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  1. #1
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    Finished my first quilt (picture heavy)

    Before I begin, I just want to thank everyone for their help and input. This was the first time i've ever made anything using a sewing machine and although I found it challenging, and at times down right frustrating, I enjoyed making it. I spent quite a long time working on this quilt and I am very happy with how it turned out. The final test is to see if it actually works.

    I want to give a special thanks to Kevin. His youtube videos on quilt making are what I designed my quilt from. https://www.youtube.com/user/kduvey

    Joe Brewer also gets a thanks from me as well. https://www.youtube.com/user/Biophthera

    Grapenut's video on his karo step quilt I found very helpful as well. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx1...2z2ZUVbR-A-7yA

    The quilt:

    I wanted to make a ground quilt that would be 20oz or less and possibly get me to around 20 degress Fahrenheit. My goal is to keep my base pack weight under 9lbs; <3lbs pack, <3lbs Shelter, & <3lbs sleeping system. The quilt is a karo step design made of Argon 90 and filled with 800 fill duck down. Its final weight is 21oz, just an ounce over my original goal. The cut and hemmed fabric weight is about 6.7oz and is filled with about 14oz of down. The dimensions before I put in the taper were 75" x 56". My taper starts 30" from the bottom and trims down to 44" at the feet. I went with a sewn in foot box and I baffled and sewed a "plug" at the foot end. I sewed in a separate draw string channel at the top and used shock cord with cord locks. I have six tabs of grosgrain, three on each side, two are at the top with Kam snaps attached to them, the other four are spaced 12.5" & 25" from the top. I have a seventh grosgrain tab at the foot box as well. My baffle height is 1.75" but I added enough down required for 2.5" of volume.

    Materials/tools:

    • 3 yards x 58" Argon 90 in red (outside shell)
    • 3 yards x 58" Argon 90 in black (inside shell)
    • 15oz 800 fill duck down
    • 1/8" shock cord
    • 5/8" grosgrain
    • 2.5" Noseeum mesh
    • Kam snaps with tool
    • Gutermann sew all thread (Mara 100)
    • Microtex Sharp 70/10 needles
    • Yard stick
    • 12" ruler
    • Multiple chalk pencils (a damp towel or licking your finger will work as an eraser)
    • Blue painters tape
    • Tailors measuring tape
    • Really sharp scissors (for cutting fabric only)
    • Lighter (the fabric can fray quite a bit)
    • Fabric pins & paper clips (Before I pinned the fabric in preparation of sewing, I used paper clips to make sure everything line up first)
    • Seam ripper
    • Graph paper & calculator
    • Poster board (I used this to make a stencil for cutting a circle)
    • Singer 221 sewing machine



    Last but not least, a whole lot of patience.

    Math

    I wanted a fairly roomy quilt that I could tuck my head into in case I got cold and to compensate for shrinkage. For the length of the quilt, I added 6" to my height, 5'9", which equaled to 75" long. As a side sleeper, I wanted to keep the quilt fairly wide. The Argon 90 comes 58" wide with 57" of it that is usable. I went with a half inch seam allowance on both the length and width which gave me a rough cut of 76" x 57". After the hem, my dimensions came to 75" from head to toe x 56" wide at the head and 44" wide at the feet. My taper starts 30" from the bottom.

    Argon 90 is advertised as just under 1oz per square yard, to figure the weight of the fabric, I did the following: (76 x 57) x 2 / 1296 = 6.7oz

    As for how much down I need, I needed to find the volume of my quilt: (75x56) x 2.5 / 800 = 13oz

    I was able to shave 0.83oz by using a taper: [(30x6)x2 / 1296] + [(30x6)x2.5 / 800] = 0.83oz

    Final weight on paper: (6.7 + 13) - 0.83 = 18.87oz This does not include baffle material, foot box plug, shock cord with cord locks, grosgrain and thread.

    Making the cut:

    I used a ping-pong table to lay my fabric on. I taped all around the fabrics perimeter to keep it taut. Using chalk pencils & my measuring tools, I drew the outline of the quilt plus all the baffle points. The rough cut measured 76" x 57" and after sewing the seams, the final dimensions came to 75" x 56" with a taper 30" from the bottom giving me a foot box width of 44". Although I read about it, I did not use a differential cut.

    Karo step

    My karo step pattern is 100% based off of Kevin's video: https://youtu.be/OB9xdHyO6m0 Since this is my first quilt, I figured, why reinvent the wheel. I sewed the baffles to the outside shell first, although time consuming, it was not very difficult. I just did one row at a time. I would lay the shell down, cut the baffles to the desired length, tape in place, sew the baffles, then wash rinse repeat for every row. Painters tape helped keep the baffles in place. Sewing the horizontal baffles to the inside shell was easy, sewing the vertical baffles to the inside shell was a pain in the ***. All the baffles are space 2" from the perimeter and have a 4" gap between each other at each intersection. Like previously stated, the baffle height is 1.75" but i added enough down for 2.5" of loft. From what ive read, baffle height and loft are two different things. When factoring for loft, I read that you are supposed to cut your baffles anywhere from 0.5" to 1" shorter than your desired loft. Hopefully I added enough down.

    Foot box

    To figure for the width of my foot box, I went with what Kevin did in his video:https://youtu.be/OB9xdHyO6m0 My shoe size is 11.5", I added 3.5" to my shoe size which gave me a diameter of 14" after hemming. With 14" being my diameter, I got a circumference of 43.98, I rounded up to 44". After I sewed my foot box together, the circumference came to about 42.5"; because I had enough fabric to play with, I went ahead and made a plug for the foot box using my original diameter of 14", it fit perfectly. To make the plug for the foot box, I made a compass using paracord and a pencil and drew an 15" diameter circle on a piece of poster board to make a stencil. Using the stencil, I traced out two circles on the excess black Argon and then cut the circles. Hemming the circles proved to be quite tricky. After searching this forum and the web for ideas on how to hem a circle, I found this video https://youtu.be/0h27ZzDKAB0 (hem starts at 4:08). The basting stitch used to gather the fabric worked flawlessly. Once I had my circles cut and hemmed, I sewed in baffles and sewed the two pieces together leaving a small gap to stuff the down in. With the quilt inside-out, I first used paper clips to hold the plug to the end of the foot box to make sure it lined up before pinning it in place prior to sewing. Hopefully this makes sense: With the quilt inside-out, i pinned the plug to the right side hem of the foot box. This way, when I turn the bag right side-out, the foot box and plug hems are on the inside of the quilt.

    Draw cord channel

    For the draw cord channel, I cut a length of scrap fabric the width of the shell at its widest before I hemmed the fabric. After I hemmed the outer shell, I hemmed the draw cord channel, folded it in half, and then sewed it to the top of the outer shell. This worked out better than I expected.

    Conclusion

    I really enjoyed making this quilt. It is my very first sewing project and I am quite pleased with the results. I will definitely make another quilt sometime in the near future. I want to thank everyone again for all their help. If anybody has any suggestions or sees something wrong with my build, please feel free to comment.

    Ps. any tips for distributing the down? Ive been shaking the hell out of it and its slow going. That may be because of the 4" gaps between the baffles though.

    Pictures:

    Singer 221 circa 1951:

    IMG_0821.jpg

    Blue Print:

    Quilt sketch.jpg

    Inner & outer shells

    IMG_0812.jpgIMG_0813.jpg

    Baffles

    IMG_0824.jpgIMG_0827.jpg

    Draw cord channel

    IMG_0819.jpgIMG_0820.jpg

    Making the circle

    IMG_0849.jpgIMG_0844.jpgIMG_0843.jpgIMG_0831.jpg

    Before adding down

    IMG_0837.jpgIMG_0836.jpg

    The finished product

    IMG_0851.jpg
    Last edited by SkunkHunt; 12-21-2016 at 21:45. Reason: patience

  2. #2
    Senior Member Grapenut's Avatar
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    Very nice! Great description and pics of the process. G-Nut
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  3. #3
    Senior Member gargoyle's Avatar
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    Well done!

    Down distribution tricks-
    -Throw it in the dryer NO HEAT, with three or four new tennis balls. Let it tumble and the balls will bounce the down around. 5-10 minutes is usually enough.
    Ambulo tua ambulo.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by gargoyle View Post
    Well done!

    Down distribution tricks-
    -Throw it in the dryer NO HEAT, with three or four new tennis balls. Let it tumble and the balls will bounce the down around. 5-10 minutes is usually enough.
    Thanks, I'll give it a try.

  5. #5
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    Thanks G-Nut!

  6. #6
    all secure in sector 7 Shug's Avatar
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    That is a right goodie there.
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  7. #7
    Senior Member PharmGeek's Avatar
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    Most excellent!!! I will start my journey 12/26!

    Ya done good!

    Hey - after stuffing and puffing that up from 1.75 to 2.5 - how much width did you lose?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    “The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by PharmGeek View Post
    Most excellent!!! I will start my journey 12/26!

    Ya done good!

    Hey - after stuffing and puffing that up from 1.75 to 2.5 - how much width did you lose?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    I just laid it loosely down on a tape measure. Across the top, the width shrank about 2.5" and the length shrank about 3". When im in it, the fit feels good and the quilt goes a little past my eyes. Im a side sleeper and when i cinch the drawcord down and use snaps to hold it around my neck, it feels pretty solid. I added in the grosgrain tabs for added security so I can strap it to my ground pad. Im going to buy some elastic and figure out a method of securing it to my pad. Thats for another day though.

  9. #9
    Senior Member kitsapcowboy's Avatar
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    Excellent project. Excellent result. Excellent result. Well done.

    I have just started my very first down underquilt, and every step of the project -- including the design -- presents a new challenge. Thanks for the inspiration to see the job through...
    Smart graphic design for all your needs by BGD

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by kitsapcowboy View Post
    Excellent project. Excellent result. Excellent result. Well done.

    I have just started my very first down underquilt, and every step of the project -- including the design -- presents a new challenge. Thanks for the inspiration to see the job through...
    I know exactly what you mean. I took my time when designing and constructing it. I dont know how many times i went back to the drawing board. I think the hardest part was the design and measuring out the pieces so that they were as close to being identical as possible. The old axiom of "measure twice and cut once" is a bit of an understatement.

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