I asked some questions about making a down quilt this past winter but ended up shelving the project, mostly because I fell in love with my new Feathered Friends bag and didn't want to make it jealous... But I have a hike with my son coming up in November and it'll be a good excuse to finally make one. He's been carrying an REI Subkilo for these hikes but I'd like to lighten him up, hopefully by as much as a pound. My son and I are about the same size.

I have a couple of final questions:

I'm 5'2", planning for the quilt to be about 5'6" - would that be about right? About how much (%) should I add to compensate for the loss in length to baffles? I'm planning on 1.5" baffles. I'll be sewing in a baffled footbox.

I'm also trying to decide on how much down. Aiming for a 30* setup with light/mid-weight baselayers and a women's ProLite. I've read as little as 5-6oz of down but I'm thinking more like 9oz (of 800+ fill)? My son is thinner than I am and will be able to wrap himself completely with the quilt if necessary (i.e. like a bag.) He will also have a down sweater or nano puff to supplement if necessary. That said, I'd rather be an ounce too warm than too cold.

Thanks for your help!
Sumi

For 30* you should aim for 2" of loft. Once you have quilt dimensions you can figure out how many cubic inches are necessary to achieve 2" of loft. Divide that number by 800 and you'll know how many ounces of down you'll need.

Assuming an average width of 45" and a 66" length you would need about 7.5 ounces of down.

I agree that 2" of loft should be ok down to 30 degrees. If you are doing a draw cord footbox style quilt I would recommend increasing the length to 70" for someone 5'2" tall, if you want be sure of the length. When cutting panels I would add 3" to length and 2" to width when to allow for seam allowances and chambers for draw cords.

I ran a few things through my quilt estimator spreadsheet. A quilt that is 70" by 52"
by 38" footbox with a 1/2 length taper would require 9 oz of down (800 fp) to provide 2.12 inches of loft. This quilt should weigh about ~16 oz including cords and veclro for the footbox if it is made from M90.

As Jake points out make it shorter and a little less wider and you will need less down. If you were to go with my widths but shorter length then 8.0 oz of down comes in right at 2" of loft.

Jamie

EDIT: In reviewing my lengths I think you could go as short as 66" long and still be ok but there would not be much extra length. 70" length would let you tuck your head in slightly if you needed to. Remember to add seam allowance length to these when cutting panels (I recommend 3" for seams and draw cord channels).

Edited by jshortt on 07/28/2011 19:54:56 MDT.