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  1. #1
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    Question 2 lbs Feathers vs 19 OZ of Down

    Hi everybody, I'm currently building my own 2/3 season underquilt. I've extracted from two down Polo jackets 19 OZ of fluffy, warm, and compressible down. I thought I needed more, so I ran to my local thrift store and bought 2 pillows that FELT like down. I extracted the insulation and stuffed them into garbage bags. I noticed that there were lots of quills on here, and after perusing the interwebz, realized they were actually feathers.

    In my searching, I learned that these feathers offer little warmth and are more heavy and less compressible than traditional goose down. I want to make an underquilt that can get down to 40*-50*. I'm using two pieces of Argon 67 fabric for my top/bottom layer. 8 baffles, 7.5 inches apart, with about a 2.5-3 inch loft.

    Would I be able to stretch my potential insulation by mixing the feathers AND the down together, or would that lead to quills poking out of my fabric. Would I be able to get by with just the 19 oz of down? There's no way I'm using JUST feathers, especially after the hassle of extracting all that God***n from those jackets. Any advice/opinions/tips/tricks are literally more than welcome, as I'm a new DIY-er. Thanks everybody!

  2. #2
    Senior Member Otter1's Avatar
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    Depending on the fillpower of the down, 19oz is probably going to be too much. 2.5" + will definitely get you to your lower limit too. So you won't need the feathers.

    That said, feathers can actually HELP with loft (there was a good article on this on BPL years ago), but can poke thru light fabrics with relative ease sometimes.

    So stuff the quilt with enough down to give you your desired loft (let it sit awhile to fluff up so you get an accurate picture) and enjoy your creation!

  3. #3
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    Unfortunately, I don't know my fill power. Because of this, I'm gonna go with my worst case scenario and assume it's a very low fill power. So I was thinking that I could compensate for the low fill power by stuffing an extra ounce or two into each baffle. And you a raise a good point about the feathers. Ive read that if I were to go with the Feathers and Down, that my ratio should be about 70(down)/30(feathers). Just to play it safe.

  4. #4
    Formerly octothorpesarus mudsocks's Avatar
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    I would be concerned that the larger quills from the feathers would poke through your quilt and the down would follow behind. If your down is a low fill power it's probably safe to assume it already contains a fair amount of feathers. Skip the feathers.

  5. #5
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    Use the Catsplat quilt calculator and enter the measurements of your quilt, the fill power of your down (600 would be a good guess if you don't actually know) and it will tell you how much down that you need per baffle. I think that 3" baffles are for a zero degree quilt.

    I made a 20* underquilt using about 18 ounces of down, it had 2" baffles. I also made a 30* top quilt and I used 12 ounces of down with 1.5" baffles. I used the down from the Costco blankets which is about 700 fill power.

    I would stick with just the down if you can.

  6. #6
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    Just BUY a UQ from one of our vendors. Youll save yourself money in the long run. They are perfect. And magic.

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