First Timer Questions: Synthetic Quilt

[Aaron Knapp]

This is my first project so I'm a little anxious about it. My goal is to make a summer quilt that can double as a over bag for my 40 deg bag in winter. First off I don't even know if the over bag idea has much merit as I haven't heard much about it.

Now for the quilt itself. I was planning on using silk for both the shell and the liner. Are there specific types of silk that I should use or ones that I should stay away from? I read something about that in threads in the past but can't locate those threads anymore. Any advice on silk would be welcome.

For the insulation I think I'm set on Climashield of some sort. Since its only for summer use I was thinking one layer of the combat from thru-hiker would be best. Is that overkill? Could I get by with the 2.5 oz/yd XP? These are the things that I want to be certain of before I start. You guys have a wealth of information and I'm hoping you can help me out. Also any advice on quilts overall or quilt construction would be welcome too. Thanks.

[Troy Ammons]

I just built a test run for under $20. Its worth the effort to build one out of cheap materials first to work out the bugs, and now I have a strictly light summer bag good to about 60dF.

Link to some pics below.
It actually looks better than the pics.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=22177

Overbag makes sense, although I dont think I would use silk inside. Next for me is .9 oz taffetta inside and ripstop out from thru hiker. Also an overbag needs to be a bit bigger, especially in the footbox. A liner could be smaller and lighter.

2.5 XP should be good to 50-55 unless you want it really warm then the heavy stuff. Really warm equals heavier too.

I dont think a drawsting footbox would be prefered for an overbag. It gets narrow fast towards the end and its a tad heavier.

I think My next one will be similar to the one in the link but with a closed footbox and velcro down 8" to the footbox.

[Frank Deland]

http://www.rayjardine.com/ray-way/Quilt-Kit/index.htm

[Aaron Knapp]

Thanks for the replies guys. It definitely helped ease my mind a little. Troy your pictures helped give me a visual of what I'm looking for since it seems like we had pretty simlar ideas. I'm in the process of making a prototype and it's going well so far. Thanks again for your ideas.

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