Cabbage Patch Kids started out as a soft sculpt
1983
Cabbage Patch Kids are a line of soft sculptured dolls created by Xavier Roberts and registered in the United States copyright office in 1978.
As a 21 year old art student, Xavier utilized the quilting skills he learned from his mother and the historic technique of "needle molding" to develop his own line of fabric sculptures. He called these hand-stitched, one-of-a-kind, soft fabric sculptures "The Little People". His Little People were not offered for sale, but were "adopted" each with their own individual name and birth certificate. Many other soft sculpture dolls dating back to the 1800s were created using similar needle molding techniques, but the execution of Xavier's own design has been certified to be unique and copyrightable as a work of art.
The Little People were first offered at arts and crafts shows, then later at Babyland General Hospital in Cleveland, Georgia. The doll brand went on to become one of the most popular toy fads of the 1980s and one of the longest-running doll franchises in America.
The name change to Cabbage Patch Kids was made in 1982 when Xavier's company, Original Appalachian Artworks, began to license a smaller version of the hand made creations to a toy manufacturer named Coleco.