Bad/good idea to sew EE quilt baffles shut?

[lisa r]

After several years of use much of the down in my EE Revelation has migrated to the outermost baffles, resulting in thin coverage where I actually want it. EE won’t fix this issue and I haven’t found anyone who will, so I’m wondering if I can tackle it myself.

Upon inspection, I’ve discovered that the U-shaped baffles have a gap at their lowest point in the U where the baffles aren’t fully sewn, which has allowed the down to move between baffles. The sewn areas consist of box baffles with a thin strip if mesh that creates the walls of the baffles. The gaps in the box walls are about two inches wide.

I’m working on redistributing the down to get it back into the baffles that have gotten thin. Once I take care of that, I’m contemplating sewing those gaps shut to prevent this from happening again. I’m not a skilled sewer and I’d be doing this by hand. I would not be adding baffle walls but would simply be pinching the two sides of the nylon shell shut in these places. Bad idea? Good idea? Will stitching all the way through the nylon significantly affect the warmth?

And anyone know why they designed the baffles like this in the first place?

[Jerry Adams]

that would be pretty easy to add a few hand stitches

where you sew it it will make a cold spot.  Sewn through baffles are not best.  But it would just be a few spots so I don’t think you’d notice it. Much better than the no down in some baffles.

how long did it take for the down to migrate?  Maybe just move the down back to where you want it and call it done.  If it takes a long time for the down to migrate again, then you could repeat.

[Gumbo]

My experience with down doonas (duvets) for the bedroom is that even when baffles are fully sewn, down still manages to migrate between channels or cells. With no gaps, redistribution is impossible when this happens. Perhaps that’s why EE leaves gaps? Or perhaps to enable fine-tuning.

I have been using an EE Revelation for 5+ years. I’ve redistributed the down between the channels every year or two and haven’t found it too arduous. I wouldn’t consider sewing up the gaps due to potential for cold spots, and for fear that down would migrate anyway, albeit more slowly.

[edvin mellergård]

I’ve been considering the same on my EE duo quilt but I think it should be possible to fold the inner shell and pinch the baffle and sew through those 3-4 layers. That way it wont create a cold spot.

 

The baffles are probably designed like this to make it quick and easy to fill the bag with down during production, just leave one small hole unsewn, thread a pipe in there and inject the required amount of down into each compartment.

[Mark Ries]

I’ve had a few bags that I spend a few minutes every time I use them fluffing and redistributing the down especially when they start to need a wash. Since you said this happened after a few years of use I would think that if you get it back in place and it’s clean you would be good for some more years also it seems like a bag like that would be very easy to add down to. I  wonder if   the way we get into habits on how we stuff our bags does not contribute to this problem.  I have some older montbell products that get down out of place due to the flowgate construction but I always manage to work it back in place. Good luck and hope you find a solution

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