MYOG Top Quilt Project Planning

[cwaskey]

I’m looking for input on an upcoming down top quilt MYOG project. Below I’ve shared my thoughts on design and construction. Feel free to comment if you have thoughts on how to make it better. Although most of my gear is homemade, I have not worked with down before. This will be done at the same time that I make a down underquilt, which will be in a different post. I plan to post my finished results once I’ve completed the project.

a. General
I’m planning to sew a down top quilt in keeping with my ultralight style. This includes a minimum of extra weight, but enough insulation to keep safely comfortable since I won’t be carrying much else to use as backup if it gets cold. The weight of the quilt will be compared to my homemade Ray-Way “Alpine” synthetic quilt, which weighs about 33oz. Hopefully, there will be about a 1 lb. improvement.

The average January low temperature is 25F in my area. Although many nights in a given winter are below this average, I would like to target something that would work down to about 20F with long johns on. This would allow me to go out on virtually any night of the year, unless I get really unlucky with my scheduling.

b. Geometry
The most difficult part of a hiking trip in the cold, for me, is that time between getting up and getting underway. Packing up camp and eating breakfast involve less activity than hiking, without the insulation used during sleeping. This often results in cold fingers and toes. Having a top quilt that is wearable, poncho style, is a multi-use way to help make this transition time more comfortable. I plan to add a hole in center of the quilt that can be closed with snaps to minimize the cold spot. In order to facilitate wearability of the quilt, I plan to make the footbox close with snaps, so that it can be opened when in poncho mode.

I like the gorget on the Ray-way, but I plan to make it a little bit more aggressive so it drapes over my body with fewer air gaps. The gorget is basically a cutout to the shell fabric that causes the quilt to have a cupped shape, which drapes over your body and shoulders better than a flat quilt would.

Overall dimensions
Down Top Quilt.png

c. Materials
I plan to use a breathable DWR material for the outer shell, while using the lightest down-proof material possible for the inner shell. Argon 67 and Momentum 50 are both contenders for the inner shell, and possibly the outer shell, though I may go to something a little heavier. I don’t want something on the outer shell that I’m going to have to baby.

d. Insulation/Baffling
There are many formulas and opinions about how much insulation would be required for 20F, but I’m thinking I will need about 2.5” of loft. I have a synthetic top quilt with about 1.8” of loft that I have used comfortably on the ground with insulated clothing down to about 20F.

In order to provide an overstuff, which will hopefully reduce the amount of down shifting, and makes the quilt look really nice (I think), I will plan on 1.75” high baffles and a 2.5” total loft. I plan to use 800 FP down, approximately 12 ounces.

I plan to orient the baffles crosswise, spaced for approximately 1 oz. of down per baffle. The baffles will be cut in a slight arc to help the quilt to maintain its loft when wrapped around my body.
Quilt baffles.PNG

[jjr]

For a drawstring / snap footbox, you will need to add ~4 inches of length. Also remember your quilt will shorten up a bit when it lofts,

The Argon 67 is reasonably tough. You don't have to baby it by any means, but remember it is a lightweight fabric so be mindful of snags.

I don't know if the curved baffles are worth the effort. I can't tell, but are you going to have a differential and cut the outer shell larger? Flat top quilts work just dandy in a hammock. I suppose the curved shape could help if you used the quilt on the ground though.


Good luck with your projects!

[Levi Tate]

Question...in your first diagram, why the elliptical shape at the head end?

With that design, it would seem that when the quilt is tucked in around your shoulders, there will be excess material around your neck.

[cwaskey]

After several months of on and off working on this project, it is finally complete! I worked with a friend to build a top quilt for each of us, so coordinating our schedules was part of the delay. I also had a sewing machine break when I was 95% complete, and I had to wait for a new one to arrive to be able to finish. I'm here to report the results and post some pictures.

First, I'm very happy with the final outcome. See the end of the post for the final weight. Here are some details of the design. As shown on my initial post, the quilt is constant width at the head end until the middle, and then tapers at the foot end. There is a head hole in the middle to use the quilt like a poncho. The hole closes with snaps pushed into grossgrain webbing to prevent tearing of the super lightweight RBTR .67oz. nylon fabric. I included a gorget at the shoulders to better conform to my body. The foot box closes with velcro. The baffles are straight across, not contoured as I originally proposed. There are 11 baffle compartments, each filled with about 1oz. of 800 fill power down from Downlinens.com. The fill power seems about right, and the total loft averages a little over 2.5 inches, which nicely plumps out the quilt's 2" high baffles. The top fabric is oversized, and I sewed the top fabric down the sides of the baffle ends to help preserve the full loft all the way to the quilt edges. I added a webbing loop to each side near the shoulders so I can close up the quilt around me either in sleeping mode or in poncho mode.

Poncho head hole information: The head hole caused me several nights of poor sleep while wrestling with a design that was strong, did not compromise the loft, and did not leak down. The final solution works very well, I think, although there is some room for improvement. I ended up making the top and bottom shells each out of two pieces, with a "tongue" in the middle that became a tube when the two shell halves were sewn together. I put snaps on grossgrain webbing and sewed the webbing to the fabric before sewing the shell halves together. The top shell tube was sewn to the bottom shell tube before any baffles were sewn to the bottom. Then the baffles were sewn starting in the middle and moving toward each end.

What I like:
- Sticking with straight baffles was a good idea, and made cutting out and sewing the baffles much easier.
- I really like the poncho head hole, and the sewn through tube really makes my quilt special. I expect it will be great for those cold mornings when it's time to get up but I don't want to get out from under my quilt.
- I'm really happy with the weight.
- The goose down fill (it might be duck down, I can't remember, but for the sake of future searchers, I'll put the words together since a search on "down" is NOT helpful) is as great as advertised and really fills out the quilt, despite weighing almost nothing. The total loft exceeds my expectations, and averages between 2.5" and 3" in most places.
- I'm really happy with the soft and comfortable feel of the fabric. It's strong, but not rip-resistant. If it gets a snag, I'll likely have to make a patch to keep it from ripping wide open.

What could be better:
- For some reason, my 72" quilt is only 67" long. I don't know what happened to the extra 5", but it was probably a combination of the following factors: overstuffed down, two lateral seams in each shell layer, imperfect fittup between upper and lower shell fabrics, and excessive seam allowance around some edges. I think it's still long enough (I'm about 67" or 68" tall), but an extra 4 inches or so would have been nice.
- The poncho hole isn't very airtight. I could have used an extra snap or two to help. I knew this was likely, and hopefully it won't be a problem based on the fact that it is located over a well insulated area of my body (around my waist).
- The velcro footbox is prone to splitting if I kick it during the night. I may eventually add additional restraint at the end to prevent that.
- The baffle box around the head hole is wider than the others, and I wish I had put just a little more down in that one. It has noticeably less loft than the other baffle boxes, but still decent around 2".

Lessons I learned:
- Light-colored crayons are great for marking on no-seeum mesh. Make sure you make all your marks while the mesh is taped down and before cutting. After you cut the mesh, holding it securely to mark seam allowances is virtually impossible.
- Make all marks on the shell fabric before cutting out. I taped the fabric to the floor and traced the outlines, but it would have been nice to mark the baffle locations at the same time. This helps keep everything true, and might have helped me save a couple of inches of length that were lost.
- .67 oz. nylon is semi-transparent, so Sharpie marks on the wrong side will be visible on the finished project. This doesn't bother me, but it might bother you. Crayon (or fabric pencil) might minimize this problem, and might disappear in the wash.

Pictures of the finished project:
Overview.jpg

Gorget.jpg

Corner Detail.jpg

Poncho Hole.jpg

Poncho Hole Open.jpg

Poncho Mode.jpg

The finished weight of this top quilt is a mere 17 ounces!

17 ounces!
17 ounces!

Now it's on to my underquilt, which I'm already well on the way with.