Starting my Down UQ project. . .

[kayakbuilder]

I did it because I read about someone else doing it to prevent fraying. I still plan on doing a rolled hem.

I don't own a wood burner or soldering iron and I wouldn't trust a heat sealed seam to hold anyway. The light heat seal I applied with the candle is really just keeping the fabric from fraying while I work with it. I don't think it will provide any long term benefit.

When I cut the nylon or polyester that I use for kayak skins, I use a wood burning knife to cut it. I have a piece of thin wood with a shallow groove cut in it. I put the wood under the fabric and follow the groove with the hot knife. This cuts and seals in one step. The tension on a kayak skin is quite a bit, and once sealed this way it does not unravel.

[Lupus]

So, after I had all the parts taped into place, I began pinning the no-see-um netting onto the ripstop.





Then I very carefully sewed the no-see-um to the ripstop



Be sure you are careful not to get any extra material sewed underneath. Taking your time and being very careful here will pay off.

Also, be sure you check how much bobbin thread you have before you start each row. You may not notice that you ran out just after you started a row till your finished, and yes, that is the voice of experience. That sucks I'm telling you.



I then marked off the lines for the outer shell, marked where I would sew it to the inner shell.



This time I drew lines along the side of the tape with white crayon



This is because the tape can come loose and then your line is off. Next time I do this. I'll measure and draw the lines using the tape, then remove the tape and pin the no-see-um netting into place. It will take a little longer, but you'll be happier with the results. I had to redo some things when I first sewed the netting to the inner shell because I thought the tape would work in place of the pins. I also probably ended up with some uneven baffle height because of that. It is yet to be seen if that will effect how the UQ performs.

Once those lines were marked out on the outer shell, I carefully thought through how I would sew the outer shell and not make my job tougher. Be sure you think this step through before you start pinning or you may end up redoing it. I ended up pinning the first baffle 3 times before I started sewing so that I kept the inner baffle carefully rolled inside the sewing arm and the outer shell outside, so I could easily continue.





Once I had all the inner baffles sewed to the outer shell



It was time to match up and sew three sides, leaving the top open for stuffing of down.



This is how I marked and measured my corners



I then double folded and sewed the outer edges





I then added the gross grain and shock cord for the suspension and had a shell ready to stuff.



So I went to the bathroom and used Fronkie's method for stuffing down. Minus the Christmas pants.



After I stuffed each baffle I sealed it shut with Painters tape to prevent the down from escaping.



Some down did still escape. The more I learn the more I think this is unavoidable, so have the vacuum cleaner outside the bath tub ready to go for cleanup after your finished stuffing down to prevent it from spreading to other parts of the house. I had my phone to take pictures and the wife was very helpful about bringing it to me.



Ok, sorry it has taken this long to get back to finish the thread, I actually finished on January 1. But then I went to check on the quilt after I had hung it up and discovered that I had left one of the down baggies inside the quilt

I just removed it today. So, note to self. Double check and make sure you have all the empty bags you should have BEFORE you close up and sew up the quilt.

Here are pictures of the finished UQ AFTER I had removed the leftover bag.



I have about 3 inches of loft



The finished weight with suspension is 750 grams or 26.4 Oz's.

Some of the things I would change I have mentioned in here already. One big thing I would change, and I may go back and add more down is to calculate for at least a 20% over stuff on the Down UQ spreadsheet i used.

Next I need to sew the stuff sack. I'll get started on that tonight.

[MAD777]

Great job Lupus! That's a toasty warm quilt!

[Lupus]

Finished the stuff sack for my new UQ.

Here it is all packed up. I am very happy with the way it all came out.

[Lupus]

My new Turtledog stand all setup and geared up after my sleep test last night with the UQ I made over Christmas. Got down to 32* according to the Wal-Mart themometer I used. Didn't really get cold except those few times I woke up to nature's call. The UQ performed great, although I think I'll need to add more down if I want it to take me much colder.