Just got a free down quilt

[Syb]

A friend just gave me a huge 650fp down quilt that I'm interested in cannibalizing for a UQ and a TQ. To get a 20* UQ what kind of loft should I be aiming for? I've seen several great quilts using higher fill power with about 2.5". I'm thinking I'll need more for my project, right? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[KerMegan]

actually the loft might be the same; depending on if you sleep warm or cool; it is the weight that will increase for a given amount of cubic inches when comparing 650 to 800 or 900 fill.

[Syb]

Thanks Ker. I'm not really concerned about the weight it was just the warmth.

[Wags]

no you won't need more than 2.5 inches. you'll just need more down to make those 2.5 inches filled

keep us posted with this DIY project

[Bat]

Sib that is great news. Have you looked around in the DIY section? Might try doing a couple of searches and contact some of our DIY quilt makers directly.
There was a very interesting discussion of loft/FP to warmth on here within the past week.

[Running Feather]

Something to look at: http://thru-hiker.com/projects/down_quilt.php

See chart and example.

Hope it helps

[Syb]

Yeah Bat, I've been following Tee-Dee's thread - lots of good info there. My sewing machine/thread injector/textile impaler just got back from a long vacation away at the shop. Life is certainly intervening in this whole DIY process but I'll do my best to get it done. I've searched several DIY UQ patterns and finally chose the one I like. I'm also experimenting with some ideas along the lines of Alamosa from his thread on Asym UQ.
Running Feather, thanks for that chart. I knew I saw that somewhere in my searches and glad you brought it to my attention.
Wags - that makes sense now that I think of it. The quilt is huge and is feather free and there is a lot of down there to use. Off to salvage some more down. BTW, if you didn't know it already, down goes everywhere.

[Running Feather]

... BTW, if you didn't know it already, down goes everywhere.

And will continue to reappear for some time

[gunner76]

textile impaler

I like that, almost sounds better that "tread injector"

[G.L.P.]

the Baffle size will be the same no matter what the fill power is...
the lower the fill power the more down you will need to fill the same amount of space to get the same amount of loft as a higher fill power

say your UQ is 42x46 with 2 inch baffles

with 600 fill down 42x46x2/600=6.4oz of down needed to fill that size of an airspace

with 800 fill down 42x46x2/800=4.83oz of down needed to fill the same space

so the lower the fill power the more you will need to get the same loft as say 800 fill down

so what i'm getting at is you will just need to use more down to get the same loft as if you were using 800 fill down

hope this helps .....