Thru-hiker quilt finished
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My first post on BPL is gonna be a long one. sorry for the poor grammar/spelling. Finally finished my quilt kit last night. This is my first sleeping bag and one of the last things i needed before i could actually go backpacking insted of day hiking. its also my first MYOG project with limited knowledge of sewing proving anyone can do this. i chose to make a quilt due to their versatilaty but still wanted to be able to make a long footbox. Heres some pics of the process and the quilt
I used masking tape with measurements to lay out the pattern on both SHINY sides of the fabric and was very helpful with the baffle spacing
i cut the baffles by folding up the mesh and pinning it to a piece of cardboard cut at 3.75" allowing for .5" baffle seams
i sewed the baffles to the top ripstop momentum first becaues i figured this step would have better seams. i would do it this way again due to the difficulty of sewing the baffles the second time. I used .5" wide double sided tape to hold the baffles down insted of pins then removed it after the seam was sewn.
then i rolled the baffled fabric baffles out from the bottom up and placed the roll on top of the inner taffeta and taped and sewed the baffles one by one.
all sewing of baffles is done on the shiny side.
sorry no more photos of the construction process
my drawstrings were different so they had to be constructed at different times. a center pull drawstring has its ends sewn in with the side seams so first you have to sew it in so it slides freely then roughly sew each end. then roll one edge seam to prepare to fill with down.
i doubted the vacuum fill method but it actually worked perfectly and took 5 min to set up. i would recomend under filling the bag first then adding down as needed.
then i sewed the other seam. now you can sew the foot drawstring slot if you plan on doing the bow knot closure foot end like mine if you plan on adding a draft stopper sew it on wheb you sew the drawstring slot. finish the ends of the draw string with large knots. I removed the inner white fibers of paracord and used the outer housing for my drawstrings.
finally i finished up the bag with velcro and snaps. i may still add one removable strap.
heres the quilt.
i heard about people getting drafts under their neck/ shoulders so i added about 8" of closure from the top down.
im 5'8" and only 140# so the 12.2oz of down in the kit went a long way. about 3.25 in of loft in the tapered foot box and 3.125 everywhere else. hopeflly it will get me down to 20 with winter long underwear thick socks balaclava montbell down inner parka and wind jacket. here it is at the waist in bag mode.
final dimensions are
72" long by 50" wide at the neck with a 36" long taper down to 37" wide at the foot with 2.75" baffle height spaced at 5". it weighs 21.6oz or 612 grams. i chose black on black because of Ryan's nunatak arc alpinist photo i found on here. i also think blacks absorbtion of the suns rays to dry condensation in the morning are better than the miniscule body heat reflective properties if any of a lighter shell color. plus it will look cleaner when oakley starts backpacking next year and tries to lay on me at night. i will gladly answer any questions about construction with text and more pictures and can provide the sites i used for refrence that were very hepful.thanks alot eric.the quilt is momentum ripstop and momentum taffeta. the momentum is good at keeping droplets out but every stitch is a portal. if you read my other post above you may have heard i was going on my first overnighter on the 18th. well i just got back and i can say i learned alot. it rained about half the day on the way up and all night with a low of about 40 and very still. this combined with all my wet clothes and pack inside the tight to the wet ground duomid was a perfect recipe for condensation. no drops actually fell on me but i did come in contact with the wall with the footbox and right side of the bag for probably an hour or two. this prolonged exposure to a damp shelter wall caused my footbox to collapse a little so i had slightly cold feet. in the future ill guy out the side i sleep on and foot end of the mid to help prevent contact with walls and vent more with the door when its so windless. in the morning i packed the bag up and when i got home i opeaned it up there was much less loft and a few more collapsed baffles from being compressed with a wet footbox and possibly the soaked through pack with wet long johns on top. the bag was never in a stuff sack because i didnt make one but a ultra-sil dry sack is on the way. i was lucky it was only an overnighter and now i know how much i have to protect the down and dry in the sun whenever possibe throughout the day. i hope i just overly neglected the bag and want to test it out again with similar conditions. i used a gg 3/8" pad and found that 35-40 is probably its limit for me too. i also made my decision on getting a dyneema pack instead of a cuben pack due all the downed logs and rough overgrown early season trails. heres a few pics of the trip
so back to your thoughts eric. if i continue to have problems with down in the wet i will be making an XP quilt to bring when i think their might repeated rain. hopefully its just because im a newbie and neglected the down in about every way possible.
I added a removable back strap for when it gets cold. It's not adjustable because it ony needs to fit me in cold weather and doesn't need to wrap around a sleeping pad. I got the micro buckles and strap from the removable chin strap on my Marmot safari hat. It has a drawstring so the strap was overkill. Now I don't have the male ends hanging down bothering my ears and i put them to good use. I did get to use the bag again in Nicer conditions. I wore socks, long underwear, and a balaclava and was toasty warm at 40 degrees in quilt mode on a 3/8" GG thinlight.
I toned down all the lime green with some dark green rit dye and black paracord laces. Threw some green superfeet in them too. 1000 times more comfy and a lot better looking IMHO. These shoes stick like glue but have little under foot protection even for a 140# guy like me.
Thanks Eric. I just recently went on another overnighter with a low of 40, clear sky, and slight breeze. Both the quilt and DuoMid performed great. I wore mid weight long johns, thick socks, icebreaker 200 balaclava, and kept the footbox together but had the rest of the quilt open. I was nice and warm all night and was able to roll around too. I wanted to test the duomid again pitched tight to the ground to see if condensation was a problem in these conditions but I was happy to see everything bone dry in the morning. I also used the top loop and tied it to a tree limb because the only spot not covered in snow was full of roots and dips. I think my quilt will be fairly draft/cold spot free with the draft stopper, long length of footbox, and 8" of neck closure. The only opening is about 30" from my butt to upper back that is easily compressed flat. A strap is almost unnecessary but I threw one on their anyway because I'd like to try to use this quilt down to maybe 10-15 degrees F using my montbell UL down inner parka I have and some UL down inner pants and booties i haven't purchased yet. I did use all 12.2 oz of down he gave me. If you want ripstop inside and out I think you have to specify. I got taffeta without asking. One thing I wish I didn't do was offset the neck drawstring because I thought it would bother my face so now the short side cinches up before the long side. As long as the cord pulls from the inside it will stay inside the bag away from you completely. What kind of shelter did you end up deciding on. The DuoMid is great but a poncho tarp(or cat tarp)and bivy is nice too. Here are some more pictures of the DuoMid.
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