Sewn through vs baffled construction for 40* F plus down quilts.

[Monte Masterson]

I see a lot of top gear makers’ warm weather quilts are sewn through and I’ve read that with smaller amounts of down that can actually be better. For example, Montbell says regarding their Down Wrap # 5: “The use of sewn through construction allows us to keep weight in check, while optimizing down control”. I can understand how that could be true because it seems like when I make summer down quilts with baffles there just ends up being too much open space and moving around of the small amount of down. Most light and midweight down jackets are also sewn through. What are your thoughts?

Montbell Down Wrap. How about the square chambers?

 

[Jerry Adams]

sewn through is easier to make

but at each seam there’s zero loft so not as warm

and if you pull on the garment sideways, the baffles gets squeezed to lower the loft.  Like, if you’re wearing a garment and the baffles are sideways, then the weight of the garment pulling down will squeeze the baffles down reducing loft.

If you make the baffle width wider on just one of the two pieces of fabric then you get the advantages of sewn through and the advantages of real baffles,  This is a 1 foot square test piece.

When you put something like a jacket on top, it covers any gap between baffles so it’s the same warmth as real baffles.

It’s a bit tricky to sew it.  I haven’t heard of anyone but me doing this.  If anyone tries this, do a test piece first to figure it out.

If you want to have insulation all the way to the edge, like on this test piece, you also have to have the top piece of fabric longer in the other direction (perpendicular to the edge).  If you’re tucking the quilt under you then you don’t have to worry about this.

[George H]

How much down are you targeting?

I have a medium sized quilt with 6.5- 7 ounces of down that’s built with ½” baffles and the down is not shifting badly and it feels comfort rated at 40°F

[Paul McLaughlin]

I think there may be a point where baffles don’t make sense as you get into smaller amounts of down. I would think that at around 6 ounces of down for a quilt you would be near that point. Jerry’s idea is simpler than baffles but it ends up using more fabric than baffles so it would be heavier. What I wonder is whether, when you get near the point where sewn through construction makes sense, might it not also make sense to switch to synthetic? With Climashield you can go without any quilting, so at some point it may be more efficient to have synthetic that is less warm per ounce but has no sewn through cold spots. With 2.5 oz/sq. yd. climashield, one layer would be about 7 or 7.5 oz.

[Monte Masterson]

Good point Paul, the Apex is just one continuous sheet. I’ve used an EE Revelation Apex 50 (LW-10D shell-13.5 oz) quite a few nights, but I think I can make a same size down quilt 0.5 oz heavier that is considerably warmer. I’m shooting for 8 oz 850 goose down and a 7D shell. I installed a poncho head slot on the Revelation below and it adds big time warmth for sitting around camp. Of course Apex deals with moisture better and the 2.5 oz climasheild packs down small enough. But the comfort limit on the EE quilt is only about 55* F (with Uberlite), a bit disappointing.

I made the Revelation copy below with 11 oz 800 duck down, 10D shell and 3/4″ horizontal baffles (18 oz). Has about a 40* F comfort limit but when held up to a bright light there doesn’t appear to be much down near each baffle. It’s probably fine though. I first tried using 9 oz of down and it just wasn’t enough to adequately fill the chambers, so added 2 more ounces. I want to make another 40* down quilt that weighs 14 oz, however I think sewn though could provide the optimum warmth using only 8 oz of high fill goose down. I’m pretty sure the HMG 40* F quilts are sewn through.

 

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