DIY KAQ Instructions
The following tutorial was taken from Kick *** Quilts. The original tutorial is courtesy of Patrick McKenna, and is posted here with his permission. This tutorial is also available in PDF format from here or here (thanks gun parker and angrysparrow). Acrobat Reader is required to view files. Now on to the good stuff....


I think making plans available is the right thing to do for a variety of reasons. This section is more for making your own for the pure satisfaction of it or as a starting point for a more personal custom project. I also think it's a useful way of showing you what you're buying from the inside out.

I'm going to give instructions on how to make mine exactly. I highly encourage you to embellish on the design and/or materials to suit your own needs, though. Here are some possible variations:

Ultra-lightYou could use 0.8 oz. ripstop instead of 1.1 oz. You could use less insulation, maybe have it only double-layered in key areas, like around the torso and shoulders. You could leave off the reinforcing patches and side tie-out loops. For the corner loops, you could use 1/4" Grosgrain ribbon instead of 3/4" and leave off the cordlocks and just use knots instead. The 0.8 oz. will save you several ounces and the insulation skimping should save at least that much.

Heavy duty
You could use 1.9 oz. ripstop breathable and 330 denier reinforcing patches. You could use nylon straps instead of the Grosgrain ribbon. You could reinforce all seams with Grosgrain. You could replace the 3/16" attachment shock cord with something thicker.

Temperature variation
I currently use two layers of 3/4"-1" Polarguard 3D. Adding another layer should get you between ten and twenty degrees of extra warmth. Alternatively, ...

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