I'm looking to make a quilt rated around 45 degrees. Currently looking at either 2.5 oz/sqyd Climashield Apex or down for insulation. I've been leaning towards the synthetic but was wondering if I'd see much improvement weight-wise if I went with down? And how much down would I need to use?

My other concern is the increased difficulty in creating a sewn-through down quilt vs. climashield which doesn't require any quilting.

Jamie on the forum has great instructions on a sewn-through down summer quilt here. It doesn't look too difficult, although it would be a little more sewing than a synth quilt. Amount of down depends on the size of the quilt, but you can check out the weight of his based on the materials he used. He used M50, but said based on his dimensions M90 or 1.1 ripstop would have it come out at around 13 oz if I remember right.

Edited by catalyst81 on 04/08/2011 15:57:07 MDT.