So, I've finally gotten off of my behind and invested in making a down top quilt for warmer temperatures.
Specs:
Finished Dimensions: 51" (130 cm) W x 72" (183 cm) L, no taper
Finished Weight: 12 oz (340 g)
Shell Material: Brown ARGON 67 (0.67 oz/sq yd [23 gsm], calendared, DWR coated)
Fill: ~7 oz (198 g) of Wilderness Logics' 850+ FP down
Nominal Loft: 1" (2.54 cm)
Nominal Temp Rating: 50* F (10* C)
Design Process:
I've been meaning to put together a down top quilt for a while now. It's one of the spots where I can shed a decent amount of pack weight; I've been running with a ~23 oz poncho liner since I started hammocking. While I love the cost to weight to temperature rating ratio for poncho liners, it's getting to be time to count grams for me.
I decided that I wanted a quilt that would work for warmer temperatures, when I do truly long days on foot, but that I also wanted it to function as an overquilt to extend the temperature rating of a to-be-made colder temp quilt. For this reason, I decided to go with no taper to the quilt, making it as large as possible given my materials constraints (ARGON and the other 0.67 oz/sq yd fabrics only come in ~60" widths and I didn't want to piece together something more complicated than needs be).
Due to the temperature rating, I decided to go with a sewn-through design. A little fiddling with Meteor's quilt spreadsheet, and I had my numbers for a sewn-through. I shot for a 1" loft and made the number of chambers fit ~0.5 oz of down per chamber, given a minimum of 10% overstuff to combat moisture (I'm a sweater when I sleep).
This gave me inner shell dimensions of 87" (221 cm) by 57" (145 cm), outer shell dimensions of 91" (231 cm) by 61" (155 cm), 14 chambers spaced approximately 6" (15 cm) apart, and 7 oz (198 g) of 850+ FP down.
The Build:
The build occurred in my apartment. Unfortunately, I don't have a floor space quite big enough to lay out the total of my fabric, so a lot of it was piled up against one wall while I measured, marked, and cut. This was honestly the longest portion of the build, requiring perhaps three hours due to my need to take breaks to allow my knees and back some rest. If I was able to rush through it without breaks, it would've perhaps taken an hour and an half, tops. I really need to make a layout and cutting table if I'm going to do this more than a couple of times per year.
Once I had the shells marked and cut, it was on to the sewing machine. I used my trusty Husquvarna to begin the sewing. While many have mentioned trouble with sewn-through designs (it's hard to see the markings on your bottom shell if you don't know what you're doing), I honestly didn't find it any harder than my baffled quilt. I placed a strong LED light underneath the fabric, next to the free arm of my machine, pointing up to silhouette the markings through the thin fabric. I didn't find it necessary to pin anything; simple thumb and forefinger pressure was enough to keep the fabric in line for most of the process.
I did have one issue when attempting to hem the outside of the quilt: I'd forgotten to add darts to it to take up the excess fabric from the outer shell before starting. I did them on the fly, so they're kinda ugly.
Once I had three sides of the quilt hemmed and the baffles sewn through, I took my down, the shell, my scissors, and some clothespins into my shower area and began stuffing. Stuffing into small chambers like this is actually harder than larger chambers, and half-ounce sizes of down are harder to work with than full-ounce sizes (you can't just open one side of the package, open the other, and shove: you have to cut the packages in half to do it by hand, and that loses a bit more down than otherwise). I got it done, though, and clothes pinned each chamber shut as I finished.
Then it was back to the sewing machine. Hemming that last one was no more difficult than the other three, and sewing the foot box shut was simplicity itself. The foot box goes up to my knees, and is plenty roomy enough to lie in a figure-4 position.
Total build time: perhaps 4.5 hours.
Future Improvements:
I intend upon adding a neck closure system for cooler trips, and I also intend upon adding an additional baffle in the middle to cut an head hole to use it as a serape. This will probably add ~0.2 oz (6 g) to the weight of the quilt, which I can live with.
No photos as of yet; I'll take some as I get time this week.
Questions, comments, and thrown rotten fruit are all welcome!
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