So my 20* underquilt purchased nearly new on Ebay should be here in a couple of days. I am looking forward to having a nice underquilt made by a small mfg that tons of people have confidence in to keep backsides warm. However, after lusting after various quilts for weeks I can't seem to shake the idea that it would be really satisfying to hang in a comparable quilt that I made myself. More on that later. First, I offer you a warning.
I can tell you that MYOG is a real contagion to which you may prove to have a serious allergy. If you are anything like me, Making Your Own Gear is a hobby you should take up at your own risk. A netless hammock is ridiculously easy to sew. That is the trick you see, much like the trick from the guy on the corner from whom the first ones free. That ease can lure you into a vortex of internet research on how best to sew a zippered bugnet onto the pile of fabric you just turned into a sky bivy. You got this. I mean you did just teach yourself how to use the machine that you had previously only watched others in your house use to hem pants. They do realize that it is your sewing machine now, right? Before long you might have a ridiculously far thought out design in your head for making your ideal backpack. The more you think about it though backpacks are really complex and there are so many good options that you have started to wonder if tackling a internal frame style pack with a hybrid external frame hipbelt is really worth it. That you have been able to "fix" the things you would have done differently on the nice backpack you bought when you decided to get serious about lightweight is surely good enough. Bonus, you can now focus on making your own version of that sweet custom backpack designed specifically for hammocking you saw on that highly skilled Z guy's website. You have made a few hip belt pockets and zip brick storage bags from RSBTR kits and a semi-frameless backpack cannot be that hard. When your buddy brings you that heavy duty sewing machine his dad bought to make a new bimini top for his boat with but never did you can focus on working with pack fabrics. But for now you are into quilts. The sewn baffle mod you did on your Costco DIY quilt was pretty easy and it was comfy when you tested it down to 40*. Even with your MYOG underquilt protector though it was clear you would have been cold at 30*. It is clearly time to put your big boy britches on and sew real baffled quilts with the grownups. The 20* UQ you bought will do for now, but where is the fun in that when you are at the house not camping.
Consider yourself warned. But then again if you read this forum the you likely already knew your own version of this. This post was long and I don’t really have time for it. My time could have been far better spent comparing calendared fabrics and punching numbers in to CatSplat’s Underquilt Calculator. Now if I can just figure out the math to redistribute the oz of down per baffle for a straight baffles from the calculator over to the diagonal baffle design I want to use for my ultralight 30* quilt I am sure it will hug me just right.
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Originally Posted by Just Bill
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