I am new to making my own gear and just recently started sewing on an old 1930's era Singer. I have learned a lot and been encouraged by the posts here. Although I added some stuff myself for this quilt I mainly followed the directions on Thru-Hiker and Jamie Shorts website. For any other newbie MYOG people out there I would definitely encourage you to give it a shot.

Some basics on the materials: The shell material is SevenD from TiGoat, the baffles are 0.31 oz/sqyd cuben from Zpacks and the Omni-tape and plastic hardware are from Quest or Zpacks. The down is 900 f/p from Thru Hiker.

The baffles are 1.5". I overstuffed by 30% much like the Zpacks quilts. The loft turned out to be about 1.75" although I'm not sure that I am measuring correctly. Any tips would be appreciated. . .

The quilt is 78" long and is tapered to 50" at the top/neck, 56" at the widest and 38" at the foot. There is 1/16" shock cord with mini cord locks around the collar to gather the quilt around the neck without being too tight or uncomfortable. The top baffle is overstuffed to about 2.75" of loft.

The footbox is created using omni-tape along the ends and about 24" along the sides. I tapered the foot end to create a trapezoidal footbox similar to a Katabatic quilt.

The head hole is sewn into the middle baffle using 0.31 oz/sqyd cuben and omni-tape.

The total weight is 16 ozs and includes 9.9 ozs of down. I figure it should be good to about 30 degrees. I have only used it once, in Joshua Tree in late October, with temps around 38 degrees and it was warm and toasty. I was sleeping in shorts, a silk top and windshirt.

Any suggestions or comments would be very much appreciated!

Nice looking quilt. 16oz that is nice and light. Looks really well done and thought out.

I have had a quilt set from thru hiker sitting in my room for about a year now and have yet to get around to putting it together. I have considered a wearble quilt but have not decided if it was worth it. What made you go for it?

Can we get a wearable picture? come on... we here at BPL need a good chuckle with the winter coming.

Clint, after seeing your pack, u def can rock this out!

I have a JRB quilt that is wearable, I should of worn it during the daylight more to see. I find it gives significant weight savings because I can wear it around camp (extra hassle of keeping it away from fire and not getting it dirty, but there is no free lunch :p) and not carry a puffy down jacket. When I'm hiking, I'm sure like you, I don't use down insulation as I'm cranking heat.

Very nice looking quilt!
Dustin

Thanks for the comments MYOG'ers. I decided to make it wearable to save weight by not having to bring a puffy jacket. Fortunately fashion is not a concern in the wilderness, with that in mind this photo should provide some much needed comedy relief as the holiday season approaches.



Quilt in puffy jacket mode.

"Honnnnnnney"

"Yes dear, what is it?"

"Have you seen my cuben rain skirt and down loafers? "

That's awesome!

Looks warm and usefully multifunctional!!

Excellent design and craftsmanship.

Looks great Andy, nicely done. I've had the materials to make a quilt for some time now, maybe this will motivate me to get mine done!

Awesome quilt. One of these is on my to do list now!

One question: How tall are you, and what do you think about the dimensions you used? Good? Bad? could have been shorter or narrower?

Thanks

Thanx again MYOG'ers. I appreciate the comments.

I am 6'0", 185 lbs. The 56" width feels like more than enough with plenty of extra material to tuck under my back or side (I'm mainly a side sleeper). The 38" total width at the foot end is too much and there is too much extra space around my feet. I will probably taper the end some more.

The material length was cut to 78" long (6'6") and although the baffles make it a few inches shorter the end product length is just right. There is enough length to gather lots of down/material around the neck. I can stretch out comfortably when on my back. Tapering to 50" at the neck end, similar to the Katabatic quilts, makes a nice contour from the shoulders to the neck and saves a little weight.

Just to add some contrast, the two other quilts (a 20 degree and 40 degree) that I have worked on were both too narrow at 52". The 56" width makes it more comfortable around the shoulders. For the 40 degree quilt I started with 72" of material and it turned out to be just a little too short after the baffles were added.

Have fun making some quilts.

Thanks for that, and I will!
one more question, what is your shoe size?
thanks

Shoe size eleven, 'E' width. 'hope that helps!

Andy, how would you describe your experience sewing the SevenD? I've been considering using it for a project. Did you use a walking foot on your machine? Did you pin extensively at short intervals to help with keeping the layers aligned, or use some other method like wash-away tape? Does it slip or pucker enough to be challenging? Any tips? Thanks.

thats great, thanks.

Colin: Working with SevenD is a lot like Momentum 50 or 55, but it has more of a silky feel. It's like the luxury material for UL. It is very slippery so I pinned the edges every 5 or 6 inches when sewing the ends. It has a tendency to move around, slide and just be overall challenging to work with for an amateur like me. Sometimes ironing any edges first helps, too.

I folded the two pieces of fabric inside of themselves to create a french seam along the edges, this seems to make a cleaner finished product without using as much material. The SevenD comes in 58" width and I wanted to save as much width as possible. This french seam 'technique' is difficult to explain well, if a picture would help please let me know.

For the channel at the top/neck end I just folded a 5 linear yard piece of SevenD in half (long ways) and sewed the channel at the top. This makes a really clean/smooth channel at the top/neck end, . . . but this made it harder to sew the middle baffle with the head hole. For the other quilt I've made with a head hole it was much easier to sew the middle baffle first, then move outward from there. I'm still experimenting and learning along the way.

I used the presser foot on the sewing machine. I'm not sure if that is the same thing as a walking foot. I've been using a 1930's Singer with the original instruction manual, so the terms/names may be dated.

I noticed that the Zpacks quilts use a slightly heavier material for the outer shell, something like Momentum 90. I used SevenD for the inner and outer shell this time to save weight. I typically use quilts inside a bivy (made out of 0.51 oz/sqyd cuben & Momentum 55) so the outer material doesn't need to be heavier. For a SUL quilt that would be used without a bivy I would probably use a slightly heavier/more wind resistant material for the outer shell.

I'm already thinking about taking the down out of my 20 degree quilt to redo it a little wider. Will the MYOG possibilities ever end?

First off, this is an amazing quilt Andy! I'm planning to make one very similar in the near future.

Andy, I do have a slight concern about using .31 cuben as baffle material. My best guess is that you sewed the cuben baffles and I would like to know how the quilt's held up thus far. I would think that with some trail use (albeit, gentle and conservative use) you might run the risk of baffle seam degradation because of the .31 cuben. I hope that's not been an issue for you because I would love the weight savings associated with the cuben!

Thanx Stephen. I've had the same concerns about the lighter weight cuben. The black wearable quilt is holding up with no problems so far. I've made quilts using the 0.31 and the 0.51 cuben for the baffles and there doesn't seem to be a difference (at least yet).

I would use the 0.31 cuben for baffles again, but not for the baffle with the head hole. I think 0.51 cuben would be better for that one due to the extra stretching around the head hole, and to hold the snag free velcro.

I have only used the black one twice in the field. A better example of durability would be with a homemade quilt I used last season for around 20 nights in the high Sierra's, including 15 nights on the JMT. It was made using Momentum 50 (the older orange colored material) and 0.31 cuben for the baffles. It's a 20 degree quilt with between 2.5" - 2.7" baffles. I folded the corners of the 0.31 cuben baffle material about 1/8" on the long sides to reinforce the areas that would be sewed to the Momentum 50. This one is holding up really well, no tears or rips.

FWIW, I use a size 11 needle with the smallest hydrophobic thread available on Quest. I think this may help.

Also, Joe @ Zpacks uses the 0.31 cuben for the baffles on his quilts. He typically makes high quality gear and I figure if it's good enough for Zpacks. . . He also has some good washing instructions on the website.

I have seen one quilt using 0.31 cuben start to show some early signs of damage, but it was made using cuben on the outer and inner shells as well as the baffles. There are some good photos of the stretching and a hole in the shell material in a recent trip report:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=60679

I've seen this quilt in person. It's incredibly lightweight (around 12 ozs) for a warm quilt, I think it has 2" loft, but very small dimensions (50" wide).

Have fun with your new quilt project. Making gear is a blast.

Thanks for the response about the cuben baffles. It seems safe enough to use so I ordered some from Joe this morning.

Questions:

1.) It looks like you didn't utilize a drawcord for the footbox, presumably to achieve that trapezoidal shape. Have you experienced any draft problems in the footbox as a result? Any other problems or perks with this design? You mentioned that 38" was a bit too large for your feet, how much do you think it needs to shrink?

2.) How many mitten hooks, D rings, and tiny drawcord locks are you using? It looks like 3 mitten hooks, 6 D rings, and 3 tiny cord locks. Additionally, how has this D ring, mitten hook, and cord lock system worked for you?

3.) About how large is your head opening baffle? No more than 25" I'd think.

4.) The top channel is just a 5" linear piece of material folded lengthwise and then sewn in place. That seems quite small in comparison to the other baffle chambers and I'd like to know how compressed the down feels with the 2.75" of loft.

5.) It looks like the omni-tape at the footbox doesn't follow the taper, was this intentional?