Quilt Baffle Material

You won't use enough to save more than 6 or 8 dollars by not using NoSeeUm. That said, you could use tulle or more preferably Organza.

Having just made one, for the effor that goes into it, the extra $5 for the NoSeeUm is nothing. Use the good stuff.

Jbo

To answer your question, yes, you can use the same material as the shell. I would guess you'd have to take your time compressing it. You'll lose a good 30 seconds of hiking time every morning putting it away. :)

Jbo

You can use tulle or organza, or your same shell nylon, but you'll have to make sure and roll the hem, or it can and will unravel.

If you do go the cheap route, I suggest organza, which you can find as light or lighter than nanoseeum occasionally, just look for the cheapest stuff on the rack.

Noseeum or nanoseeum can be sewn to the shell material without a roll hem, as long as you can hem it straight, or just a single fold.

If you're doing a 30deg quilt you'll only need one linear yard of mesh.

Joe at Zpacks has a mesh that's comparable to Thru-hiker Nanoseeum and has very reasonable shipping costs, and it's also a good place to pickup some super light and inexpensive draw-cord and cord locks.

Thanks, I didn't realize I'd only need 1 yard.

A few questions about shell picking shell fabrics…

1.1 oz ripstop seems to be the most popular choice. At what stage should I apply the DWR? Are there any other options besides 1.1 oz ripstop (besides Momentum) that are comparable and people have used successfully? How important it it to choose a darker color and a lighter color?

James,

Your fabric should have a DWR coating already. You should only need to apply any sort of DWR restorative after a long time of use, if the original coating becomes in-effective.

Color is mostly an aesthetic choice. Although dark colors *may* be easier to dry on the trail.

Check out http://www.owfinc.com/Fabrics/NylonWoven/Ripstop.asp#Nylon Ripstop the 20D ripstop is "very similar" to Momentum.

Otherwise I recommend the 1.1oz downproof ripstop 2nds from Backwoods Daydreamer. Scott there is a real great guy to deal with. Honestly, this is probably a better investment for your first quilt.

I'll second the recommendation for Backwoods Daydreamer's rip-stop seconds. I used the olive green 1.1oz fabric for a couple hammocks and an underquilt. What makes it "seconds" is a very thin black line running down the middle of the fabric.

Noseeum is also much easier to sew with than a mesh like tule or organza. At least that's my experience. It doesn't stretch or get sucked into your machines feed plate.

Thanks for the responses. Wanting to make it w/ 2" of loft. Baffle spacing of 5"? What should baffle height be?

2"

Yeah the general rule is to cut the baffles at the height of loft you wish to achieve. You then sew them with 1/4" seam thus losing 1/2" in baffle height, so 1.5" baffle. This gives the puffy look. You can make them bigger to increase warmth, though there are varying opinions over whether the down moves around more then.

I have found 5" baffles to be a bit big and the down seems to migrate more than I would like. I use 4" baffles with a 2 3/4" height on the NanoSeeum. It means adding an extra baffle sometimes but it tends to keep the down more even throughout the quilt.
I hope this helps.Good Luck!

David:

With a baffle height of 2 3/4"? What kind of total loft is that for/what kind of degree rating? I'm only wanting a 30 degree/2" of loft quilt.

I cut the Baffle material 2 3/4". After sewing with a fold you lose about 3/8" on the top and the bottom. This leaves an actual baffle height of about 2". I usually make 20 degree quilts for the Sierra and use roughly 13 to 15 oz of Thru-Hiker 800+ down. I usually get about 3" of loft as the top and bottom 'bow' a bit making a shape that is not truly square but more of a rounded square if you will. I've slept in my personal Quilt (21oz Total Weight) with all my clothes on in 15 degree temperatures and been fine. My suggestion is to use the same baffle size that I use and fill it with 10 -12 ozs of down and you should be good. Hope this helps. BTW – Scotch tape the NanoSeeum in place so you get nice straight lines and your Momentum won't bunch up. Its time consuming and a PITA but NanoSeeum has more stretch than Momentum or SilNylon. If you don't tape all the baffles before sewing the outer fabric bunches up and your quilt won't be as aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Good Luck,
Easty