Having been an indie sewing aficionado for quite a number of years now, it’s not often that I get to sew an indie sewing pattern brand which is new-to-me.

This is one of those times, however, as I take my first foray into the offerings from French indie brand I AM patterns with their Merlin Coat.

This was one of those sewing projects that I have no need for. Well, let’s face it, my wardrobe is so overflowing I probably don’t need most of my makes, but you know what I mean!

I really didn’t need this.

Plus, I have always found lapel coats for winter which don’t include a mechanism for it to be closed all the way up to the neck to be hopelessly impractical. When it’s cold enough that I need to wear a thick wool coat, it’s cold enough that I need the entirety of my chest and neck covered.

Further, avid readers may recall that I have previously written that I don’t want to sew coats anymore because I’m never satisfied with the results, which means, in turn, that I just don’t wear them enough to justify the time and expense.

So there were many reasons NOT to sew this coat.

But one pretty compelling reason to do so.

I was going through a touch of low sew jo, and just feeling rather down all around. You know, as the current state of the world is liable to do to many of us.

I was at a point where I had lost all motivation to sew and then I happened to stumble upon both the Merlin Coat pattern and this phenomenal fabric.

And I felt excited again!

And since it had felt a while since I’d felt excited about anything, I said “fuck it” and decided to sew an over-the-top, unnecessary, superfluous sewing project, simply for the purpose of bringing me some joy (remember #sewfrosting, anyone????)

And, so this I AM Merlin Coat was born.

Because, simply put, the idea of making it brought me some sorely needed joy.

I AM Patterns

This was my first time sewing with an I AM pattern, so here are my initial thoughts on using their product. I was using a paper pattern, which is what I’m basing this discussion on.

First, the paper patterns come with pieces overlapped, so you have to trace them off (seam allowances are included at least). This is actually one of my biggest pet peeves and, had I known, I would have gone for a PDF pattern instead, which are not overlapped. The I am atterns website is actually very clear about this feature of the paper patterns, however, I bought mine from a sewing store, so I didn’t realise that this was the case until it arrived.

I would also note that the paper patterns come in a more limited size range than their PDF patterns. This coat you see here is the size 46, which is the maximum size available in their paper range.

I found the instructions brief, but mostly adequate.

The I am Merlin Coat pattern definitely doesn’t hold you hand too much – it’s not a “teaching pattern”. I did have a few small issues with the instructions. For example, I also couldn’t really follow the instructions for the welt pocket because I was unable to visualise how the steps were going to work out and I decided I didn’t trust the instructions enough to just do what it said exactly. So I used the technique for welt pockets I have learned elsewhere.

In the end, having now seen a few other people’s Merlin Coats, I can see that the welt method was supposed to be a bit different and my choice to modify the welt technique would explain why my two pocket pieces did not did actually meet. Luckily, none of this is visible and I just have a slightly smaller pocket than I should have.

I also thought that the provided finished garment measurements were rather limited in nature and I was left feeling a bit uncertain as to size choice because the finished garment measurements of the areas of my body where I often have the most fitting difficulty weren’t provided. There was no bicep measurement, nor the size of the finished coat around the thighs included. So I felt that I was going in a bit blind in this regard.

I had to take some measurements of the pieces to help inform my guesses but, seriously, especially after having had to trace them in all their overlapped glory, this is another step I don’t expect to have to take with a premium indie pattern product.

Still, while I had a few quibbles (sorry, I’m temporarily distracted now by how wonderful the word ‘quibble’ is), I found the pattern fine to use overall. I also bought another I AM pattern at the same time, so you will see that one shorly. But, in all honesty, due to my hatred of overlapping patterns and the desire to access a broader size range, I think any future I AM pattern purchases will be PDF only and I won’t buy anything that seems sufficiently complex that I would desperately need instruction.

My I AM Merlin Coat

As I mentioned above, my Merlin Coat is a size 46. I selected by size based largely on my bust body measurement.

The pattern indicates that it has quite a bit of ease and allows the wearing of a sweater underneath. This is entirely accurate. Indeed, after my initial worry about the bicep size, I was happy to see that my size gave me about 6cm ease around the upper sleeve, which is plenty.

Let’s talk about some lovely fabric, right?

It was the fabric which really drove this project for me and kicked me out of my existential funk. It came from Pretty Mercerie and, well, it just spoke to me from the start! I have been thinking about a statement checked coat for a while now and this fabric just said “I’m the one!”. This colour way is sold out, at the time of writing, but other colour variations are available.

The fabric is very thick and soft and makes for an extremely cosy coat. Although, unfortunately, I do have to acknowledge that it is not really wool but is synthetic. Honestly, though, it’s still really lovely to touch and super warm. It also pressed up like a dream.

Speaking of fabric, in my experience, the fabric requirements set out for the I AM Merlin pattern were overly generous. For my size, it said that 3.35m was needed. As I was concerned about pattern matching such a large-scale check, I order 4m, to be safe. In the end I had 1.2 metres lefotver, so 2.8 m would have been enough for me. I did cut out the pattern on a single layer due to pattern matching needs, which could also account for the most efficient use of fabric.

The lining is the lovely two tone stripe tencel twill from Meter Meter. I’ve already used it in my Olya shirt and I’ve ordered some more for a new project. I seriously love this fabric!

I wanted to mention a little additional step that I attempted to do in my Merlin Coat which, unfortunately, didn’t work out for me. Nonetheless, I thought it might inspire someone else. I have a RTW coat which has a couple of magnets sewn into the peak of the lapel on one side and the facing of the opposite side so that you can fully open the lapel and fasten it at the opposite side, transforming a deep lapel into something which closes all the way up to the collar. After seeing that the design would just about allow this to look passable, I tried to imitate this technique but the only magnetic buttons I could find which could be invisibly hand sewn to the inside of the coat were not sufficiently strong enough. They weren’t able to “attract” through the bulk of the fabric. And so, my wonderful plan to make this coat a lot more practical for the kinds of winter weather conditions I have to deal with, fell through.

Sewing coats

There are a couple of main reasons why, to date, I have not found coat sewing to be rewarding.

First, I’ve always found that I’ve let myself down in the finishing, in a way which has prevented me from wearing the finished product. In this Hemisferic Coat, the hems are wavy and looked really unprofessional to me. In my Rumana Coat, which I do otherwise really love, I totally butchered my attempt at adding a bound button hole – with the ugly inside often flopping out visibly to taunt me.

Also, it’s now three sizes too small for me!!

Another issue I have found, in general, with coat sewing is that I find myself getting bored and losing motivation part way through. Anyway, I’m pleased to report that this was not an issue with the Merlin Coat.

It is actually really simple for a coat pattern and it commences with its trickiest details (the welt pockets). This means that it comes together quickly and I never felt like I was forcing myself to sew this. The collar is just a one-piece collar, no collar stand, and the front and back are each single pieces. So, as I said, a pretty straightforward and basic design, making it very accessible for a coat. It’s a bit of a pity that the instructions aren’t more detailed and hand-holding because otherwise I would say it could make an excellent first coat pattern. As it is, though, I wouldn’t recommend it for this purpose due to the brevity of the instructions.

It was important for me to try to avoid the issues I’d had in the past of not being satisfied by the finished quality of my me-made coats.

To this end, I made a real effort to add in a few elements that would help ensure a higher-quality end product. I added a mix of both horse hair or regular interfacing to the shoulder, lapel and hem, as well as adding twill tape at the fold point of the lapel.

I’m really glad I made these editions as I feel that it would have looked very “floppy” without the interfacing.

In general, I also found it really invaluable while making this I am Merlin Coat to rewatch a few lessons from the Closet Case Sew your Dream Blazer online workshop, which I did while sewing my Jasika blazer last year. I watched the lesson about stripe matching to help me cut this out, as well as the welt pocket lesson and the lesson about interfacing.

I still have to say though, that while my Merlin Coat was looking utterly fabulous before I attached the lining, after I attached the lining, it now pulls in a few places and doesn’t look quite as well put-together as I had hoped.

See, this is why I don’t make coats!!

Speaking of the lining attachment, this is one place where I found the instructions of the I am Merlin Coat way too brief. I definitely needed more guidance as to how to get a neat finish at the point where the lining meets the front facing.

Sewing as a process

I sew because I enjoy the process. But, also, because I want a finished garment out of whatever beautiful textile is on my sewing table.

Because life is too short to swathe ourselves in crappy textiles, right?

But this was one of this projects where I did enjoy throwing myself into a project.

I enjoyed trying to figure out how to improve the pattern by adding additional interfacing and stabilizing techniques. I enjoyed really taking my time pattern matching. Although I did make the mistake of obsessing so much over pattern matching horizontally that I totally forgot to even check how it matched at my shoulder seam.

Hot tip: it doesn’t!!

I didn’t mind that it was quite an impractical project. And, perhaps it’s since I started with relatively low expectations in turn of utility, that some of the flaws of this finished I am Merlin Coat don’t bother me too much.

In the end, the fit of the finished I am Merlin Coat isn’t great on me. It looks way too bulky at the shoulders (even though this was the correct size according to my body measurements), but I definitely don’t have enough ease at the thighs that I could go down a size.

I’ve also come to the conclusion that a cocoon shape in a bulky fabric doesn’t make me look and feel my best.

I feel that the placement of the buttonholes on the I am Merlin Coat are at an odd position. Closed, it looks strange. It also doesn’t come even close to keeping you warm and the button placement makes it totally impractical for cycling – too tight around the thighs but ballooning open everywhere else.

My interfacing tricks haven’t worked perfectly and, when worn, there is still a tendency for the lapel fold line to flop out and not properly hold its shape. Really, this I am Merlin Coat kind of fits into that hopeless status of “looking great when open” but rather less so done up. Not ideal for a coat.

So, all in all, the fact that I didn’t really expect to wind up with a wonderfully practical garment probably helps ensure that I’m not disappointed!

Despite the merits or otherwise of the finished garment, it gave me the wonderful gift of helping me find my sewing motivation again. And for that, I still look at it with tenderness despite its many flaws!

If you want to see more of my sewing adventures, you can find me on Instagram here.