Finished another UQ - long time no see y’all

[PharmGeek]

Hey everyone! Sorry I’ve been out of pocket!

I finished my next UQ build just before Christmas - the second of its kind I planned to make for a buddy’s 2 kids

I’m gonna give some details and other bits of info about the rosefeather down, my build specs etc in a bit for people to glean at their pleasure

Hope you all are well

I’m about to start up and remake a wooki copy much like the one I made in 2017 and traded to Cheryl (I forget her handle on here) from Tensa Outdoors back then - need to figure out colors I want soon

Happy New Year!


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[PharmGeek]

Let me start off by giving an update on the rosefeather down I used in these past two UQ's I made....I had bought some time ago (late 2017 as I recall), 4 lbs of 95/5 rosefeather goose down for 186 bucks....that equates to 2.90 per oz.

In using it for these past 2 quilts, here is some of the things I found, and my views are still tentative:

1) Fill Power...I feel this is extremely difficult for me to comment on...but I will give it my best. I will report more back on this later...and I have been MEANING to do a better attempt at FP comparison from a 1 oz sampling of a) rosefeather b) dutch's stuff he gets and b) wilderness logics...I have some of the down from each of these sources...and I keep forgetting to want to stick a sampling of each in an identicle clear box and let it set for 24 hours then compare how much they fill the boxes...I just want to find the right boxes for my comparison...perhaps some kind of clear plastic column? I have some storage bins, but I do not think that is ideal to discern....I suppose I am out of my element here. That aside...what I do kinda know or "feel" so far is that the rosefeather down is not 800fp...I cannot say this for total certainty, but am fairly confident for a few reasons. First, in just looking at the down in the bag and handling it for the past two projects, there is a good bit of bits of stuff that are not down clusters...like tiny little hair like filiments...very few sharp quill feathers and handling it feels very soft overall...and so far have had very little stuff leak out of these (although I have not had much use yet, buddy gave both kids these quilts on 12/25/18). the quilts are as I recall about 3 inches at the baffles, have a diff so loft more than that, 72 inches long, 42 wide...3.25x72x42=9,828...divide that volume by 800 and you get....12.3 oz of down rough estimation of how much 800 fp down it would take to fill this quilt...if I assume a 3.75 inch loft overall just to be conservative due to my differential, that would calculate to 14.1 oz. I actually stuffed 1.4 oz per 12 baffles in the first build and 1.5 per baffle in the second, resulting in 17-18 oz total of the rosefeather down. If that stuff was 800 fp, it would just blow up this volume I have...but, so far, I feel the result is on basic appearances "just full"....I think on the first one, I filled it with something like 1.2 per baffle, use magic clips to close it up, worked with the down a good bit to loft it up, let it set overnight...and it just didn't look full enough...so added that more...weight was not a big concern for my buddy...so I added more. On the second build I just stuffed 1.5 per baffle and the photo is of the second most recent build...I have not thrown it in the dryer yet, it may still puff up a decent bit...having worked with 800 and 850fp down from those other sources mentioned on similar projects, I just am fairly sure this stuff is not 800...my sense is it is quite a bit lower...

2) smell.....none that I can tell

3) leaking out: not so far as I can tell, but they have gotten little use so far, so ill report back in time

4) shipping: took like 5 weeks

5) cost: LOW as we discussed

6) certifications...another HF member here had been told by the company that a 3rd party verifies their FP and provided some form of documentation...im not so sure how much stock im putting in that...the company also maintains it sources only from sources that the animals are not live plucked as I recall....although they carry no certification like "RDS" to my knowledge (correct me if im wrong)...worth pointing out that other sources I have used (minus that of downlinens.com) do not advertise their supply as RDS.

So far my impressions overall are "meeting my expectations" for the jobs I wanted to use the stuff for...for my personal stuff I DIY where weight will matter, I am not convinced I would buy this stuff....I have 2 lbs of it left still yet...and will use it for various fun projects as a budget option...I doubt youll find a more budget friendly option im sure....but the quality is not I think as advertised (shocker), but as a 600 maybe 700? fp down, it has proven so far a good value.

I hope to soon publish my attempts at a comparison between my 1oz samples of the various down I have in my possession....may be a bit more objective (relatively) compared to all I wrote above.

[PharmGeek]

Regarding my build specs for these....I really now prefer to make my UQ's using more or less the wooki design...but my buddy didn't want that for his kid quilts, so I just made an incubator style suspension.

In finishing this underquilt, I feel very very good now about my dual differential build process....

The "secret sauce" in my opinion is the width wise AND lengthwise dual differential. The width is easy as some of you are aware...because you merely have more space between the baffle lines of the outer quilt compared to the inner quilt...making the outer quilt about (in my case) 14-15% wider.....that extra fabric relative to the inner layer just is pleated down in between each baffle to make those baffles match the inner shell (if that makes sense).

Now the LENGTH wise differential...I also added about 15% added length....for anyone looking at differential...often they simply imagine that adding width or length in the specs, or sorta having extra at the margins in the form of a "wall" or added fabric in the end will "do the job"....but this often fails to see that this is not a "differential"....in the case of the width of this quilt, if you add more space between each baffle, its not biggie, it just puffs up there the extra fabric. BUT...if you add length to the outer shell relative to the inner shell, it does not work the same, because they are connected to one another by the no see um baffle material....IF you sew the say 72 inches of the inner shell to 72 inches of the outer shell...this does nothing as a differential...material extra at the ends do nothing to prevent compression (or do little)....this was not immediately obvious to me years ago...it likely is already obvious to some of you, but to others starting out, perhaps my lengthy description/discussion will help (that's the hope)?

What I did was make the outer shell 90 inches long (as I recall)....this includes basically the inner shell length (72 inches) plus 15% added to 72, plus the loft for the "walls" (3 inches time two making 6 inches....

Ok, so that 90 inches, I then cut my baffles to perhaps 100 inches and just sew them the full length of 90 inches and trim the excess (I do this to prevent unforeseen "coming up short")...btw, I have already hemmed the edges of the outer shell at this point.

So...there is 90 inches about of baffle material that I then have to fit down into the 72 inch outer shell parameter.....6 of those inches are allotted for vertical wall travel and will not be sewn down really to the 72 inches...if that makes sense...more on that later.

so then 90 inches minus 6 = 84...so im having to sew down 84 inches to fit into 72 inches....so that is 12 inches of "differential"....the idea here is that the outer shell 84 inches along the top will remain as such, but that the other unsewn side of that baffle will pleat down in parts to make that 84 inches fit into 72 inch window....so a series of more or less 1 inch pleats carefully chosen when sewing it down to the inner shell will fit it in.

I chose the spots for the pleats to place where compression in my experience has been a bigger issue...so the shoulder, head, back, butt, and heels.

I take the inner layer naked fabric before sewing the baffles on, lay down on it to simulate where I lay, and mark off one mark where my head is...4-5 more along my back/shoulders to butt area....the space between butt and end of legs, I leave without much pleats, and put a couple in at where claves and heels would be more or less....

I then mark off where across the quilt these pleats will go down....basically if for example it is 18 inches from the head end...I will have that same pleat pretty much be done on the same spot along each of the baffles sewing down...if you do not do it even, there will be some pulling on the outer shell fabric creating a slightly ugly appearance (ill show photos of that result later from an earlier build)....once I mark off on all the inner shell baffle lines where the pleats will go down...I take the outer shell and one baffle, and set it along where I intend to sew it, and using some pins pleat accordingly and make sure it fits ok without being way too long or too short, taking note of the size of the pleats, keeping them even in size and once it fits, then you know you got about what you need...if you didn't do this planning bit, you may come up short or long, but would be a problem...short worse than long.....then I get the outer shell, start 3 inches in leaving those 3 inches extra overhanging unsewn at that moment....then sew the baffle down...when I read a mark for the pleat, I make about a 1 inch pleat, and keep going...reach the next mark...do the pleat....etc...when I get 3/4 of the length of the baffle...I stop...and check how much length I have left to reach the end leaving 3 inches loos for the other end...you do not want to come up short...once you get this process going, it is really not hard at all, but at first I found it intimidating personally.

I created boxed corers after sewing it down, then sew the perimeter fabric of the outer shell down and pleat it down much like I did for the baffles being careful again not to come up short.

leave one end open and stuff, then sew it up.

The result is for me so far, a very nice UQ that even making it very very tight against the hammock, will suffer little to no compression.

This UQ always looks funny laying flat on the floor, all the "wrinkles" from the pleats as such...but looks more "full" when hung on the hammock with a user in it.

I think one could get away with possibly less diferential along the length, but I think the amount I do is overkill to avoid compression, the weight penalty is tiny between a 7 inch vs. 12 inch differential.

Ok...I hope this blabbering helps some other fool like me or generates useful or fun discussion.

Take care.

[leiavoia]

You are one of the few people doing DIY dual-diff quilts and I have been reading your posts all along. Thanks for posting your results.

[Crazytown3]

Nice to see you post again sir! Happy New Year!

Looks to be another great project. I haven't built an UQ (yet), built have it on my never-ending list of DIY things to do. Since I haven't built an UQ yet, I really appreciate your very detailed write up. I have convinced myself that gleaning all this UQ knowledge will enable me to build an UQ that will shock the world.

Really nicely done, sir!

[PharmGeek]

You are one of the few people doing DIY dual-diff quilts and I have been reading your posts all along. Thanks for posting your results.

I’ve been wanting to fiddle more with clews -
These past two were perfect candidates but for some reason my buddy likes the traditional suspension for his kids...

I’m gonna snag the last one I made though from him and play with it as it has all the loops on it for easy clew attachment

Thanks for the positive words! I feel like very little is published to read about precisely how “dual differential” is achieved so my hope was to do some but in attempting to publish my version


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[PharmGeek]

Nice to see you post again sir! Happy New Year!

Looks to be another great project. I haven't built an UQ (yet), built have it on my never-ending list of DIY things to do. Since I haven't built an UQ yet, I really appreciate your very detailed write up. I have convinced myself that gleaning all this UQ knowledge will enable me to build an UQ that will shock the world.

Really nicely done, sir!

Thanks and good luck! The key in my experience is **** good planning well before sewing -
Ask me how I know


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[P-Dub]

Hey PG -- I have always followed your DIY builds with great interest (even though I'm allergic to down ). Good to see you back! Always interesting to hear your thought processes as you work out how best to accomplish your DIY goals. I will one day make a "wookie" like synthetic underquilt (and reference your procedures), and I may even try making a bridge hammock someday based on your experience doing that. I hadn't ever really wanted a bridge, but your write-up made it seem simple enough to try, and, hey, why not?!

[PharmGeek]

Hey PG -- I have always followed your DIY builds with great interest (even though I'm allergic to down ). Good to see you back! Always interesting to hear your thought processes as you work out how best to accomplish your DIY goals. I will one day make a "wookie" like synthetic underquilt (and reference your procedures), and I may even try making a bridge hammock someday based on your experience doing that. I hadn't ever really wanted a bridge, but your write-up made it seem simple enough to try, and, hey, why not?!

You are too kind! Flattery will get you everywhere! Feel free and pm me and we can chat if you ever have questions

I’m drawing up plans as we speak for a project for a good buddy who has a “hatchling” hammock chair

I’m basically making a wooki to fit it - the design of the baffles should be interesting on this - hope to get that done in next 1-2 weeks


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[IRONFISH45]

Glad you are back!