Down underquilt resources

[tartanferret]

I've seen some goose-down pillows for sale quite cheaply and am considering attempting an underquilt.

I'm looking for links / advice on;

The appropriate materials, inner, outer, baffles etc

patterns

construction

How to judge how much down to put where and how to put it there

Thanks

Also, how can I go about guessing how many pillows I will need. I'm currently thinking a 3/4 length one. To be warm from now until Autumn. Is there a 'Down ratio' type thing?

 

[resnikov]

Have you had a look at http://www.hammockforums.net/ yet? Great resource for all things to do with hammocks. They have quite a few plans for UQ on there.

 

[bill lemon]

hi,ive just made two down underquilts from an old duvet and some parachute silk i got off ebay.

you,ll need some 4mm shock cord also and a couple of toggle clips for cinching up the ends of the quilt.

i simply folded the ripstop para silk in two @ about 7 ft long then stitched one side and the two ends to form a channel for the shock cord to run through,then i ran a stitch from one side to the other in six inch intervals to form the tubes that the down would sit in. then when i stuffed the down into the tubes i ran another stitch along the remaining side to seal the down in place.then folded the remaining edge over and stitched that to form the last channel for the shock cord to run through.

this was a `stitched through` underquilt without baffles as i thought it would be too hard to do , and to be honest i dont plan to be hammocking in sub zero temps anyway.

the quilt is seriously warm and to be honest i may have stuffed too much into it,but it packs down pretty small and does what its supposed to do.

the quilt tubes run widthwise,not lengthwise to minimise cold spots.

hardest thing to do was harvest the goosedown from the old duvet,bloody stuff gets everywhere, but if you stick a binliner in a bin and empty the down into it then compress it with your hands then its manageable.

saved myself about £100 quid per quilt i recon doing it myself , now all i need is a topquilt with a footbox but ive already ordered the stuff for that ,all i need now is a couple of old down pillows or a cheap duvet from tk maxx.

same thing costs about £85 on ebay.

 

[bill lemon]

oops,posted this twice.

 

[Teepee]

I've several under my belt now.

For a 3/4 length UQ for 3 season use in the UK, you want around 2" /50mm of loft. Thats around 7oz of 850 fill down. For a pillow, the down can be varying qualities with varying amounts of feathers in it. Feathers will always poke through so I reckon its worth buying from a reputable maker. 850 fill power standard size pillow have around 500g of down in them, its a good guide to know what quality the filling is. If its says 900g of high fill power down and not a firm pillow, its not that good quality down(could well be chicken feathers!).

I don't recomend sewing through, its actually harder to do neatly and will lower the performance of the quilt. Sewing the baffles is time consuming but easy and makes construction easier.

As Res says, go to HF. They have everything you need. The baffles, sizing and quantity of down are straightforward. The bit that I'd say to pay special attention to is the darting and diffential sizing of the top and bottom layers-its a headache if you've not done it before. Its alot of work making an UQ and the shaping is by far the most important aspect for getting it snugged up properly. Get this right and you will be proud

IME, parachute nylon is downproof but not featherproof. You will get feathers poking through, even using Pertex 4.

One more thing; use 10mm as a seam allowance for everything, nothing less. Any less than this and the seams will eventually open up, spilling downy goodness and warmth. Cutting the fabric with a hot-knife of soldering iron will double ensure the inegrity of your seams.

To harvest the down, erect a tent in the house and do it in there with a dust mask to stop your wife burying you under the patio. Having a vacuum cleaner on standby with an old pair of tights over the tube will collect any stray floaty bits that make it out of the tent(it will)

If you need any help, don't hesitate to PM me.