This was taped as part of the 2020 online Spooktacular Cabbie Event.
I discuss my project, my final goal, how you can help, and how it helps you. I then answer questions on a variety of topics including cornsilks, twins, factory codes, and more.
3:00 – Explanation of clothing tags and clothing codes 5:30 – Variations in outfits 6:40 – Why this information is useful to you 7:50 – Ultimate goal of the project 9:15 – How you can help 10:40 – HTF kids and valuation – Why I don’t record this 11:50 – Disclaimer 21:40 – Tour of ‘Cabbie Closet’ and how I store clothing 19:05 – Accessories with codes 21:30 – Twins (more at 22:50) 24:40 – Specialty Kids 25:00 – Cornsilk outfits (more in Part 2) 28:20 – Glasses 28:25 – USA Outfits
0:00 – Button duck dresses 1:50 – HTF and Rare discussion continued 4:00 – Cornsilk and Homophone outfits continued 7:50 – How the numbers work, other matrices, and missing numbers 14:10 – Matching factory codes – dolls and clothes 18:00 – Codes on stickers (P, PMI, IC) 20:30 – Value and HTF discussion continued 24:20 – Defuzzing clothes (continues at 27:15) 25:00 – HTF BBB outfits from Thailand (Visit for updated information) 28:25 – How to search the blog (there’s a page too)
Apparently, the tights come in a variety of patterns. I have found four patterns so far. I named and numbered them to make it easier to distinguish between them.
#1 LINES#2 SPARSE FLOWERS#3 TRILLIUM#4 THICK FLOWERS#5 MEDIUM FLOWERS Picture 5 courtesy of Kristi Prietos Sams.
Theories
I have several possible theories regarding why there are so many patterns.
They vary based on the factory of production.
They vary based on when the outfit was produced.
They vary based on the series they came in (somewhat related to the factory, but not quite).
What I Know
The 160s series was manufactured primarily by the KT factory, but a few outfits were produced by the OK factory. Most of the twin dresses were produced by the P factory, although a few were made by KT, and the 718-724 series was produced entirely by the KT factory.
The 160s Series and the twin outfits came out in 1985 and most likely stopped production in 1986. The 718-724 series came out in 1987 and most likely stopped being manufactured by 1988, if not before.
The Problem
I do not have enough data to even guess which theories (or another unconsidered one) are correct. Can you help?
If you have an outfit with lacy tights, and you know it came together as an outfit, can you please send me the following:
Which lace pattern it is (or a picture if it is a new pattern)
Factory of the outfit
The clothing code of the outfit (e.g. 162H)
If it is a twin outfit, did it comes on a set of twins, or an individually boxed kid?
If it is a twin outfit, is it the sateen version or the non-sateen version?
Extra Bit
One outfit comes with BLACK lacy tights, the Girl’s Spanish World Traveler. This outfit was made by two factories. Do you have an OK version to compare to this PMI version? It looks a lot like #3 Trillium above. Jump to: World Traveler Wear
These outfits are the same as the 3rd Cornsilk series . . . yet not!
I’m calling this the Homophone Set as they are the same as the 3rd Cornsilk series, but they are also different. These dresses are made of cotton, instead of the sateen and velveteen of the fancier dresses. They don’t come with a special birth certificate, tights, or any of the accessories the cornsilk kids did. However, structurally, they are the same. The only significant difference is outfit #730 . . . more on that later.
Right pic courtesy of Kat Perhouse.
This group of outfits (724 – 730) came out concurrent with the 3rd Cornsilk series (718-723) in 1987. Refer to that post for details on the timing debate. It was made exclusively by the KT factory. They had matching bloomers, socks, and Mary Jane shoes. So far, I have only seen white shoes.
Photos courtesy of Kat Perhouse and Sarah Kimmel.
Based on my research to this point, I believe that the outfit codes for this series work like this:
There were six patterns used for these dresses, and each pattern comes in one to three colour options. There are six versions of each dress, as each dress comes in all six patterns, but in only one option for each colour. Consequently, if an outfit comes in purple with buds, it will not come in mint green with buds.
The Big Yellow Flower pattern might come in two unofficial versions. Some outfits are made of vibrantly coloured fabric, and others are made from fabric that appears faded. I’m unsure if this is caused by photo manipulation, flashes, or if there are actual differences in the fabrics.
Save the Boys for Last!
The last outfit in this series, #730, is a boy’s outfit. It was the only boy outfit produced in this series, and there is no cornsilk equivalent as there were no boy cornsilk dolls produced. It makes me wonder if a ‘fancy’ version of this outfit was created for the prototype Cornsilk boys. What a find that would be!
Photos courtesy of Kat Perhouse.I’m not sure which version of B is correct. I need to see a kid who’s been MIB.
As I mentioned in the 3rd series, I am unsure which came first, the 3rd series (720s) or the 4th series (760s). I do know that these outfits came out in 1987 and came in the same boxes, with the same accessories, as the 720s kids. To review this discussion, jump here: Cornsilk Series 3: Beautiful Dresses, pt. 2
This series was made by the P factory, and they are among the hardest Cornsilk outfits to find. It’s likely that they weren’t produced for very long, and there doesn’t appear to be more than two versions of each outfit. That means fewer to find overall.
I only have five outfits recorded, out of what I think is a possible series of eight, if not more. Based on my records to this point, each outfit appears to have 1 or 2 versions (A, B).
They all come with white underwear. Most come with socks, although #765 has tights. Most appear to have come with white Mary Janes, but a few came with white sneakers and solid-form boots.
Mary Jane ShoesWhite SneakersUnderwearSolid Form Boots
The Outfits
#762 -Double shirt and quilted skirt
A – Photo courtesy of Heather McCurdy MinixB – Photo courtesy of Julie Champman
#763 – Unknown Outfit
#764 – Unknown Outfit
#765 – Romper dress and blouse
A – Photo courtesy of Sarah GaltB
#766 – Double shirt and skort
Photo courtesy of Lisa March Graves Kuhn
#767 – Unknown Outfit
#768 – Windbreaker Outfit
Photo courtesy of Melissa Crick Gore
#769 – Terry cloth top and tied pants
Photo courtesy of Jen Nicol.
I believe that this outfit is part of this series, but I don’t know which of the three numbers it fills: 763, 764, or 767.
Photo courtesy of Jodi Issacs.
Similar Outfits
Outfit #765 is often mistaken for outfits #148, #402-8, and #332.
#765#402-8 Photo courtesy of Annie Mauboussi Johnston#332#148 Photo courtesy of Jodi Issacs.
Outfits #762 and #766 can be confused for each other, as the only difference is the skirt versus the skort.
Outfit #768 and the ruffled unknown outfit are often mistaken for each other and for outfits #516 and #512.
#768 Photo courtesy of Melissa Crick GoreUnknown outfit – Photo courtesy of Jodi Issacs#516 Photo courtesy of Lori Clark.#512 Photo courtesy of Jodi Issacs
Other Information
Prototype outfits can be seen in these pictures from the 1987 Coleco Catalogue, p. 7.
Series 3 came out in 1987. Honestly, I’m not sure which came first, Series 3 or Series 4. Some reference sources indicate that Series 4 (760s) came out before Series 3. (Ref#2, p. 79; Ref#3, p. 150) However, there is also evidence for Series 3 coming out before Series 4.
4 then 3: Outfits in Series 4 are very similar to those in Series 2 (300s).
4 then 3: Series 4 kids seem to come with the earlier ‘flowered’ birth certificate more then Series 3. Most of Series 3 comes with the ‘non-flowered’ birth certificate.
3 then 4:Outfits in Series 4 are much harder to find than those in Series 3. Generally, this means the series was produced for a short length of time. This would have occurred if they had started selling them later in 1987 and then quickly switched to a newer group of outfits in 1988/98.
3 then 4:The codes in Series 3 are numerically lower than those of Series 4. From this, I assume that they planned Series 4 after Series 3. However, this does not tell us what order they came out in. Also, by the time these outfits were produced, Coleco was not always numbering outfits in order anymore.
Same time: The 3rd Series was made by the KT factory and the 760s by the P factory. Did they come out at the same time, but were made by different factories?
Description
This series (3rd) consists of six very pretty dress styles. I believe they initially came in the same boxes and with the same birth certificates as the 2nd series, but when those ran out, they changed. The newer boxes looked the same, but the ribbons were in plastic sleeves attached to the box liner, and the hand tag and birth certificate changed to have a modern look.
Courtesy of Doreen Russell
The dresses generally came with matching bloomers, lacy white tights, and white Mary Jane shoes. However, I have seen one example that came with socks, and a few of them came with black Mary Jane shoes. I don’t have enough information at this time to list which came with which. I need more information!
The Outfits
There are 6 outfits in this series and they were made entirely by the KT factory. I believe that there are six or seven versions of each outfit: 3 sateen (A, B, C), 3 – 4 velveteen (E, F,?). Using the Cotton Version Seriesas a reference, it appears that they did not create a D.
Sateen version and velveteen version.
Photos courtesy of Jodi’s Punk Patch, Callie Cabbies, and Cassidi Carroll.
There are 6 to 7 colour options for each fabric (6 sateen, 7 velveteen). As there are only three to four versions of each dress, only three colours were used for each one. There doesn’t appear to be a pattern for which colours they chose for which outfits.
For every dress in the ‘fancy’ series that came on Cornsilk Kids, there is a ‘less fancy’ cotton version that came on regular kids. (#724-729) They came out at the same time. For more information, jump to: Ho·mo·phone: the same . . . but different *
RegularCornsilkRegular (from Kat Perhouse)Cornsilk
Breaking the Rules
Some of these Cornsilk outfits were later found on ‘regular’ kids. I believe they did this when they were getting rid of extra stock in late 1987 or 1988.
This, the second Cornsilk series, came out in mid-1986. It is characterized by bold colours, wacky looks, and layering. It came in a rectangular box with a window arrangement at the top and no ‘vanity’ or other details inside. (Ref#3, p. 150) They still came with the flowery birth certificate, bag of hair ties, brush, hairstyle guide, and were handhold kids.
1st photo courtesy of Nicole Snow.
I’m not sure how many outfits are in this series. It starts around #320 and goes to at least #333, but could go higher. I am missing #331, if it exists. I do not know how many versions of each outfit were made, but I think it’s around six (A-F). The highest letter I have is F. For more information on the outfit codes, jump to What are Clothing Tag Codes.
They were manufactured by the OK, P, and KT factories. However, instead of each factory making a code LETTER, in this series (so far), they made specific outfit NUMBERS and all the letters in those outfits. This holds true for all the outfits except #332 for which I have two factories recorded., P & KT.
These outfits came with brightly coloured socks that were larger and structurally different than the original socks, had underpants not diapers, and either solid-form boots or ballet flats. For more information on shoes, visit Shoes: Overview and Summary Links.
BootsBallet Flats
#321 (OK) – Boots
#322 (KT) – Boots
#323 (P) – Boots
#324 (OK) – Boots
#325 (P) – Ballet Flats
#326 (KT) – Boots
#327 (KT) – Ballet Flats
#328 (OK) – Boots
#329 (P) – White Ballet Flats or Boots
#330 (OK) – Ballet Flats
#331 – outfit unidentified
#332 (KT, P) – White Boots
#333 (OK) – Boots
The Outfits
#321 – Sweatsuit
#322 – Knit top with Skirt and Leggings
Courtesy of Christine Marie.Courtesy of Callie Anne.
#323 – X Sweater and Skirt
#324 – Pocketed jacket and tracksuit
Photos courtesyof Susana Isabel Torres.
#325 – Aerobics Dress
#326 – Double shirt with matching waist tie
Courtesy of Dani Bryant Nelson.Coutesy of Carey Reiss Jarchow.
#327 – Knit sweater vest with skort and jacket
#328 – Double sweater with a jacket
Courtesy of Jonelle Geathers.
#329 – Pocket sweater outfit
#330 – Double sweater outfit
#332 – Romper Dress
Courtesy of Chris Hansing Tallman
#333 – Sweater and pants outfit
If you would like to send pictures, if at all possible, please include a ‘pieces’ picture like the one below. The layers in these outfits make it difficult to see individual pieces. This makes it difficult when trying to determine which outfit a single piece goes with. The first time I saw the sleeveless shirts, I was very surprised! However, if the kid is MIB or NRFB, a picture of the doll wearing the outfit is fine. For additional instructions, visit Taking Tag Pictures.
Other Information
Some of the outfits can be more easily identified using sweater patterns.
#324#330#330, #333#328#324#330
These outfits would continue to be found on MIB kids until 1987.
Some of these kids came in the older Cornsilk boxes. This was probably done during the transition from the older styles to the newer style.
Similar Outfits
Almost all the outfits in this series are similar to those in Cornsilk Series 4.
These Cornsilk kids came out in 1986. They came in a box with a curved top and a cardboard vanity inside. They came with a bag of hair ties, a brush, and a hairstyling guide. In order to hold the brush, these kids were hand-hold kids. Their birth certificates were flowery in design.
There are nine outfits in this series, #160 – #168. Each outfit appears to have somewhere between 6 to 12 versions (denoted by the letters). For information on clothing codes, jump to: Clothing Tag Codes.
Photos courtesy of Jamie Osterbuhr, Jodi’s Punki Patch, and other unknown sources.
These outfits were made by the KT and OK factories. KT is the primary factory for outfits A, B, C, and OK is the primary factory for outfits H, J, and K. I believe that some of the outfits were made by both factories, although not all. I am missing many KT outfits in my record, as many of the KT tags do not come with a letter code for unknown reasons.
All these outfits came with either black or white Mary Jane style shoes and wore regular diapers.
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.
“They came with” Information
#160: Came with lacy tights and white Mary Jane shoes. #161: Came with solid white tights and black Mary Jane shoes. #162: Came with matching bloomers and white Mary Janes shoes. #163: It generally came with solid white tights, although a few may have been lacy, and white Mary Jane shoes. #164: Came with white bloomers and most likely black Mary Jane shoes. #165: Came with matching bloomers and white Mary Jane shoes. #166: Came with lacy tights and white Mary Janes shoes. #167: This outfit came with solid colour tights, but they may have been colour coordinated with the dress. I’m not sure. I’m pretty sure they came with white Mary Jane shoes. #168: Came with matching bloomers and either regular shoes or Mary Janes, I’m not sure yet. This may be the exception to the Mary Jane shoe rule. I have also seen this outfit packaged.
Outfit Specific Notes
— #162: These dresses come in two fabrics, sateen and non-sateen. 162H has such a big ‘surprise’ that is explained in a separate post – Mystery Fancy Frock.
— #163: They used two fabric patterns for this outfit; one has purple flowers, and one has yellow flowers.
— #166 & #168 seem to be the most difficult to find.
—#167: This outfit is called the Cornsilk Country Dress. This distinction is made because #502, which came out a year earlier, is also called theCountry Dress. The easiest ways to distinguish between them are the number of flower patches and the curved name logo patch.
#502 Country Dress#167 Cornsilk Country Dress, Courtesy of Jamie Osterbuhr
Other Information
— These outfits came out in early 1986 but could still be found on new kids coming out in 1987. Some may even have come on regular yarn hair kids. They were most likely getting rid of old stock. (Ref# 3, p. 152)
— There is a second set of outfits with numbers in the 160s. They are Sipping Kids outfits. I have no idea why they duplicated the numbers.
I apologize for the double post. This post was created as part of my editing process.
FYI: This series of posts refers only to those kids sold as Cornsilk Kids. This post does not refer to Growing Hair Kids, Sipping Kids, Talkers, Designer Line Kids, Splashing Kids, or later kids manufactured by other companies. Only girl Cornsilk Kids were produced.
There are four known series of outfits that were used exclusively on Cornsilk Kids (to a point). They came out in 1986 and 1987. Each series has easily identifiable characteristics; however, they can also be VERY confusing.
This is the first of five posts in which I will attempt to demystify these beautiful, wacky, and confusing outfits.
Series 2:Wacky and Layered Outfits – A set of wacky coloured/patterned mod-styled outfits. Many have a lot of pieces and layers. Launched mid-1986. (Ref #2, p. 79)
Series 3: Beautiful Dresses Part 2, Dresses made of sateen, velveteen, and other fancy fabrics. Launched late 1986/early 1987. (Ref #2, p. 79) This series acted as a template for the ‘regular kid’ versions, jump to: Ho·mo·phone: Series.
Series 4: Wacky and Layered Part 2 – A slightly toned-down version of Series 2. Launched mid to late 1987. These are harder to find.
The consistency with which the doll tag and the outfit tag factories matched changed starting in 1985. Many continued to match, but not all. Here are the ‘situations’ in which you might find a match that doesn’t match!
Situation 1:
From 1986 to 1988 (ish), the most common situation resulted from an overabundance of specialty outfits that were not selling (high $) and a lot of pieces coming from foreign factories that had shut down. In this situation, you might get an OK kid, in a P factory twin outfit, in a single kid box. (Ref. #5, Issue 4, p. 5) Or maybe, a set of P dolls, in IJ animal costume sleepers (Ref #3, p.104), in a twin box. Or even a pair of Jesmar dolls, in PMI World Traveler outfits, in a twin box!
Twin outfit in a single boxWorld Traveler outfits on Jesmar dolls in Twin boxCostumes in a Twin boxFun Furs in a Twin boxSports Collection on KidCostume on Kid
Some of these outfits were made by the factories which did not produce kids, only packaged outfits that were never intended to be sold on kids.
Situation 2:
A similar situation happened with outfits originally designed for specific kinds of kids. For example, occasionally you will find Cornsilk and Talker outfits on regular kids from 1987 onward. This doesn’t occur as often as situation one, but it does happen. This situation could also be the result of in-store outfit switching.
Regular Kid in Cornsilk dressRegular kid in Talker’s dress
Situation 3:
IC kids were made in Taiwan and, according to their side tags, which are numbered IC to IC7, there may have been at least eight factories. However, there are NO clothes with IC# on them. However, several Taiwanese factories did produce clothing: AX, CY, FD, HP, WW, HRS.
I have evidence that IC kids came wearing IC, AX, and potentially WW clothing. The same has been discovered about the UT factory. Although UT kids could come with UT clothes, they also came dressed in AX and WW clothing. (Jump to: AX and the UT Kids)
In addition, IC kids came wearing specialty line outfits that were made at other Taiwanese factories (HRS, CY, FD), so their tags would not match. For example, Western Wear and All-Star kids. (Ref #5, Issue 3, p. 5)
Top: CY Western Wear outfit and AX outfit, Bottom: CY All Stars Outfit
Situation 4:
Hong Kong Tags. Some Hong Kong Kids had no factory indicated on their tag. In this case, for MIB kids, it can be assumed that if the kid is OK, the outfit is OK. However, if the outfit is not original to the kid, it is either P, OK or KT. (Ref#3, p. 28) My personal experience with HK outfits leads me to believe they will be either OK or P, as the tags themselves more closely resemble OK and P tags, rather than KT tags.
Situation 5:
Twin outfits are all P factory. However, some were put on OK kids. In this case, the tags would not match.
Situation 6:
There is evidence that ‘Made in USA’ outfits did come on boxed kids. There are no ‘Made in USA’ kids, so the tag cannot match in this situation.
Situation 7:
It appears that some SS factory outfits came on MIB regular-sized kids. As the SS factory did not make any regular-sized dolls, there will be a mismatch between the kid and the outfit. I’ve confirmed this on one OK factory HK doll.
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.
