The ultimate homemade underblanket for less than £12

[w00dsmoke]

I wanted to make the ultimate, functional and warm when wet poncho liner/underblanket. Something that will suit my needs. It had to be "dog" proof, be usable as a throw over/under when hammocking in the summer and winter and generally be used as a waterproof blanket and airbed insulator while camping. Oh- it had to be cheap to and easy to make!

All you need is:

Poncho
Mattress topper -fake sheep pile fabric (fibre pile), I bought mine from Dunelm Mills a fabric and haberdashery shop for £9.99 but these come in three sizes, single, double and king. Make sure you buy the kingsize topper.

Any fabric tape. I used 20mm wide black cotton tape @ 30p per meter, this was surplus from another project.
Sewing machine (this makes the job of sewing on the tape an awful lot quicker.) and strong thread or you can just use thread and a strong needle but it will take you longer.

I used a Dutch army poncho. This is the poncho and mattress topper before I started.

The first step is to unpack the mattress topper. Once this is done you will see that there is a fabric skirt around the edge of the pile fabric to keep it attached to a mattress.

Carefully cut this skirt off. You don't have to be neat, but you do have to make sure that you do not cut into the pile fabric.

The next step is to unfold your poncho and lay it out on the floor; then lay the pile fabric on top of the poncho and using a marker pen, mark on the pile edge where the corresponding eyelets are on the ponch. This is where you will sew on the fabric tape to the fibre pile so you can attach it to the poncho.

All you need to do now is sew on the cotton tape. I cut the tape into 30cm lengths and sewed two lengths onto either side of the fibre pile where I hasd marked it. The easiest way to do this is to sew the corner tapes first, then sew the tapes inbetween the corners.
In all, I had 12 pairs of tapes to sew on. It's easier to see this in the picture with the corresponding eyelets on the poncho.

After a wee while on the sewing machine and once you have tidied up the loose threads you now have a fibre pile blanket that fits a poncho exactly and has ties to enable you to tie in to make the "ultimate" poncho liner/underblanket for under £12!

If anyone thinks that this fibre pile isn't as good as the expensive pile on jackets etc, try it and see for yourself. It makes a very warm poncho liner/underblanket. Good luck!

 

[ol smokey]

I like it a lot and look forward to seeing it very soon. Cheers Stuart.:You_Rock_

 

[Spark]

That looks ace for £21, much cheaper than the commercial versions. This may sound daft but how do you attach it under the hammock as an underblanket?

 

[w00dsmoke]

That looks ace for £21, much cheaper than the commercial versions. This may sound daft but how do you attach it under the hammock as an underblanket?

£12 bud! The easiest way is to string up a ridge line over your hammock and use the eyelets in your poncho to attach thin shock cord/drawstring on ends and pull it up tight. It's not as good as a wanderingstar under blanket, but it will do the job. Bear in mind it's a multipurpose blanket.

 

[IntrepidStu]

£12 bud! The easiest way is to string up a ridge line over your hammock and use the eyelets in your poncho to attach thin shock cord/drawstring on ends and pull it up tight. It's not as good as a wanderingstar under blanket, but it will do the job. Bear in mind it's a multipurpose blanket.

Have you included the price of the poncho in the £12?? If so can you give me a link to where you got it please?

Nice tutorial BTW, and excellent idea for those chilly nights.

Stu

 

[w00dsmoke]

The poncho I had, but you don't need the poncho for it work... The poncho just makes it waterproof. I've seen poncho's for less than a fiver (Italian lightweight ones) failing that a plastic poncho in olive for a couple of quid would do.

Have you included the price of the poncho in the £12?? If so can you give me a link to where you got it please?

Nice tutorial BTW, and excellent idea for those chilly nights.

Stu

 

[Joonsy]

I've been using the same but ''single'' size for some years now to slip inside a three season sleeping bag to upgrade it for colder weather, they really are very warm and durable too, my single weighs about 800 grams, i don't know what the difference is between this and expensive stuff but i do know it is excellent in usage and light on your wallet.

 

[wedgie]

If anyone thinks that this fibre pile isn't as good as the expensive pile on jackets etc, try it and see for yourself. It makes a very warm poncho liner/underblanket. Good luck!

many years ago when i was working as a hod carrier i had a fiber pile combat jacket liner that i used autumn through to spring it was the best peace of kit i had at the time far warmer than the fleece jackets of the time and always warn under either a British army combat jacket or if it was really cold British army nbc (noddy suit ) jacket cant remember quiet what happened to it

 

[Wild Thing]

I had been thinking about this for a while but wasn't sure how warm it would be.

Nice one w00dsmoke, guess where I'm off to in the next few days, down the shops to get me a fleecy underblanket.

Phill

 

[BossCat]

Nice one Woodsmoke.

I made a sleeping bag years ago with the same type fleecy blanket, the only thing diff I done was add one of those silver tin foil type survival blankets as a middle layer between the fleec and the poncho.
Warm as toast and just like cuddling a sheep

TC

 

[crazydave]

foil blankets wont do anything but rustle as the poncho provides the thermal and wind barrier. I got asked at the moot if the foil blanket on the floor was reflecting the heat back up to my hammock, if I'd said yes then it would probably have done the rounds by now but I had to admit it was just carpet as the soil was so sandy.

this reminds me of projects I used to do as a kid when we used to get a new fleecy under blanket every year for winter so I used to cut up the old ones to line combat jackets and fishing smocks. besides the colour the only difference between this stuff and the buffalo bag material is they put a coating on the posher stuff to prevent pilling and improve abrasion resistsance. from what I've seen
the stuff used in the newer kit is much poorer in quality but I guess they say its lighter and more breathable so they can charge more for it. I've always found buffalo bags or decent sythetic bags suffice

if you cut a head hole into this then you have a summer cover/winter sit shelter.

 

[w00dsmoke]

this reminds me of projects I used to do as a kid

It's like what Toddy says, "Your never too old to have a happy childhood!"

I made a sleeping bag liner out of this last winter and sewed it all by hand as I didn't have a sewing machine then and it's the warmest stuff I've ever used. If it piles more than buffalo fabric, then all the better as it will insulate more. I did think about cutting a headhole in it but decided against it as i've already got two issue poncho liners, one with a head hole and tbh the headhole is a pain when you use it as a blanket! I also thought about taping the edges and puttingpoppers in to mate with the poncho but the edges are good and the poppers ouwl be cold spots so decided against it.

It's the easist project to do and the great thing about it is the pile blanket fits a poncho exactly. So with the minimum of work (and money) you have a very functional piece of kit.

 

[Joonsy]

It's like what Toddy says, "Your never too old to have a happy childhood!"

Growing old is mandatory, Growing up is optional.

 

[Spark]

£12 well thats even better than I thought! I see another project coming on.

 

[dave1942]

Just bought one from Dunelms, even better value as they have a sale on. With 15% sale reduction and 18p VAT reduction, total price £8-31. Now to get cutting and sewing.

Dave

 

[Cobweb]

Looks a lot more compact than my £5.99 sleeping bag and velcro jobbie.
I'll keep an eye out for one of those blankets, unfortunately we don't have a dunelm 'round these parts.

Nice Job, well done

 

[Gill]

woodsmoke would those clingon things be any ggod for putting it together rather than sewing it mate ,just a suggestion buddy.i,ve got a dutch poncho already and i,ve ordered a simulated sheepskin mattress protector form ebay £8.99 pluss pp .looks the bussiness mate htpp://.www.clingons.co.uk

 

[w00dsmoke]

woodsmoke would those clingon things be any ggod for putting it together rather than sewing it mate ,just a suggestion buddy.i,ve got a dutch poncho already and i,ve ordered a simulated sheepskin mattress protector form ebay £8.99 pluss pp .looks the bussiness mate htpp://.www.clingons.co.uk

The only reason I sewed ties on rather than put metal studs on, was to avoid cold spots and it emulated the issue poncho liner. I guess the clips would save you a wee bit of sewing. My idea was that the blanket could be modular and I could insert another layer inside if I wanted too...

Try it and see what you come up with. Thanks for the link I was after some of them!

Cheers

WS

 

[Gill]

right how does this work ! got the topper throught this morning fleece matress underblanket 152x200 says on the pack, i attack it straight away with the scissors,magik .get the dutch army poncho oot ,and guess whit the fleece is a mile too wee mine measures 150x150 ,surely 152x200 kingsize is the fleece part and no the fitting roon the edge .

 

[w00dsmoke]

When I first bought mine, I had that same problem a while ago when I bought one king size for the bed it turned out to be single. You need to make sure you get the KING SIZE, as the double size is too small. Mine with the skirt off fits the Dutch poncho, it's maybe slightly shorter (less than 10cm).

Looks like your's was wrongly labelled.