Hello all,
Just got around to finishing my down top quilt. Took longer than expected, but it was my first project larger than (other than) a few stuff sacks so ill take it!! came out really well in my opinion.
used baffle pattern of 12/6. 12" squares with 6" baffles.
Materials used: Argon 90 blue outer, Argon 67 titanium grey inner, black Gutterman thread from dutch, 2.5" baffle material from dutch, 13 oz 850+ FP down from Wilderness Logics, 1/16 shock cord and some plastic #20 kam snaps. Used 10 stitches per inch throughout the whole quilt with the tension set around 3.
wanted a large quilt since I'm 6'1" and a side sleeper when on the ground( yes, when the family comes i still sleep in the tent!) also wanted a snap footbox for the versatility of being able to throw it over two when the need arose as it has in the past with my UGQ top quilt. wanted a finished size of 55" X 80", so i cut the material to 57 wide at the head end with a little less than half taper going down to 45 With seam allowance, and 84" long. I wanted to make sure i had room to play with if i messed anything up, even though i ended up not needing it.
taped it to the floor and cut as exact as possible. i then drew my baffles onto the outer and inner shells. This, i found, was one of the hardest parts of the project. I'm not sure if i overthought it or what but i was afraid if they didn't match up completely perfect it wouldn't turn out well. Suffice it to say after a few frustrating hours i got them on both sides satisfactorily and only had a few lines that didn't match up within a quarter inch or so.
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i then went to the machine and started attaching baffles, using a quarter inch seam allowance to the outer shell. I didn't roll my baffle material over and stitch through two layers, still not sure if i should've or not only time will tell but if i was going to do this i would've needed the wider baffling from dutch, since i was shooting for 2" loft at baffles and a ~20* temp rating.
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after that, i went and started stitching to the inner shell, taking my time. Once i got the hang of it i could speed up, but this still took some time.
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I then went to the hems. First i ran a regular straight stitch along all three sides with a quarter inch hem allowance. this made keeping the rolled hem easier IMO, and also gave me the benefit of two rows of stitching around the whole quilt.I did a rolled hem, and did both sides and the top first and left the bottom for stuffing. I had trouble pinning the hem with one hand while holding in place with the other, so went to paperclips which turned out to be my saving grace. they worked very well for me. Here is a pic of the baffles sewn onto both shells and one side paperclipped up ready for the machine.
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I then sewed on my grosgrain tabs for the footbox and one at the top for the neck drawcord. One thing i wish i would've done is doubled up the grosgrain and put the snap through both layers and stitched that to the quilt. Then i hung it up and started to stuff!! Used Fronkeys ingenious method of stuffing down and it worked flawlessly for me. I lost a little bit here and there but overall it was great. This white goose down from WL is amazing! brilliant white and as you can see it can be seen through the grey of the inner! Pic of midwayish through the stuffing process.
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when finished, i clipped it shut, laid it down and folded my hem and stitched it up. I ran two lines of stitching down this area, since i wanted two layers for reinforcement but couldn't do it the same way i did the sides with all the down coming out the top. Im happy to say that the two lines of stitching came out pretty even for someone who hadn't touched a sewing machine 2 months ago! put my drawcords in and i was done!
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overall i am very happy with it. Wasn't nearly as hard as i expected/ read. Loved making this. finished it comes out to a solid 3 inches loft and two at the baffle lines. came out to 81" long by 55 wide, which i will take! just wanted to share a step by step of my first project, anyone has any questions please feel free to ask. Sorry about the mega long thread and thanks for reading!
Hudson
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