Making my TQ

[surveywaters]

I have all my material: 12oz 800fp gdd, 6yds 0.66oz Membrane tafetta and 50ft 2.5" noseeum baffle. I am planning on doing the quilt based on David Franzen's write up on a karo-baffle quilt with additional baffles.

I have a few questions though...of course.

He describes an additional 2" pseudo draft collar, I am assuming this is astand alone which I'll need to fill. How does one measure such a small amount of down?

In an open baffle configuration like this, once filled, how does one insure an initial even distribution of down?

I have never used or seen in person a bonafide top quilt. THose of you much more experienced, are there any notes or changes you might suggest to change his design to a more purpose built hammock quilt.

[surveywaters]

Ok, finished my quilt. Quick question (hopefully more answers then last time).

I used 800fp gdd from dutch. It seems to really cling to intself creating clumps. I have shaken and flicked the quilt excessively and feel the down is still clumpy leaving cold spots. I am certain I didn't under fill because I used all 12oz in a 74"x50" quilt with 2" baffles. Any tips?

[Eidson]

Throw it in your dryer with some tennis balls. Tumble/air dry it (no heat) for a while. It'll fluff up and break any down clumps up.
Then, be sure to share some pics of your creation.

[surveywaters]

I decided against the Karo design, I couldn't get the answers to my question about distribution. I went with a 4" draft collar. To form this I brought the liner fabric upa nad around to meet the first baffle, this eliminated the seem at the top against my face, instead having a flat felled seam serving dual purpose. The other baffles are all 6". The foot box I made two baffles in, self contained and then connect the cover fabric to the outside fabric or the footbox and the liner to the liner fabric of the box; this created an additional baffle and eliminated a sewn through seam at my feet. The quilt has 12oz of fill and weighs 16.3oz total,
IMG_5787.jpgIMG_5789.jpgIMG_5797.jpgIMG_5799.jpgIMG_5800.jpg

[Eidson]

Don't know how long you've been diy'ing your own gear, but the quilt looks beautiful. Sorry couldn't help with the Karo questions. Have never attempted one of those before.

[TFC Rick]

Holy crap man! Nobody is going to believe that's your first quilt. Awesome job.

Nice beard too!

[surveywaters]

Thanks guys. After doing this, I would like to see some ggd for comparison. I am not sure what I was expecting, but the gdd from Dutch seems to have some hard bits in it and isn't as light as I'd expect. The down process was nothing like guys have described, I did it in my kitchen, with the heat blowing on and off, dog walking through, etc. and only lost like 6 feathers. I took a plastic cup, weighed it, then inside the down bag just packed the right amount for a baffle in the cup. Then just pinched it out and put it in the baffle, no mess. The 0.66 Membrane from RSBTR is amazing stuff, feels great and was easy to work. The roll of baffle material was about 8" short of doing everything, fortunately I had a little noseeum from a bivy sack I had thrown together a month ago.

[DustHunter]

That quilt is spectacular! Any idea of how long it took you? When are you gonna roll out the matching UQ?

[surveywaters]

It took about 8 working hours, maybe a little less; and thank you.

[Chrisja77]

That looks amazing...and makes me rethink doing one myself maybe.