IX underquilt advice?

Hey guys, looking to make a couple IX underquilts like the one shown in the sticky of this section. Had a couple questions to ask before I begin.

1. I'm having trouble visualizing the V pleats. Does anyone have a pic with them sewn together?

2. I want to make my quilt a full length, around 84'' (I am 6ft tall) and was wondering if I needed to add any more pleats to keep the layers seperate?

3. I was also reading about using poly pillow stuffing between layers for extra warmth and to keep the layers seperate. Worth the extra hassle?

Thanks guys.

I don't have any pics of my own but here's an explanation as best my addled mind can do.

pleat is just a mechanism for shortening the fabric. in many cases, you can just fold the fabric in half, and sew down 1/4 from the fold. This shortens the fabric by 1/2".

The V-Pleats, I think are actually called Darts in the tailoring world. It is just like a sewn pleat, except it's a triangle. Again fold the fabric in half, but this time starting at 1" from the fold, sew a diagonal line that intersects the fold at 6" (this is just an example).

What you've effectively done, is to shorten the side and cause a bathtub shape to be formed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dart_(sewing)

This is similar to what will happen when you gather an end with a shock cord, but it saves weight by removing unnecessary material, if you cut the dart. If you don't cut the dart, it provides a spacer to keep the layers separate.

RE: Additional fill. The key to making an IX UQ work is to ensure a SMALL gap between the layers. A larger gap (filled with down, or whatever) would work better, but will add weight. I don't know how much better it would be, but I'm sure at some point you end up making a more normal UQ that way... If you're going to do that, you might as well go buy a good down pillow and make a down UQ.

I made an IX UQ, TFC Rick has it now as I found I sweat too much in the IX...


John

As far as going full length, I think that you would probably want to add some pleats to the sides in addition to the usual pleats on the ends.

If you really want to add poly fill then go for it to but stick with thinner stuff or your already a tad bulky IXUQ will take up a lot of room (not compress well)

Another way to look at the darts is to draw the triangles, pull the two lines together (thus folding the material in half), and sew along the line. If you're having trouble visualizing it, just grab a peice of paper and draw out the dart lines like you see in The uq plans and play with it. A lot of the time the sewing questions will make more sense when you sit down with a scrap of something and play with it.

Maybe lengthen the pleats down the length of UQ. I've done that with some of made for friends to get a bit of a more formed fit.

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Originally Posted by dragon360

Maybe lengthen the pleats down the length of UQ. I've done that with some of made for friends to get a bit of a more formed fit.

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Been doing some thinking the past couple days, And have decided to make my quilt 78'' long by the normal 42''. I think I have the pleats figured out, planning to lengthen them proportionally to the longer quilt. So 60'' long=12'' pleats, 78'' long=15.5'' pleats. With my left over IX from cutting the width down, I plan on creating draft tubes, and maybe sewing an extra layer on the quilt where my feet are. Or perhaps some IX booties. :D