I don't think the JC Penney Puffers have been available at clearance for almost a year, but I just traded for a 3rd jacket and sewed up a top quilt yesterday and today, so I thought I'd show it off.
This top quilt is made from (2) orange 3XLT, and (1) black 2XLT down puffer jackets from the infamous JC Penney clearance bonanza earlier this year. The quilt is two layers throughout, and lofts to 2". It measures 43" wide at the neck, 47" at the torso, and 42" at mid-calf. The footbox is fairly roomy, but not all that long at 13". The overall length is just about 72". for the most part, the bottom layer baffles run perpendicular to the top-layer baffles. Hopefully this adds a bit to the dead space and helps some of the limitations of sewn-through baffles.
The top baffles run the width of the quilt. I took the left front panel from each jacket, and sewed it between the back panel and the right front panel of the same jacket (the pocket seams in the picture make the layout easier to understand) to make half of the layer. I rotated one of the identical halves 180 degrees before sewing them together along the panel tops. The two collars add a little length to the layer.
The bottom layer has most baffles running the length of the quilt. I took 6 arms and separated them into upper arm panels and lower arm panels. I flipped the lower arm panels armpit-to-wrist, and alternated 6 panels in a row. The other six panels are sewn in the same manner, except I cut half of one of the upper arm panels and grafted it onto the opposite side. I did the same rotate 180 degrees trick like the top layer and sewed the two halves together along the wavy line at the tops of the upper arm panels. If you look at the black panels you can see the wavy seam. I added two side panels linked with a shoulder/yoke panel across the top of this layer to make it the same length as the upper layer. I also stitched 1-1/2 shoulder panels together and used them to lengthen a side panel. These are used to create the bump-out wings on each side of the layer. I folded each wing in half and stitched its ends together to get the whole layer ready to attach to the top layer. When I sewed the two layers together I added the slider half of the separable zipper from one of the jackets to the bottom seam of the quilt.
The footbox (black) is detachable and can be worn as a vest. My kids joke this will be too stinky to wear after the first night I use it, but it was easier to take the vest portion of the jacket and cinch/zip things closed than it would be to take it apart and re-sew it into a foot box. I used zippers from the other two jackets and a cord from one of the stuff sacks. T the cord and squeeze toggle allow me to cinch the collar closed. One of the front zippers was added to the bottom hem so that can be closed. Two pocket zippers were added to the arm holes and close them off about half way. The matching half of the separable zipper from the main quilt is sewn straight across the midpoint of the back so the footbox can be connected to the rest of the quilt. For vest mode everything is unzipped and un-cinched and it wears normally. For footbox mode, I zip and cinch all the openings, then push the collar and top half of the vest inside the bottom half. The zipper at the back of the vest is then ready to connect to its mate on the quilt.
The whole thing weighs 2-1/4 lbs, and packs into a modified stuff sack that came with the jacket. I added a 3" piece of one stuff sack to increase the diameter of the original stuff sack.
Does 2" of loft get me to 30 degrees?
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Originally Posted by G Maurice
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