Homemade underquilt question

[Yosef]

Hello All.

I am not really much of a DIY type person but I find myself with a little extra time on my hinds right now and had a few questions for this wonderful wealth of knowledge that is this site.

I am toying with the idea of making an UQ for my claytor hammock in my free time. I recently just bought a very nice down sleeping bag that is also windproof and I love it but thought an UQ would be a nice summer addition or extra insulation for fall and early spring camping.

I doesn't need to be super warm just comfortable for summer use and as a supplement for my bag as mentioned earlier. I would like it to be down for weight concerns.

My questions are what am I looking at in terms of total cost?

How much time am I going to invest and what is the degree of difficulty for a novice do it yourselfer who doesn't sew?

Any specific recommendations?

Thank you all for your time and help.

[Ramblinrev]

First question... If you are not a DIYer why do you want to make it? If it is to save money.... don't bother. Unless you are going to cut up and use your sleeping bag (not my recommendation under the circumstances) you are looking at a pretty good investment on the high quality fabric and down. You need downproof fabric so unless you know fabrics well, you don't want to risk your down investment on wally world $1.50 a yard stuff.

You'll want to do some prototypes before you tackle your good fabric so you can learn to use the thread injector on fabric that doesn't matter.

The process is not all that difficult but the sheer mass of fabric you need to work with to do the baffles can be a bit difficult to handle.

There are several shoulder season, light weight underquilts commercially available from various cottage manufacturers on this site and others.

I'm not trying to talk you out of making it yourself. Don't get me wrong. From a time and monetary standpoint I would think you could be ahead of the game buying a commercial piece.

Having said all that... If you can find a lightweight down comforter in a clearance sale then it becomes worth while doing the mods yourself. Plenty of directions on the site here for doing that.

Not sure how much that helps.