Tamarack Quilt Coat Review

It’s finally here! A review of the Tamarack Jacket pattern by Grainline Studio has been a long time coming—this pattern has been all over Pinterest and Instagram and definitely needed to be included in the “Quilt Coat Pattern Round-up”. The Adobe Quilt was used in this quilt coat, and it’s easy to see it’s a perfect combination.
Tamarack Quilt Coat Review

First thought on the coat pattern: I am so happy with how the jacket turned out!! The Gloria Collection by AGF with the bright oranges and greens added a 70’s vintage flair to modern Adobe design. Quilt coats are all the rage right now, but it can be hard to find one that blends with current fashion trends. This combination of quilt, coat pattern, and fabric really brought the quilt coat into 2022. Now for the good stuff!

Review of the Tamarack Jacket pattern:

Pros:

  • Instructions were easy to follow, clear and concise. If directions are followed correctly, the jacket comes together like a dream. Unfortunately, I took a few creative liberties and it came back to bite me (but you get to learn from my mistakes!).
  • Widely inclusive sizing options. There are two versions of the pattern available for purchase. The first includes sizes 0-18, the second version includes sizing 14-30. This is a huge pro, especially because this pattern is created to be fitted. The extended sizing allows one to choose a structured or loose fit as desired.
  • Hood addition(!!) along with other variations. This pattern comes with a ton of modification possibilities, including: a collar, a hood — or neither — zipper, buttons, large or small pockets, etc. No pattern is “one-size-fits-all”, so it is great that this one includes so many options to personalize the design.

Cons:

  • The pattern creates a fitted jacket. This is only a “half-con”. When a design is fitted—there’s less wiggle room to accommodate different body shapes. The waist hits at a certain point, the shoulders have finite movement, and the length falls at hip level. These are great ideas, but also create a specific box for the wearer’s measurements. For example, someone (like me) who usually wears a size M but is 5’10”, the correct coat size based on measurements won’t accommodate my shape. The waist falls too high, the length would’ve been comical, and there was no adjustment for long arms. Also, these measurements leave no room to wear a chunky sweater underneath. The pattern makes up for this with offering extended sizing options, but for a beginner garment maker it is hard to select a size outside of your measurements.
  • The pattern has the option of cutting based on zipper or button closure (not a con), but if adding the hood modification, the zipper version creates a tight neckline. The button option includes a couple
  • inches of extra space for the fabric overlap, and works better with the hood addition. Regardless of the hood addition, the button cut creates more room in the bust for flexible movement and was personally preferable even if ultimately using a zipper closure. .
  • The hood option is amazing, however it was difficult to attach the binding around the edge. It may have been easier to bind the hood before sewing it to the quilt body, but I prefer to do the binding in one swoop.
  • This bullet point builds off of the previous— the pattern instructions required the binding to be be attached before the coat pieces are assembled. Unfortunately, once the binding is attached, it is harder to make alterations to length and width. In the past, I have found it helpful to to try a coat on to evaluate sizing before attaching the final binding. This pattern has a lovely scalloped shape to the bottom of the coat, but it is really challenging to bind it neatly once the coat sections are connected. I would suggest either following the instructions exactly and attaching the binding first, or cutting a blunt bottom edge to attach the binding in one piece.

P.S.— The “Cons” sections always end up longer than the “Pros”; this isn’t a sign of a poor pattern design. The hope is to anticipate roadblocks and highlight things that may affect decisions while making the coat.

Alterations made in the Adobe version:

  • 3” length added to sleeves and bottom edge
  • Sized up 2 sizes from the suggested measurements.
  • Made the pockets much larger, the original version are tiny and even the update (included with the hood option) were still too small for my liking.
  • Used the button closure cut even though the goal is to eventually attach a zipper.

Overall, I was so pleased with how the coat turned out. I give the Tamarack pattern an 8/10 and would recommend it to future makers. It provides so many options for modifications and sizing variations that will meet the needs of most sewists, with a few guided recommendations. Hopefully that is where this review is helpful! Please share with others interested in making this design, and feel free to reach out with any specific questions. I will do my best to help! You can find me on Instagram, Pinterest, or email me wellspringdesignsco@gmail.com. I hope to see your versions soon!

Happy Quilting,

Casey of Wellspring Designs

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1 comment

Hi love the quilt pattern and the resulted coat. I am still trying to get my nerves up to make one. I of course have several quilt coat tutorials pinned. Did you have a lot of excess fabric remaining? I am around your height but definitely more meat on my bones.

Thanks Siobhan

Siobhan

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