Looking for quilt kit (synthetic)

[Elliott Wolin]

A friend wants to make a 1-person quilt for a trip this spring. Unfortunately RayWay products is closed and by the time they open it will be too late.

Anyone know where my friend might get a 1-person synthetic quilt kit? Or perhaps plans for a quilt? thru-hiker.com has materials, although they aren't the cheapest place I've ever seen.

[Frank Deland]

Ray's book Beyond Backpacking has directions on how to make a quilt. Get the fill from thru-hiker.

[Sven Klingemann]

Hey,
I am looking into making a quilt sized for two; looking at the fabric sold on thru-hiker, the maximum width seems to be 60 inches (both for fabric and insulation), which seems a bit narrow for two (?) Any solution(s) to this? As you can see, I am not the most knowledgeable person here.
Thanks!
Sven

[Christopher Plesko]

Sew two pieces together?

[Tim Marshall]

Just get 5 yards fabric (i use 1.1oz 2nds from OWFINC, much cheaper than momentum @ $5yd)2.5yds insulation and make a sandwich with it.

OWFINC.com

Go with the climashiled XP
5oz is prob best bet for all around quilt
2.5 for SUL summer quilt

Thru-hiker's prices are about the same. IT's just the high end fabric, momentum that costs so much.

Look at the quilt on MOUNTAIN LAUREL DESIGNS for ideas about size and construction style. I like what they've done.

Once you have your materials and know your dimensions it's just a matter of putting it together.

shell & liner right side together, insulation on top (not between) sew it together along 3 edges. Turn it right side out and close last edge. You can add drawcord channels and other stuff if you want, but the basic quilt is just shell + insulation + liner = done.

[Mike Nielsen]

I have to agree with Tim. I was looking for a quilt pattern and directions as well, but in the end just bascially did as Tim said and came out with a very nice quilt, for my first time.

I went with 2 yards of ClimashieldXP 5.5 and made the inside out of 2 yards of momentum as it feels very nice. I had some leftover soft structure Tyvek for the outside.

Total weight is about 20 oz (I think) and is very large as I just went with the fabric width for the top part, almost 60 inches wide. Makes it quite easy to tuck under my pad.

Basically just throw it together like Tim said. I ended up having trouble with the footbox and had to remove the stiches and resew it, but even then that was quite easy.

[Joshua Mitchell]

Tim, that description was absolutely brilliant. Using more words than that seems like a bit of blasphemy since your post was so concise… actually I think I may have already gone over a tolerable level of words… ah well…

[Jim Colten]

thru-hiker sells 1.1oz 1sts and 2nds at a slightly higher price than OWF. If you are getting insulation from thru-hiker I think you'd end up with lower or comparable total cost buying both from there after shipping is added (compared to buying from two sources).

FWIW, for a long time I shied away from Momentum due to cost …. until I tried it when making a wind shell. I may never go back to the 1.1oz … Momentum is a much nicer looking fabric (not the prime factor in a quilt though), nicer to work with, and (of course) is about 20% lighter than the 1.1oz.

The only thing I'd add to the good instructions is that if you use Climashield you might want to quilt with yarn loops every 8-12 inches. If you use Primaloft, quilt by stitching to the lining.

OR, contact thru-hiker to see if he still has PL1 prequilted to Momentum (although that might not meet your price point). Very easy to work with, for a flat quilt, just finish the edges. (was available in 3 and 6 oz wts)

[Tim Marshall]

OWFINC sells climashield too

[Michael Davis]

Elliott,

I just got into MYOG about a year ago, inspired by this website. I had no prior experience. The first project was a double quilt made of momentum and climashield XP from Thru-Hiker.com

I didn't use a kit. At someones suggestion from this forum, I laid my sleeping pads on the floor, pinned up a large blanket to the size I thought might work, my wife and I got under it and wiggled around, made some adjustments to the pins, tried it again and there was my pattern!

I used the 60" width from head to knees so that I could make it about 70" wide in the torso area for the double quilt and sewed another piece from the knees down to make the foot-box narrower.

The quilt is probably more generous than most folks would make here but, I am 6'1" tall and both me and the wife are "active" sleepers, so I have a true custom quilt that fits our size and style as no kit could do.

Good luck with your quilt!

[Jim Colten]

They do! …. but I didn't find it looking at their website, your info prompted me to download their complete catalog and search that.

Interesting that their 2.5oz XP costs a more than thru-hiker but 5oz is the same.

[Jon Rhoderick]

How do you prevent "drafts" at the stitched borders where the Climashield is stitched to the outer and liner?

[mark henley]

I use a Bivy to block drafts .. I also made my quilt oversized so there would be extra material to block drafts.

[Frank Deland]

Add an 8" strip of fabric which you can taper as it nears the bottom or foot along the edges of the quilt. Tuck them in under you as you prepare to sleep. To add a hood, add 13" to 15" of insulated filled fabric to the head end.
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/561713820vwSrLL

[Jon Rhoderick]

Has anyone had any success with a Jacks R Better type resealable hole in the middle for making the quilt into a "serape"? I don't think it could be done because the down sort of "undrafts" by flowing over its fabric and sealing the slit with down on top and bottom but synthetics just don't behave that way.

[todd]

I can't get the link to work, but check out homemade gear on hammockforums.net. Stoikurt has done it, and done it well!

Todd

[Jim Colten]

If Jonathan is asking about something like the No Sniveler Quilt but with synthetic insulation, then yes, it's been done. But I haven't taken time to try to write instructions.

[Neil Bender]

I've done it in a stitched through summer quilt. I cut a 22" slit at the center of the mid-length quilt line where the down would be thin anyway. Then I stitched-in a 2" high down filled collar that closes with omni-tape. The collar sits in the valley where the normal quilt line would be and is actually warmer than the other stitched though quilt lines.

The quilt uses omni tape to attach to a tapered 'casket-cut' shaped ridgerest pad with mating velcro tape stuck to its bottom. The omni tape sticks to itself, so it forms into a warm, but ill-fitting vest or serape. If I had to do it again I'd have used 1" finished net baffles as the sewn through design compresses the down so it doesn't loft fully.

In a similar synthetic quilt I used a round hole and a very tall 4" collar that drawstring closes to fill the 8 inch hole. This was a single layer of 1" Polarguard and the joint between the body and collar has zero loft. No problem for summer temps at low altitude. But the straight slit hole is easier than the round fitted neckhole, and since a serape looks like crap anyway, the primary function of quilt is less disrupted by a slit and short collar than having a drawstring-closed 'port' on top of a quilt.

Since I bring wearable backup clothing the vest serape feature turned out to be redundant on a cold weather trip (40 F) where the insulated clothing made the light quilt workable, but then not needed for camp serape wear.

I wound up throwing the quilt over 3 people's legs during breakfast, but that could have been done with any sleeping bag. With a communal breakfast under my tarp, the quilt was just closer and handier to ward of a chill.

[Frank Ramos]

an alternative to putting a hole in the middle of the quilt is to simply add a snaps on one side of the quilt. Space the snap pieces about 20" apart, 10" on either side of the center of the quilt. Then you can snap the quilt around your neck to hold it there while working with your hands. When not working with your hands, just use them to pull the quilt around to the front of your bottom.

My own synthetic quilt design is at http://www.geocities.com/frhiking/sewing_quilt.htm.

BTW: Momementum is indeed a nice fabric, but it weight 1.1 oz/sqyd and not the 1.05 oz/sqyd that is advertised. I tested the fabric weight in numerous ways, so I am sure of this. Also, Climashield XP 5 oz weight 6.5 oz/sqyd. I was not so precise in my measurements of the Climashhield as the Momentum, since it is hard to cut insulation to very precise sizes, but I am absolutely sure the weight is at least 6 oz/sqyd. That being said, I am not dissatisfied with either of these materials, since they are at least as good as ripstop 1.1 and Polarguard 3D 3 oz (which I have previously tested as weighing almost exactly 3 oz/sqyd, as advertised).

[John Brown]

Does one need to quilt the insulation, or just sew around the edges?

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