+1 for not mixing actual pattern enhancements, with Plone plumbing. This makes it more viable to use the patterns standalone, and/or to do your own Plone integration. We do both in Quaive Ploneintranet: we have a non-Plone design prototype with all patterns, and we integrate the prototype javascript bundle directly into Plone ourselves.
Having no Plone dependency in the javascript parts of our stack makes it possible for non-Plone devs to iterate much faster on pattern fixes and enhancements.