diff --git a/README.txt b/README.txt
index 685706c..8dccca0 100644
--- a/README.txt
+++ b/README.txt
@@ -159,11 +159,21 @@ Do not use both types of declarations for a single project in your makefile.
 - `patch`
 
   One or more patches to apply to this project. An array of URLs from which
-  each patch should be retrieved.
+  each patch should be retrieved. By default, this assumes patch should be
+  executed with the -p1 option (see http://drupal.org/patch/create and
+  http://groups.drupal.org/node/140204). You may specify different options
+  using the options array on the patch. These options can either be a single
+  string, or an array of options.
 
         projects[calendar][patch][rfc-fixes][url] = "http://drupal.org/files/issues/cal-760316-rfc-fixes-2.diff"
         projects[calendar][patch][rfc-fixes][md5] = "e4876228f449cb0c37ffa0f2142"
 
+       ; -p1 will be used by default, but this diff was created using -p0
+        projects[calendar][patch][rfc-fixes][options] = "-p0"
+        ; Alternately, you can specify an array of patch command options.
+        projects[calendar][patch][rfc-fixes][options][] = "-p0"
+        projects[calendar][patch][rfc-fixes][options][] = "-f"
+
         ; shorthand syntax if no md5 checksum is specified
         projects[adminrole][patch][] = "http://drupal.org/files/issues/adminrole_exceptions.patch"
 
diff --git a/drush_make.project.inc b/drush_make.project.inc
index d0f2a48..390fa71 100644
--- a/drush_make.project.inc
+++ b/drush_make.project.inc
@@ -70,16 +70,39 @@ class DrushMakeProject {
       if (!is_array($info)) {
         $info = array('url' => $info);
       }
+      // Set up patch command options, if they exist.
+      if (isset($info['options'])) {
+        $options = is_array($info['options']) ? implode(' ', $info['options']) : $info['options'];
+      }
+
       // Download the patch.
       if ($filename = _drush_make_download_file($info)) {
-        $patched = drush_shell_exec("patch -p0 -d %s < %s", $project_directory, $filename);
+        // Default to -p1. See http://drupal.org/patch/create and
+        // http://groups.drupal.org/node/140204
+        $options = isset($options) ? $options : '-p1';
+        $patched = drush_shell_exec("patch %s -d %s < %s", $options, $project_directory, $filename);
+
+        // Log any command output, visible only in --verbose or --debug mode.
+        if ($output = drush_shell_exec_output()) {
+          drush_log(implode("\n", $output));
+        }
+
+        // Set up string placeholders to pass to dt().
+        $dt_args = array(
+          '@name' => $this->name,
+          '@filename' => basename($filename),
+        );
+
         if ($patched) {
           if (!$ignore_checksums && !_drush_make_verify_checksums($info, $filename)) {
              return FALSE;
           }
           $patches_txt .= '- ' . $info['url'] . "\n";
+          drush_log(dt('@name patched with @filename.', $dt_args), 'ok');
+        }
+        else {
+          drush_log(dt("Unable to patch @name with @filename.", $dt_args), 'error');
         }
-        drush_log($this->name . ' patched with ' . basename($filename) . '.', $patched ? 'ok' : 'error');
         drush_op('unlink', $filename);
       }
       else {