Am I missing something? (DIY UQ)

**Catavarie** · 07-30-2011, 02:47

So I've gone through every thread with a mention of the word "quilt" or even just the letter "Q" in the title that has been posted since mid December. And I've done a bit of math and some paper drawings and just wanted to check with those who have stitched before me and make sure I'm not missing anything.

So what I'm hoping to achieve is a 3/4 length 3 season under quilt, shouldering into edges of winter. I'm hoping to be able to take this down to upper teens/lower twenties.

My current plans are calling for 52L by 42W with 2in baffles running head to foot end. Filled with 800fp down gives me needing 5.46oz minimum. But I want 6 inch baffles and for ease of filling I'm planning on filling each baffle with 1 full oz of downy goodness. This will give me 7oz total for a overfill of 28%. (aka Well Stuffed

) I'm figuring actual loft to be between 2.5-3 inches which should reach my goal.

I'm considering a diff cut for a better fit on the hammock, although without the diff cut the UQ would be more versatile and I like versatile equipment. So I may scratch that idea, plus the math would be easier and I'm all for easy math.

Despite if I decide on diff cut or not I'm looking at an additional 2 inches of fabric on all sides for seam allowance and to create shock cord tubes. the edges of said tubes will be sealed with grossgain for reinforcement and asthetics.

I can get 1.1 calendared from HammockGear.com or BWDD. Figure I need 3 yards of material minimum to give myself a bit of room to square everything up, plus have a bit of space for error. Or I can use the 1.9 calendared I have from Hancocks to save a bit of cash. I already of netting to use for baffles, although I could pick up some lighter stuff from BWDD if I wanted to. I'm planning on getting the down from either HammockGear.com or Wilderness Logics as they are both able to package the down in 1oz increments and have competitive pricing. Most likely will come down to who ever has the amount I need in stock.

So according to my math (lots of guesstimation

)the finished product will weigh somewhere in the neighborhood of 13-16oz depending upon weight of ripstop and thickness of shockcord used. Unfortunately what I have on hand is mostly the heavy version of everything.

But anywhoo I've attached a rough hand drawn (at least I didn't use stick figures

) diagram of my idea. If anyone sees any glaring bits of information missing please let me know as I may have not considered it yet and I don't want to be half way through a project involving down and be blindsided by an unforseen problem. Also if anyone has any suggestions or recommendations on how to make it better or easier on myself (buying prebuilt isn't really an option

) please let me know as well. Heck all input good, bad, ugly, awesome, redonculous is appreciated.

**turnerminator** · 07-30-2011, 06:50

You are well on the way. I think your dimensions are good and the weight of down spot on.

Making these UQ's isn't actually very hard, you will be surprised.

Make sure you hit every seam properly, if you don't then the down will break out after a couple of trips. Its very easy to miss a cm or two

I work on the inner layer being a perfect semicircle. If you calculate the difference between the 2 layers, using the 2" as the increase in radius of the semi-circle, you can the calculate the increase in circumference as a percentage.
Increase the baffle spacing on the ouside layer by this value.

**Chicky** · 07-30-2011, 22:19

you've got a nice plan and your guesstimates are spot on, I think. I am in the process of making a 40 x 50" 800 fp down quilt with about 3 inches of loft. 8 oz down, 8 chambers, and 7 baffles. Allow me to give you some advice...differential cut is a headache, especially if you're not used to sewing pleats/darts. Mine is dual differential (outer fabric bigger than inner by length AND width) and it was frustrating for me to pleat the edges and get it looking nice. Of course, I still need to add that grosgrain...

I never really understood overstuff...is it just to make sure you have down in all the little corners of the quilt? To me it would seem lighter and more efficient to have all your down loft to its full potential instead of having extra. Maybe someone can elaborate on this?

**GrizzlyAdams** · 07-30-2011, 22:40

Originally Posted by turnerminator

You are well on the way. I think your dimensions are good and the weight of down spot on.

Making these UQ's isn't actually very hard, you will be surprised.

Make sure you hit every seam properly, if you don't then the down will break out after a couple of trips. Its very easy to miss a cm or two

I work on the inner layer being a perfect semicircle. If you calculate the difference between the 2 layers, using the 2" as the increase in radius of the semi-circle, you can the calculate the increase in circumference as a percentage.
Increase the baffle spacing on the ouside layer by this value.

wisdom. At least, I was going to make the same point

But I would also add a critical bit of information to the suggestion...assume the semi-circle has a radius of 14".

But if you've read every point on underquilts you would have seen this one in which there's a picture...and a lot of math that might drive you away from a differential cut, but don't run. Having started with commercial underquilts that were not differentially cut and fussed with them to get the hang Just Right, it is so much nicer just to slap the UQ on and give it a bit of tension. End of adjustment.

**Catavarie** · 07-31-2011, 00:48

[QUOTE=GrizzlyAdams;516970]But if you've read every point on underquilts you would have seen this one...QUOTE]

Well I meant I read all the threads back to December of 2010, not 2008

But after reading that I can attest to 2 things I now know for certain.

Grizz is far, far smarter than I
My head seriously hurst now

So now I'm even more scared of Diff cutting a quilt.

But I may still try my hand at doing a diff cut just because the finished product would be more user friendly and better suited to its particular task.

**ExPXGUY** · 07-31-2011, 05:05

In addition to listening to Grizz's sage advice, I suggest you go back farther in your search, short underquilts went through their development stage several years ago, many posts at that time with good info. Also, most posts on DIY underquilts seem to happen in the fall when people are thinking to how to deal with colder weather.

**canoebie** · 07-31-2011, 06:32

One suggestion I would make based on your drawing is to have your cordloks on the same side of the quilt. My Phoenix has such and I put it on the side of my zipper allowing me to easily reach out and make necessary adjustments. I am no expert by any means, but the drawing struck me with the cordloks on opposite sides.

**Catavarie** · 08-04-2011, 07:49

Originally Posted by ExPXGUY

In addition to listening to Grizz's sage advice, I suggest you go back farther in your search, short underquilts went through their development stage several years ago, many posts at that time with good info. Also, most posts on DIY underquilts seem to happen in the fall when people are thinking to how to deal with colder weather.

Thanks, I guess I'll go back further in time. But this time I'll bring my hover board.

Originally Posted by canoebie

One suggestion I would make based on your drawing is to have your cordloks on the same side of the quilt. My Phoenix has such and I put it on the side of my zipper allowing me to easily reach out and make necessary adjustments. I am no expert by any means, but the drawing struck me with the cordloks on opposite sides.

Part of my reason for the cord locks in those positions in how I sleep, I can pull the cord locks and essentially slide the ends of the quilt under my shoulders and legs easier. Also I don't have an attached bug net so zipper is a none issue for my current hammock.

I have put together a Fleece prototype to test out the size. Will do a further write up of that after I've had a few hours sleep, crazy night shift job.

**Catavarie** · 08-05-2011, 03:08

So I prototyped my UQ in fleece to insure that the finished dimensions would fit me. It turned out that I had a fleece picnic blanket (given to me by a prior job for being such a valued employee two weeks before they laid me off

) that measured 56x44.

HUZZAH!

Removed a canvas flap that wrapped around the blanket and velcroed closed once the blanket had been "properly" folded and rolled, and stitched the corners down at 45* angles. Added strip of grossgain over the newly created edges for reinforcement and styling.

Sewed 2 inch hems on the long sides and 1 inch hems on the head and foot ends. This gave me my desired dimensions. Ran 4ft length of shock cord in the head and foot ends. I doubled over one end of the shock cord and stitched it into the hem of the UQ. (right side for head and left side for foot) Added cordlocks to the running ends to snug up the ends. Used a single long peice of shockcord to run through both sides to create a continous loop. A pair of S-biners connect the UQ to the hammock suspension.

The yellow bit of paracord was so I could keep it even on insertion, no longer needed.

Despite the +90* temps I hopped in to test the fit. Snugged up the head and foot ends with the cord locks. A unforseen positive side affect of the cordlock positions is that while snugging up the ends they also shift to line up better with the way I lay in my hammock.

(Yes! That is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T-Shirt, and no it's not an authentic original.)

Immediately noticed how warm I felt from my neck to my knees. The quilt snugged up perfectly to my body with minimum fiddling.

I'm now even more convinced on the length and width of my UQ. The problem I now have is figuring out the rest. I'll most likely go with 1.9oz ripstop from Hancocks, as that is what I have on hand. I was looking originally at a non-differentially cut quilt with 2 inch baffles filled with 7oz of down for a whopping 28% overfill. When 6 ounces would have given me a light 10% overfill, but would be more difficult to empty into 7 baffles. Unless I could have it packaged into 7/8 ounce bags. (And yes I know that Adam and Jenny at Hammockgear.com would be willing to do so.

)

Now after further research (aka going back and looking through every UQ thread I could find with my bad search skills dating back to early 2007) I feel a bit better prepared for the task ahead of me. I'm now considering a differential cut UQ. The differential cut would mean that my initial sizing of 52x42 with 2 inch baffles gives me:

6oz = 01% Overfill

or

7oz = 18% Overfill

Of course if I pleated the baffles, which seems to be popular option among many, that would bump my overfill percentage up a bit depending on how long and deep my pleats went. And the pleats would also help to add more contour to the UQ so as to provide better contact with the hammock and my backside in the hammock. Either way I'm planning on seven 6 inch baffles running from head end to foot end.

So my questions for the experts out there:

What are normal pleat measurements? I noticed one person had pleated 6 inches at the head and 15 inches at the foot. Approximately 1/2 inch at the deepest point.
Approximately how much overfill percentage can be gained from pleating the baffles? (Use above numbers for reference unless you know better, then please let me know those numbers as well. )
Can normal mosquito netting be used for the baffles or will the down move too easily between the baffles due to the larger holes? (I only ask because I have a bit of scrap I'd like to use if it's viable, if not that's fine.)
Does pleating allow you to get rid of the draw cord on the head and foot ends as the UQ is already curved to snug up to the hammocker?
How many rugs could a Shug bug, if a Shug could bug rugs?
Is two inches thick enough for 3 season? Some places say yes, some no. And I realize it is a personal thing as everyone is different, what about in your experience? I know that Adam makes his 3 season Pheonix 3 1/2 inches thick. While Jacks has 2 1/2 and tewa uses 2 inches. And even Western Mountaineering, known for providing conservative numbers, list their four inch bags at down to or even below freezing. (Does Adam just make really warm quilts? Guess thats really two questions in one there. )

Thanks to everyone for your input on my newest project.

The TL : DR I need help so I don't screw this up.