Hello everyone,
Still stuck on the sewing learning "curb" (as my former assistant used to say), but boulderv7's celtic knot TQ project got my creative juices and ambition flowing so I took a stab at my own unique TQ based on the State of NC flag. One time to be glad I don't live in Hawaii. Outer, inner, and "appliques" are all HyperD 1.0, and it's stuffed with about a pound of 800FP WR down from downlinens.com
Sorry about the crappy cellphone pics, but hope they get the point across.
No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy, but starting with one sure helps me. A lot of the dimensions here changed, and I have found with my sewing skills that it helps to cut and sew everything larger than I plan and trim down as I go. Things have a habit of shrinking on me. Fabric things, that is.
Fabric choices in HyperD were crimson, white, and moroccan blue. I decided to make the liner moroccan blue, as well, and just fold the fabric over at the head as opposed to cutting it and stitching. This also helped me make the drawstring channel as detailed below. First task was joining the crimson & white, for which I did a simple seam, then layed it down and stitched it again. Not as clean as a true felled seam, but hopefully good enough. It looks great on the outside. Make sure to put the shiny side in.
Join the crimson/white to the moroccan blue in the same fashion and the inner/outer liners are done except for adding the flag elements. It's hard to see here, but the top/righthand side is where I just folded the blue fabric instead of cutting and seaming, the rest is underneath.
I then worked on my channel at the head. I wanted to use shock cord with a buttonhole, so after practicing buttonholes one afternoon I settled on a process of stitching a piece of grosgrain in to reinforce the buttonhole. Also, I can't sew a buttonhole in just HyperD, my machine eats it with the zigzag stitch. Mark where your seam is and the centerline, and just box stitch the grosgrain on to the wrong/shiny side so it's hidden inside the quilt. In retrospect, I would have offset this so it doesn't lay right on top of me.
Next, fold the liner over the grosgrain, stitch that seam all the way across, and execute a buttonhole. I wish my stitches were a little closer together, but this is what worked for me.
I used a seam ripper to open my buttonhole, probably not the cleanest method, but it did work.
Now lay that hole seam down on the "inner liner" portion of the moroccan blue and stitch it down. Make sure to only stitch to the inner liner side. This makes your channel flush with the TQ and it will be hidden when you cinch it down.
Can't escape making the flag elements at this point. I cut my elements out of fusible interfacing, ironed it to the wrong side of the HyperD, then made a sandwich of HyperD right sides together, pinned them, and sewed using the interfacing as a guide. I left a 1" opening for turning the whole deal inside out which I didn't even bother to blind stitch closed since it will be top stitched to the outer shell, anyway.
Create the other elements the same way, and top stitch them to the outershell.
Stitching baffles doesn't need another explanation on this forum, it's well covered, but I'll say that using blue masking tape to hold the nooseum was a game changer for me. Last time it stretch while I sewed, then sprang back when I was done and left me a smaller product than I had envisioned. Also, I was shooting for 2" baffles, 2.5" max height, 20F rating.
With the baffles in, it was time to stitch up two sides (remember that the head end is folded and has the buttonhole channel) and start stuffing down. You'll notice some yellow edging at the bottom which is tape I made from HyperD 1.0 spectra yellow. Boulderv7 details the process better than I can in his post, but this is a superb way to cover up a simple seam and add strength. I used the shop vac w/pantyhose method of down injection.
Once the down was in, I sewed up the last side and taped it, as well. Before doing any of the seams I put in the shockcord at the head and stitched over it to secure the ends. A loop exits the buttonhole with a cordlock. I then added grosgrain loops with Kam snaps at the head, and just sewed the footbox with the TQ inside out, then turned it back outside out.
This was my final result, which despite some errors, I'm quite happy with. It's 51" wide x 73" long, lofts to 2.5", and weighs ~30oz. with all "hardware".
Action shot at South Mountains State Park last weekend:
Hope you enjoyed, and if you have any questions feel free to ask.
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