Taking down from home quilt?

[justinae]

Thanks slugbait. I bet the handful at a time is about the same time given the setup process for the electronic version.

I'm still curious if anyone can identify the down in the pics. Or at least the quality of it.

[scrope]

If you're looking to make your first top quilt or underquilt, I think you should use this down. You'll end up with something you can use and you'll soon be planning the next one using better materials. When transferring down I remove towels, rugs etc. from the bathroom, bring in the quilt shell and down item to the bathtub (a large shower enclosure would also work) and close curtain or door. Work in slow motion- you should be left with a not-so-big mess and a new quilt. I move the down handful by handful.

That's the way I do it. I end up looking like a plucked chicken but it keeps "most" of the down localized.

[scrope]

I find it a bit difficult to determine down quality from a picture but it's reasonably easy once you get the hang of feeling the down. If you go to a store a grab a down comforter in both hands and compress a cell, if you feel feathers, that's low quality down. If you don't feel feathers but it doesn't compress a lot, that's medium quality down. If it collapses a lot, that's decent quality down. Also, if it puffs up nicely, that's good quality. If it doesn't, well, not so good.

You won't get 800+ quality down in most comforters but you can get at least 700 fill down. I recommend making the quilt with this down because a) you have it and down's not cheap, b) you'll get experience that you can use in building your next quilt, and c) you'll have a down quilt.

Worst comes to worse, you can always rip the seams at the end and replace the down with better quality if you want to keep the quilt and not build another but with improved down in the future.

[MissileMan]

I recall a thread on Hammock Forums where a guy built a PVC “T” device using a sink T that has a divert split inside. I built one.

Then you blow a vacuum exhaust across the T that lets you vacuum out the down and shoot it into a zippered pillowcase.

If you can’t find that thread on here, I can take a photo of the device. It worked well.

I bought an ancient down sleeping bag on EBay that had 2lbs of goose down. It looked to be about 700 fill power. (You can Google how to measure the fill power. I used a gift bag and a scale.)

[MissileMan]

I found the original thread. I can attest that Drifter’s methods work...


Working Down
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/top...ink_source=app

[lisabland]

I made my first top quilt using down from a bed quilt. The down looked the same as your pictures. I had my husband make me a pooter. There is a youtube video, "transferring down using a pooter." Transferring down is easy now. Good luck with your project. I am ready to start making a second top quilt for my husband.

[drifter]

I found the original thread. I can attest that Drifter’s methods work...


Working Down
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/top...ink_source=app

Wow, can't believe folks still remember that.

[MissileMan]

I remember it because I used it with great success! Back then, there was a cottage vendor that sold underquilt shells.

I found an old Thaw (later became North Face) sleeping bag with a faded label (said 2 pounds of goose down) on eBay for $50.

I filled two ~25 degree underquilts and upgraded two Walmart duck down bags (converted to quilts) with the down I extracted using your method!

The two underquilts cost $75 each when I completed the project.