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  1. #1
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    Clew on a narrow quilt. asym options?

    Has anyone tried clew suspension on a Jarbidge or other narrow quilt and found a way to lay diagonal (gathered end hammock).

    A few years ago I made a clew suspension UQ out of an old, summer weight, synthetic sleeping bag and I love the clew. I have a 3-season Jarbidge from Arrowhead and it's only about 40" wide. I'm trying to fit a clew on it. I've read every clew thread I can find and I'm following along with: http://leiavoia.net/pages/hammock/levquilt.html

    Leiavoia mentions making the clew nettles different lengths for a 3/4 quilt so I've done that by making the foot end longer than the head end. So all nettles are 40 inches on the foot end and 24 inches on the head end. It fits and snugs up against me perfectly. I don’t mind the nettles on my feet at all. But I need the narrow quilt to follow my diagonal lay and it just won't stay in place.

    With the original 4-corner suspension, I can adjust the tension on the corners and it will stay on my shoulder all night. But with the clew, as soon as I move any amount the quilt slips back straight leaving my shoulder exposed. (the 4-corner suspension is fiddly to adjust and I’ve not been able to get comfortable once it’s under 40F. I always seem to lose heat somehow, hence my dreams of switching to a clew on it.)

    I guess I could sew the jarbidge asymmetrically onto a big piece of fabric and then clew that bigger piece of fabric but that just turns it into an awkward SLD Trail Winder clone and seems like overkill.

    Does anyone have any ideas on how to make a narrow quilt work with a clew? Or is it time to admit defeat on this project?

  2. #2
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    There are two ways to handle this, one you already mentioned:

    1) Sew the quilt onto a carrier fabric at an angle. This is overkill, like you said. It also limits the lay to one direction.

    2) pin/snap/tie the quilt corners to the hammock at the foot and shoulder position. Some hammocks come with little loops to attach things or tie out guylines. You can use these to tie the quilt to. This would then somewhat skew the quilt, covering your feet and shoulder and never slipping. If you don't have these, they are not hard to add. Just sew on a little ribbon. If you have a snap kit, that is even tidier.

    For my own quilts, i recognize that clew suspensions strongly benefit from wider quilt sizes, so mine are 48-50" (custom) or 60" (using Costco blankets). Since they don't go all taco-blanket like a side-channel quilt, its okay to have more phoof down there.

  3. #3
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    I have used a small ucr from the quilt corner to the ridgeline. It worked for me at the time and the shoulder one was easily adjusted while in the hammock.

  4. #4
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    Would it be possible to set the clews up (read adjustable) in such a way that the shoulder and foot corners of the clew will be longer than the off shoulder/ foot portions of the quilt? Then the other clew lines are adjusted progressively? Might still need to attach the S/F corners to the hammock.

  5. #5
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    These are great tips! I got up early this morning and did some backyard testing of these ideas. I had never thought about attaching directly to the quilt. I do have a Kam snap kit. I used some clamps as a proof of concept and it did hold the quilt in place but I found the sides of the quilt sagging and hanging open. I would need some kind of flexible connection to allow the clew to still pull the sides.

    Then I tried attaching the corner of the quilt to the ridgeline and that worked better since it allowed the clew to still do it's thing. However, at the head end, that seemed to hold the quilt on my shoulder well, but my upper arm would lose coverage and get cold.

    I also, last night, had the same idea to skew the nettles to be asymmetrical and I think that helps, but it doesn't help enough for such a narrow quilt.

    I don't have the "triangle thingys" but I did some experiments with a loops attached to the gathered end and then clipping the suspension to it and over the ridgeline:

    SortaTriangleThingy.jpg

    That seems to do close to what the "triangle thingys" would do. Clipping them this way helps the quilt in both the clew and the 4-corner suspension stay rotated underneath me well. So that was a nice idea I would try again with my next clew project.

    I'm not going to try to hack it to work anymore but I think this has been a good experiment. Thanks to to Leiavoia's great write-up, I knew how great the clew is on an underquilt and that was causing me to not commit to the 4-corner suspension and really learning how to adjust it. Now that I have that clew-closure so to speak, I can embrace the 4-corner suspension.

    Thanks again for the help!

  6. #6
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    It’s okay to have both. You can think of a 4-corner suspension as a clew with 2 nettles. If you like the 4-corner suspension fit but feel that it sags too much in the middle or leaves cold spots, just add the clew back on.

    So, basically just keep the clew suspension you already have, but add sturdier cords to the outside points.

    This is something I kinda already do; I usually tie the corner nettles a few inches shorter to prevent floppy sides.

  7. #7
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    You're full of good ideas!

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