Patch was introduced in 1966. She was described as “Sindy's naughty little sister” and she was also given an extensive wardrobe and her own woven label. The Style Leaflet said:
Patch arrived boxed and wearing her dungaree outfit which was an all-in-one red gingham top attached to denim dungarees fastened by two white painted metal poppers at the back. On her right knee there was a matching gingham patch which also matched her gingham headscarf. Patch wore white shoes with moulded bows. She came with a stand and a booklet. Later versions of Patch came without the headscarf. There are a number of variations of Patch's dungarees. The four dolls in the photo on the right are all MIE versions but as you can see the gingham fabric varies. The patch on the dungarees also differs; it can be different sizes, the patch is usually on the left knee or more unusually it can be on the right. We have seen some without a gingham patch at all (but it is difficult to know whether this was just a quality control issue, or the patch fell off, or was deliberately removed). The denim of Patch's dungarees is much darker on later Hong Kong versions.
A wonderfully detailed school uniform consisting of an all-in-one brown wool gym-slip dress with two front pleats attached to a white round-collared, long-sleeved shirt with a red and white striped tie. She also had a school coat made of the same wool which fastened with two black painted metal poppers. The coat had her embroidered school badge sewn on her breast pocket, there were two other patch pockets and a sewn-on belt made of the same wool. Her school hat was a beret made of the same brown wool gathered with black elastic. She wore long white nylon socks and brown Mary-Jane shoes. Her satchel was a work of art, made of brown plastic with her name printed on the front flap in gold. It had a shoulder strap and two metal, gold coloured buckles to thread the straps through to close the flap. Inside her satchel she had a bottle of ink with the word “INK” in gold letters although this is very often rubbed off, a red exercise book, a pen, pencil, ruler and a pair of round-framed glasses (we have seen both gold and silver coloured frames).
For her ballet class Patch was given a white satin and tulle tutu, with matching white satin knickers. The tutu had ribbon straps and it fastened at the back with two white poppers. She had fine gauze tights and little white ballet shoes with silk cord ties. For her hair there was a band of flowers. The same head dress was used again later with Sindy's 1973 'Supershow' headband.
A blue flannel nightdress trimmed with lace at the collar and cuffs, fastened at the back with two blue painted metal poppers. It was worn with a white quilted dressing gown lined in blue with four white ribbon ties - two on each side. She had a pastel blue toilet bag which was the same as Sindy's 'Sleepy Time' containing a blue toothbrush, toothpaste and pink mug. She also had a Penguin 'paperback' (a piece of printed card) called “Patch by Pedigree” with a drawing of Patch in her 'Swan Lake' outfit on the front cover. On her feet Patch wore red plastic shoes trimmed with yellow sponge pom poms. As noted above, Patch's mug is normally pink but this outfit has also been found with a white mug (see main photo). We understand that there is also a variation in the dressing gown, and that the earlier version is a made of a much thicker, cotton-like material, where subsequent versions are made of nylon. We have not seen this for ourselves and we would be pleased to hear from other Patch collectors who know about this.
Patches party outfit consisted of a black, velvet long-sleeved dress trimmed with coffee coloured cotton lace at the collar, cuffs and bottom hem. The dress fastened at the back with a black painted metal popper. It came with a “Red Riding Hood” velvet cape lined with red satin which tied around Patch's neck with black ribbons. She wore long white socks and black shoes adorned with gold buckles on her feet. We believe the dress in the second photo is a variation. It has been made in exactly the same way and of the same velvet material (and it has flat black painted metal poppers), but as you can see it is trimmed with white cotton lace which looks to be original.
A sunshine yellow slicker coat in PVC lined with cotton. It had four black painted metal poppers, black stitching detail, a collar and two patch pockets. There was a matching sou'wester hat and she wore black wellingtons on her feet.
Vest and pants in a white cotton airtex fabric.
A black ribbed long-sleeved, turtle-necked jumper made of wool. It fastened at the back with a black painted metal popper. Included were black knitted cotton stretch tights.
A sleeveless black and white dog-tooth check sleeveless smock pinafore. It fastened at the back with two black painted metal popper, and it was made of the same material as Sindy's 'Cape'. It was designed to compliment 'Easy Life', worn with it in this photo.
