Sewn Through Karo Step

Printable View

03-05-2010, 12:36
abeldanger

Sewn Through Karo Step

I'm thinking of taking a run at my first top quilt and being in Arizona, I am thinking a 40 degree or so should be okay for my first try. I was thinking of trying a sewn through karo step style. Is this a bad idea? Feasible? 40 degrees a realistic temperature goal? I understand the down side of a sewn through top or underquilt but for a "useable" practice, light summer quilt will this work?
03-05-2010, 12:45
phatpenguin

Jerry made one a while back. Thread is here

Jerry used baffles, his is not sewn through though
03-05-2010, 12:51
WV

I remember shivering when I reached the North rim of the Grand Canyon. Why not aim for 32°? Also, I'd use baffles.
03-05-2010, 12:52
abeldanger

I saw Jerry's thread but he used baffles on his. I'm thinking about doing a sewn through version of that.
03-05-2010, 20:11
TiredFeet

Do you have previous experience with sewn through down quilts?

Did they work for the temperatures you expect?

If the answer to both questions is yes, then Karo Step makes no difference.

If the answer to either or both is no, then I would go for baffled since I am very cautious in such matters.
03-06-2010, 09:35
LostCause

I don’t see why it wouldn’t work but I don’t think it would be as warm as a baffled quilt at the 40 deg mark.
With a sewn through design I would think it would be more critical at the lower temperatures (40-55 deg) to have the down distribution be even since there would be potential heat leakage at the seams. The KS method would allow a lot more shifting of the down throughout the entire quilt than with the traditional sewn through design, and probably require more work to shift the down than with a baffled KS quilt. If you are willing to even it out every time, then go for it. Just remember to post pictures and a trip report with your awesome new quilt!
03-08-2010, 14:37
abeldanger

Quote:

Originally Posted by LostCause

I don’t see why it wouldn’t work but I don’t think it would be as warm as a baffled quilt at the 40 deg mark.
With a sewn through design I would think it would be more critical at the lower temperatures (40-55 deg) to have the down distribution be even since there would be potential heat leakage at the seams. The KS method would allow a lot more shifting of the down throughout the entire quilt than with the traditional sewn through design, and probably require more work to shift the down than with a baffled KS quilt. If you are willing to even it out every time, then go for it. Just remember to post pictures and a trip report with your awesome new quilt!

Good point about the need to have the down more evenly distributed. I intend to sew two quilts over time. The first would be the sewn through summer quilt. I want to do something for practice and if I can get a small, light workable summer quilt out of it while getting practice for the "real" one I want to do, then awesome. The "real" one being a standard baffled 20-25 degree quilt.

I think I might just go for a standard sewn through quilt and deal with weighing of down.
03-08-2010, 16:08
WV

This is based on minimal experience, so take it with a grain of salt. I think the main function of Karo Step baffles is to maintain a uniform thickness in a quilt, not to prevent the down from shifting. Down shifts if there's not enough of it to adequately fill the space. There may be occasional need to redistribute down, but not very often.