30 deg quilt questions

[brankulo]

now that i made all my bags and mid i am ready to proceed with quilt. i am going for 30 deg 2" loft. the thing i am not sure is how to handle the baffles. i will use no see um mesh. do i make the strips 2" tall when sewn to match loft or should they be tad narrower? 1.75" or so? also any good advice on filling with down part?
thanks

[jcluddite]

the netting need at least 1/4" seam allowance. use a fairly tight stich length, 8 stiches to the inch. so for a 2" baffle cut the no see um 2 1/2".

if you are using long baffles construct the quilt with three sides finished, fill each baffle, one at a time, pin shut then go onto the next baffle. to finish fold each layer of nylon in, so there is two folded edges visible, then top stich the edge of the quilt.

[brankulo]

ok, so mesh baffle ht without seam allowance should be same as loft ht?

[jcluddite]

depends.if a baffle is properly filled with the correct amount of down finished loft will always be a bit higher then the baffle height. not enough down and the finished height could be less.

figure out the volume of each chamber to be filled, then figure out how many onces or grams of down for each chamber. get a scale with a cardboard box on top to hold the quilt. weigh the unstuffed quilt, the zero out the scale, then add enough down to get the calculated weight for that chamber, pin it closed, zero out the scale again and repeat till bag/quilt is filled.

[Adam Alphabet]

I made a sewn through vest/quilt and filled it by stuffing the down in a card board tube. I would zero the scale, stuff the tube with the desired weight of down, stick the tube in the baffle and push the down out, into the baffle with a wooden spoon, then pin closed. Pretty crude but it worked and I ended up with an accurately filled quilt (compared to my calculations) by the end of it. Working with the down was pretty messy. I sealed myself in my bathroom otherwise my entire house would've been filled with down plumes. I was still finding them months later! Plus side is I ended up with an awesome piece of gear.

[brankulo]

i am also wandering, for 30 deg quilt, should i do sewn through and not bother with baffles?

[jcluddite]

well a 2" baffle is to big for a 30 degree quilt. thats more like a 15 degree .

if you use narrow baffles, say 3/4" ,it will be lighter for a given loft. more work but with a down jacket you can use it far colder conditions. a sewn thru quilt isn't as versatile. in colder conditions warm air goes right thru the stitch holes.

my summer down bag is 14 ounces and is fully baffled. and has full length zip for hot nights.

[brankulo]

thanks, i really need only 30 deg. i hardly ever camp even at that low temp. so maybe 1.5" baffles?
i was going by this chart from thru hiker, thats why i came up with 2"


http://thru-hiker.com/projects/down_quilt.php

[jcluddite]

Those baffles sound too big for the temp. rating. The down bags we make use shorter baffles. for home sewing a 1" baffle and proper quantity of down fill will be enough. a thing to think about the wider the quilting line the more room down will have to shift around, I think 6" wide chambers is as wide as you should go for good down control.