I just got my quilt kit from thru hiker today!!!!

Exciting but equally daunting. I planned on making a two person quilt with a width of 60" height of 70" and a thickness of 1.5" which should be good to about 40 degrees, does this sound right? It will be my first down piece of gear and want to make sure i get it right the first time. Also should i spend time fiddling with baffles or just sew through?

Thanks in advance (Ill post pictures when i start)!

Ahhh i just got my M90 wrong!!! this project already sucks! luckly it wont ruin my quilt just will make you say why did he cut it like that?

Is there a trick to cutting baffles the no see um is like impossible to cut straight for me.

Are you using a seam ripper tool?

--B.G.--

No, i was using scissors. I put everything down to wait until i figure out how to do it right. Should i invest in one of those grid mats to?

Will,

Maybe, try a "self healing" pad with a straight edge & an Exacto knife. ??????? :-)

Edited to add:
I have used 1" masking tape laid down along side the cutting line to give me an easily seen "edge" to follow while cutting with my scissors. ;-)

Party On ! 2010

Newton

Edited by Newton on 04/21/2010 22:28:22 MDT.

you can mark the no-see-um with a long straight edge and plain old chalk. It makes an easy line to follow when cutting. If you have a big cutting mat, straight edge and rotary cutting tool that is the easiest way, but i don't have room for the big mat so i use the chalk.

-Tim

A grid mat, a clear grid template, and a good rotary cutter are essential!

So i have my baffles sewn to one side and im almost to the part where i need to fill it with down. I have heard of several methods, the shop vac, soaking the down in water, and just stuffog it whilest in a tent (to keep ot contained) what is you favorite method and why?

When I overstuffed the footbox of my bag I used the shopvac with mesh taped over it. sucked up the down and blew it in the baffle. Was easy enough for me.

Edited by crgowo on 04/25/2010 14:47:52 MDT.

Will, I like the shop vac method because you get 99.99% tranfer and no mess at all. I was also able to transfer the down to the gram level. I could put exactly the amount I wanted into each baffles.

The negative for the shop vacc is that you have to own one and it is time consuming. You are moving only a small amount of down at a time. For a summer quilt I assume you are using 6 oz of down so this would not be as bad as someone moving 12 oz.

Jamie

Just finished stuffing the down, i ended up doing it just with my hands because my shop vac doesn't have a reverse mode, next time i would probably invest in one! I am so excited about this thing and cannot wait to finish it unfortunately gotta do some homework! all that's left is to sew on a piece of ripstop to make the bottom of the foot-box and add one lashing strap to go underneath the sleeping pads. I never thought i could make anything this legit!

Looks Great! I bet now you have been bitten by the MYOG bug big time. You'll never look at store bought gear the same. Congratulations!