Wilderness Serape or Quilt Head Hole

How about adding a draft tube similar to what is used on sleeping bags (to prevent cold spots created by zippers). Actually if you put a draft tube in each side of the opening it would even work as a neck warmer/gaiter when worn on "Serape mode".

It strikes me that the head hole should be a slit running parallel to the long dimension of the quilt. An insert tube with an effective length equal to the loft of the quilt would be a way to preserve the loft. A flap closure with omnitape could be used to seal the opening when being used as a quilt. It seems pretty simple, but I haven't quite figured out how to accomplish it. The tube would have to be sewn to both sides of the quilt before sewing the edges and the top or bottom would have to be pulled through a slit in the insulation. The easiest way to finish the outside edge would be with bias tape, like a poncho liner. I'm assuming that the insulation would be Climashield and not require quilting. I've thought about making one of these from time to time.

Hendrik did a recent post on Hiking Finland about new gear coming out and one of the more interesting things I saw was Marco of As Tucas coming out with the Sestrals 2 Poncho.

I added a head hole to the middle baffle of a MYOG quilt. The part with the head hole is actually two pieces of cuben with omni tape and a small tab on each side to open it up. I was surprised that there was no need for a draft tube. Pictures are probably better than my description:

I did a blog post with more details:

http://seatosummitultralight.blogspot.com/2012/04/wearable-quilt.html

Awesome, Andy! Which weight of Cuben did you use, and how has it held up? That looks great!

Thanks Nathan! I used 0.31 oz/sqyd cuben for the baffles. It has held up well and I've used it in all my other quilt projects.

Cut the shell material as if you were creating a down baffle. Don't just pinch the edges together – account for a vertical dimension in your pattern to preserve the loft.

If you're using multiple layers of insulation, shingle the layers at the hole. Basically cut the slit in one layer an inch or so to the side of the slit in the other layer. If you're using, say, a single layer of 5oz Apex, consider switching to two layers of 2.5oz. As far as I've seen, there's no real price break either way. If you're skillful, you might be able to cut a slit at an angle thru a single layer of 5oz.

Good ideas from both Andy D and As Tucas. Much better than what I did.