that some talkers may have come with regular lace-up shoes instead of the ‘talker shoes’. I have no proof at this point.
Although these outfits originally came only on Talking Kids, a few can be found on ‘regular’ kids from 1988 and 1989. They likely did this to clear out leftover outfits. However, it is not something you’ll see often.
Recorded Information
I have the following outfits recorded. If you have one of the outfits that I am missing, I would greatly appreciate pictures of the clothing tag and the outfit. For details on taking pictures jump here.
Description: Basic cotton dress with a square-shaped yoke of pleated nylon with a bow and eyelet trim. (Ref#4, Vol. 3 Iss. 80, p.3). It came with matching bloomers, regular lace-up shoes, and socks. Very occasionally, they came with Mary Janes.
Outfit 13F, P
This outfit was sold from 1983 until 1985, most likely longer. It was sold both on kids and packaged, starting in 1984.
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, up to the date indicated. To understand clothing codes, factories and variations, please refer to the suggested readings below.
If you have an outfit that is not recorded here or does not match my information, (e.g. you have a 13J OK that is green, not yellow) I would appreciate hearing from you. Information is best sent in the form of pictures. For details on the pictures required, jump to Taking Clothing Tag Pics.
Variations
> The following are observable differences between outfits produced at various factories.
fabric shade/colour
ribbon colour
> Mimic outfits: The Mattel 15th Anniversary kids came with a slightly different version of this dress where the yoke itself comes off, almost like a bib. Outfit #659 came out in 1986ish and is the mimic version of this outfit. The yoke is more frilly and the bow velveteen. Outfit #149 is a transitional outfit that most likely only came packaged.
15th AnniversaryOutfit #659, Photo Courtesy of Jodi Punki’s PatchOutfit #149, Courtesy of Jodi’s Punki Patch
The first outfit numbers in 1983 started at 1, which makes sense.
The first twenty outfits, created for the regular-sized kids, came out in 1983, and some stayed in production for many years. Many of the foreign outfits are based on the outfits in this series. (Visit: Jesmar Clothing)
When they created the first line of preemie outfits in 1984, they used the same numbering convention. Unfortunately, that means that if you don’t know whether an outfit is a preemie outfit or a regular kid outfit, they can be easily confused. You have to know by looking at it. (Jump to: Preemie Clothing Summery and 1984 Series)
Year by Number
It was eventually pointed out to me (Ref #4, Vol. 3 Issue 9/10/11, p. 6) that the code numbers used seemed to match the year they were produced.
500s in 1985
600s in 1986
700s in 1987
800s in 1988
This makes sense! For some specific lines of kids like the Toddlers, Growing Hair kids, Splashing Kids, Talkers, and a few others, this theory works.
Talking KidToddlerSplashing Kid
The second preemie series (BSeries), which came out in 1985, also uses the same year-based numbering convention. They are numbered as a 500s series, but most are numbered B5__. Consequently, they are easier to distinguish from the regular kid 500s outfits. I wonder, did they consider the regular-sized kids outfits the A series?
The first theory about the code number being the year it came out works for many outfits, but not for all of them. Starting in 1986, some outfits no longer fit the pattern. A small addition shows up in the code to assist. To learn more jump to: Tag Codes Continued: A 2nd Theory
Series by Hundreds
Which series can be found in which hundred. To see examples of outfits in each series jump to: Series Information in Pics
There’s only a handful of 200s and they are knit BBB outfits. It’s like they didn’t realize how many numbers they’d need when they started making the series, and just continued into the 200s. That’s it.
200201202203Pictures 2 & 3 courtesy of Jodi’s Punki Patch. Picture 4 courtesy of Sarah Ransom.
The 300s
The 300s contain only the second series of Cornsilk outfits that came out in later 1986. I call these the Wacky and Layered Cornsilk Series 2. That’s it.
Picture 3 courtesy of Carey Reiss Jarchow.
The 400s
There are two different 400s series.
Series 1 – Sold in 1988, they have the 8- in their codes. They are all packaged regular-sized dresses produced by Coleco. So far only 4 are recorded.
Series 2 – Sold in 1990 (Transitional Period), they have the 0- in their codes and often have Hasbro tags. I have 4 outfits recorded and they are all BBB outfits.
Oddly enough, the 14″ Furskin outfits produced in 1986 are also recorded in the 430s.
The 500s
Only one series of regular outfits came out in 1985. For more information visit The 500s Series.
