Questions - DIY Costco underquilt

[Bluknu]

I was in Costco today and picked up 3 of the down throws with it in mind to fashion an UQ from them. I was perusing the Costco DIY underquilt threads last night and am trying to work up a plan from the abundance of info and have some questions.

First of all I was thinking of taking an old sleeping bag and gutting it then adding some fasteners so I can stuff it its the Costco quilts and can add or remove according to the weather conditions. Has a his been done and does it seem like a waste of time?

Also I think I saw a thread where someone doubled up on the quilts but took the seams out in different directions on each quilt. One horizontal and one vertical. I don't think it said anywhere how much that person liked that arrangement and whether it made the underquilt any warmer. Comments on this?

Thanks for any and all help.

[Bluknu]

I thought of another question today while I was ripping stitches and scootching (technical term lol ) down around. Can you sort of scootch the down into 1 side of the quilt, cut it in half lengthwise, do the same with another quilt and then attach them together? That would effectively double the down. Or would that compress it too much so it would lose some of the insulating qualities? I might have seen this mentioned and not understood what was meant.

Oh and tapering the UQ on each end a bit. Will this help it fit a bit better?

[BananaHammock]

Might be better just to shake it to one side and trim the width, then shake it down and trim the length. Adding two halves would not mess up the insulation it would probably help keep the down in place. Half a quilt won't be completely overstuffed but I think 40 inches seems to make a good loft.

[remstar]

I pretty well know as much as you but figure I'll put in my thoughts anyway....

From what I gather it would seem that a lot of people believe that you're only ever going to achieve a certain amount of warmth due to the fact that there are no proper baffles with in these quilts. I think that trying to double the loft and what not via trimming and condensing down would pretty well amount to the same thing as simply double layering quilts in a modular fashion. ie. nesting 2 quilts together via button snaps or what not. That being said, I think there is something to gain by trimming the width and condensing the loft somewhat because they really don't need to be 60 inches wide. I am somewhat apprehensive about taking 90 dollars worth of quilts in an attempt to combine them in the hopes of ending up with this awesome winter quilt. Not sure it's really practical considering putting that 90 bucks towards a complete diy UQ with proper baffles would result in something far superior. I realize to get this completed it would require a bit more than 90 but not much from what I see others saying.
I made a TQ with one throw. I made an UQ with another throw. 60 dollars with minor modifications and believe I have a really decent spring/summer sleep system. Not bad.....but I get the impression that attempting to take this same idea to a "winter" level starts to not make economical sense considering how many raw quilts it would take and the comparison in cost those quilts are to purchasing down, no-seeum and some fabric in order to build one from scratch.
That's where my thoughts are based upon what other have written from their experiences.
btw I went with the following 2 methods for mine

TQ
https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...-Top-Quilt-Mod

UQ
https://youtu.be/Bej9rMq7ISg

[Dcolon13]

Ditto what remstar said (I also used one throw each for a TQ and UQ.) I'd try the layering approach first--perhaps you could attach them so that baffles and seams alternate on different layers. Also, I didn't taper mine and am not sure how much difference it would make if you did.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

[Bluknu]

Thank you for the answers everyone. I'm definitely not fooling myself into thinking I can get a good winter underquilt from this set up. A good summer and early fall one maybe. I have a thick moving blanket that's kind of a really thick felted material to supplement for chillier nights but I was hanging with just that one day when it was about 5 C and it really wasn't enough. I'm tough but definitely don't like cold. Makes me scarier than the bears. Lol

[snipes]

I recently modified and combined 2 down throws into one tq. I removed the horizontal stitching which allowed me to shift the down to one side. I also removed 2 rows the length of the throw and sewed them to the head end of the tq to add length. I then sewed the two halves together, made a foot box with all of the left over down as well as some feathers I harvested from a feather pillow. Total time invested-8 hrs.

[scope422]

This was my 1st DIY project and my first time sewing. I made mine full length, 70" and the width I narrowed to 50". No tapering, it does that when you adjust the compression shockcord on the ends. Shook the down to one side to loft it just a bit higher. I pulled the seams going width wise on the outside and lengthwise for the second quilt. I just folded the 2nd quilt lengthwise, 70" side, and layed it in my quilt to test it. We hit 30 degrees last night and I slept out in it. So 2nd quilt was only 30" wide under me but I had 3 layers. A little adjusting to get it under me just right and I slept 10 hours straight, never felt cold at all. I was very pleased with how well it worked. Used a 20 degree down mummy bag, unzipped, as a top quilt. Still have to finish the 2nd quilt, want to make it removable so I can use a single layer in the summer but want it to attach to outer quilt for colder weather. Not sure if i will do snaps yet or just loops to hang on outer quilt. It's a great DIY project. Not sure how much colder you want to take it but for me it's perfect, very happy with it.

[Bluknu]

Thanks for the info scope. That has helped. I haven't really camped in winter. The coldest I'd be likely to come across would be just about what you experienced or maybe a couple of degrees colder. I think I'm going to integrate 2 of the quilts and keep the third as a supplemental just in case layer either for top or bottom insulation. I have a synthetic mummy bag that goes about the same temp as yours.

[gfstanley]

I made a modular UQ system that can be seen here: https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...ular+costco+UQ

I have taken it down into low 30s with a costco TQ and layered clothing to stay warm a couple of weeks ago.