About to make my first quilt and need advice

The next time I do down, I'm going to do this:

One piece of fabric on the top (black). Another, wider piece of fabric on the bottom (red).

8D (Nobull) (I'm glad you've been keeping up on that) is not totally down-proof. Expect some leakage.

Verticle baffles are fine, but maybe you're overly worried about down shifting sideways. If you put enough down in, it should be okay. If you put as little down as possible to make it the lightest, then you'll have down shifting.

1. M50 downproofness: Thruhiker says it works with 900cu in down. That's because high count down has few quills to punch through. Any quills that sneak past the sorting process will poke through the M50. This isn't a problem for me. I just snip the protruding pointy ends off and poke the rest back inside. They won't come through again. Don't pull them through; there is always more stuff clinging to them and you will open up a larger hole.

2. I understand your logic regarding longitudinal baffles. Never tried them myself. Differential cut is easy to achieve with cross-sectional baffles if you use a good, ultralight noseeum net which does not need to be hemmes. Down shift is rarely a problem if you have enough loaded. Use noseeum net in any case because it gets coated with down thereby preventing the baffle from acting as a conduit for drafts.

3. Trapezoidal or slant baffle construction was promoted for years by Hollubar based on a pencil and paper analysis that was flawed. Theoretically the slant baffles would allow the most uniform loft. It doesn't work like that in real life. Conventional square baffles work just as well.

4. You probably know this already, but if you fold the shell fabric along each baffle line and stitch a narrow (1/8 or 3/16) hem, you can then stitch the baffles to the hems and no stitching will show on the outside.

Thanks Vick for the info about trapezoidal baffles.

"4. You probably know this already, but if you fold the shell fabric along each baffle line and stitch a narrow (1/8 or 3/16) hem, you can then stitch the baffles to the hems and no stitching will show on the outside."

I've mocked up what you're describing – does it look right? I've not seen this method on sleeping bags I've owned. Is there a functional advantage, or is it aesthetic? I'll be using Nanoseeum for the baffles, should I hem the Nanoseeum first, or can sew it on with raw edges?

Big advantage of the double stitched baffle seam is there are no threads to snag. Disadvantage is weight. If you have baffles every 5" and 1/2" seam, that's 20% more fabric.

Have you considered karo-step? More work to sew, but a LOT easier to stuff down. You don't have to weigh down, just stuff it.

I used a 4'x4" mailer tube that I snaked into the far corner of the quilt through 5" of unsewn seam. I taped the quilt to the tube. I opened a hole in the down's plastic bag and slipped it over the tube and my hand. With my hand inside the plastic, I grab the down and shove it into the tube. Occasionally I rammed it with a broomstick. I kept a vacuum going with noseeum over the upholstery attachment to grab loose down. I also used the vacuum to pull every last bit of down out of the plastic bag. It took me all of 30 minutes, and no down floating around the house.

I think it would be a royal pain to weigh and stuff individual baffles. I still haven't figured out a sane method (I'll be sewing a down jacket next and that has separate compartments).

The karo-step also works great in the field for moving down where you want it.

Congrats on taking the plunge. I look forward to hearing of your experience!