I am considering a short (for me, I'm 6' 5") underquilt. Projected dimensions 60 x 45. My question is in baffle design. Using Ed's 900 fill down and allowing for some overfill I come up with 15" baffle spacing along the length and 2 3/4 baffle height to allow using a 3oz. bag in each tube. Will the loft be pretty uniform from anyones experience or should I divide them out a different way? I know Ed uses baffles along the length in his underquilts and peapods.
Thanks...
Gentle raindrops and mighty oceans...neither can exist without the other.
Time heals all wounds...but it usually leaves a pretty big scar.
I didn't have any previous planning experience when I made mine, so I'll have to defer to the experience of others... although I do think that 15" baffle spacing sounds very widely spaced... how many baffles are you talking about here?
"Civilization is the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities." - Mark Twain
“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.” - John Burroughs
2 baffles to create 3 tubesOriginally Posted by NCPatrick
Gentle raindrops and mighty oceans...neither can exist without the other.
Time heals all wounds...but it usually leaves a pretty big scar.
Wow that is shorter. I have been playing around with the idea. Someone told me and it makes since that the same portional down should loft the same regaurdless of compartment size. Within reason. The larger compartments may lead to more down shifting, causing cold spots. It also may take the down longer to reloft after compression.
If it helps my next quilt is going to have 6 to 7 inch wide compartments, depending on how the math works out with the length.
I have been thinking about the shifting issue. I am going to try one with crossbaffles making 6 or 7 inch squares. I think it will make it a lot harder to sew, but hey that is half the fun. The next project has to be harder than the last. Then again I already have 3 quilts and are planning on making 1 or 2 jacket/quilts. So it maybe awhile before that happens. I would only be saving around 6oz with the addition of a summer quilt.
Is that too much to ask? Girls with frikkin' lasers on their heads?
The hanger formly known as "hammock engineer".
I've been thinking the same thing, but haven't figured out yet how I'd sew the cross baffles. Let me know how you decide to do that. My thought was to have 9 rectangles total, meaning 3 long compartments (created by 2 long baffles) intersected by 2 cross baffles. Does that explanation make sense? I tried unsuccessfully to describe this to slowhike on the way back from Mt. Rogers, and ascii art doesn't do well for describing.
Picture attempt attached:
Last edited by NCPatrick; 01-30-2008 at 13:22.
"Civilization is the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities." - Mark Twain
“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.” - John Burroughs
Yeah it is basically going to have a square pattern of baffles to it.
I came up with 2 ways to do it. One would be to sew in baffles with a spacing of around 10 inches. Maybe more. They would have to be big enough to come back later and move the fabric just right to sew in the cross baffles. You could do this from both sides, so you would only need to be able to go in under half way on each side.
The other way is to use 6 or 7 inch baffles. Go through and sew each baffle 6 or 7 inches to where the first crossbaffle would be. Then stuff and sew in the crossbaffle from there.
Whichever works out I would sew and make each compartment along the long length of the quilt. Basically instead of stuffing the baffle running along the entire width then moving to the next one, I would stuff a complete row along the length. Then move along and sew the next line of compartments along it's length.
Yeah hard to explain in words.
Looking at this I can see why most manufactorers don't have do this. My Montbell bag does have it. Definitly not the easiest way to do things.
Is that too much to ask? Girls with frikkin' lasers on their heads?
The hanger formly known as "hammock engineer".
I forgot to add not to be afraid of rehandling the down, if that is what is the deciding factor. It is not as hard as everyone made it out to be. Just go slow and use your hand. Let me know if you need help with that.
Is that too much to ask? Girls with frikkin' lasers on their heads?
The hanger formly known as "hammock engineer".
I don't think that the 15" spacing would be a problem with loft or cold spots on the bottom but on the sides the baffles would need to be closer to keep the down high and near the top of quilt. I used XP on the sides for this reason on my hybrid quilt (about 44" x45") and used a 20" compartment filled with down on the bottom. It stays fully lofted and evenly insulated with just a shake after unpacking.
when i made a down hammock, it had only 3 chambers... one on each side & one on the bottom.
one thing i came to realize is that when the chambers are that wide, there is not enough control of the down.
if you use a lesser amount of down, it will shift & settle leaving thick & thin areas.
if you over stuff w/ lots of down, it will only be as thick as the baffles at the edges of the chambers, but it will be unnessasarily large in the middle.
i think the chambers do a better job of controlling the thickness & making better use of the down when the chambers are made more narrow by sewing the baffles a reasonable distance apart.
just what is an ideal distance??? i don't know, but i would tend to think about 7".
I too will something make and joy in it's making
You are going to get more loft than the baffle height with a 20% over stuff. I used 2.5" baffles on my last quilt and ended up lots of loft.Using Ed's 900 fill down and allowing for some overfill I come up with 15" baffle spacing along the length and 2 3/4 baffle height to allow using a 3oz. bag in each tube.
2.5 x 15 x 60 = 2250/900 = 2.5 x 1.2 (20% overstuff) = 3 oz for this size compartment
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