Who makes their own quilts?

I’ve made one hooded sleeping bag from scratch. Thinsulate LliteLoft with the shingle construction popularized by Northface.  (The puffy Thinsulate, not the thin stuff).  The inner shell also has a layer of perforated foil stabilized by netting that was popular at one time.  It turned out about 3 lbs, which was more than I wanted, although it kept me warm in the middle of winter in the old shelter near the top of Killington Mtn (VT) that I think was torn down (the shelter not the mountain).  Ever since, have been looking for something synthetic with more warmth for weight to try another. bag.  The Aerogel bag from Primaloft looks like a possibility if the fill becomes available for MYOG.  (Current thread on Gear forum).

I have made a down quilt and have the makings for a second one.  The first was a simple box walled effort suitable to -5 C weighing 610g.  I did a little extra by box walling the edge of the foot area and a little way up the sides so that when the zip was done up to form the box it was well sealed. The sewing is easy and I found a shortcut for cutting the baffles – take the mesh and carefully fold it a couple of times so the folds are parallel to the selvage. The run a rotary cutter over the now 500mm width and you end up with a series of 1500mm strips of your desired width. Sew and cut off extra length.  The offcuts can be sewn together to minimise waste with virtually no weight penalty.

The next one will be similar but using the previous EE pattern for the boxing and designed for -10 C.

Doug –

Years ago I made quilts out of 1.9 ripstop and 700 ci down.  My experience is not relevant to todays  uberlight materials.

What are you trying to figure out?

I’ve made a couple of synthetic 1-P and 2-P quilts and over-quilts, faster and far easier than down.  Cheaper, a bit heavier, but getting it wet isn’t a problem.  I used UL nylon ripstop and Climashield (I think).

A synthetic quilt is a great beginner project, hard to mess up since you can always rip out a seam or sew in filler pieces if something doesn’t fit right.  I make mine with “draft stoppers” all around, only adds an ounce or so and it really cuts down on drafts.  Or you can use a bivy sack.

I didn’t make it (I can sew a button on) but I have a down quilt that was made from the Thru-Hiker kit and I really like it.  It’s coming up on ten years old and the Momentum 90 shell has faired well.  Nowadays you have lots of options to buy pre-made quilts, but not so much a decade ago.  Of course I don’t think the Thru-hiker kit comes with a pattern, just the materials needed.

Sam, I sent you a PM.

I do.  I posted about it a couple months ago on the thread ‘Captive Quilt’.

Mark, I sent you a PM

My wife and I have made a couple. I plan on make at least one more. The last one we made the baffled cloth and then cut the quilt from the cloth.  We went with v-tube/triangular baffles. It was much easier than the first one we built by the conventional way. I am liking its performance better. If you are interested I can post a link to a video showing the technique?

Thanks for the replies gents.

video showing technique please : )

I think maybe I get where you’re going with that

Jerry Adams. I think you were addressing me.  Sorry it took so long just saw your post.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8z1xn9lv6s&t=2s