I finally got around to sewing my quilt this past weekend. This is the second one i have done. The first was made out of some cheap ripstop from walmart and two layers of primaloft sport. This one is momentum/climashield combat/silnylon, which i based on one i saw here from ‘bear’. I tried to make this one a bit tapered, rather than a rectangle like my previous one. In the end the taper is not so obvious, though. I guess i was a bit conservative with this. I also added a drawcord at the top and some velcro to close it behind my neck. I was worried I had underestimated the amount needed after i realized that the 2 yards of material i purchased might not be long enough (i am just over 6’ tall). Thankfully AYCE cut everything a little longer than 2 yards :)

Everything came out pretty well. I like making quilts as they are pretty forgiving in terms of non-straight cuts and seams and such. One thing i remembered too late from the first quilt was that as I sewed the insulation to the other fabrics the insulation stretched and i was left with more insulation as i sewed. i ended up having to kind of bunch up the insulation in a couple areas. I’m not sure how to get around this. I guess one way would be to use a strip of extra fabric between the insulation and the sewing machine, then either leave it or try to remove it after sewing it?

i’ve attatched a pic of the finished product, and there are some more photos, including close-ups of how i secured the drawcord to the quilt (thanks to AYCE for the idea on this one) here:
flickr pics

another thing i learned - a sharpie marker will bleed right through momentum. i now have a nice line across the bottom of my quilt. ha!

Looks great- nice job.  Pictures look good too.

So were you intending that the silnylon liner of your quilt quilt serve as a vapor barrier?  Interesting idea.

RE insulation stretch:  This is a common gotcha.  The insulations stretch more across the grain than with it too.
The first thing to do is to know when your shell and insulation are matched up properly.  You can do this with notches, clothespins, pins, etc.  A new tool I’ve been using from the notion aisle is called microtack. 
Also from the notions aisle, a stiletto tool or equivalent, such as a bamboo skewer, will allow you to adjust the feed of the insulation layer as needed to keep the layers lined up.
Finally, from the notions aisle, pick up some tailor’s chalk or equivalent.  A nice fine tool is a Sanford Prismacolor white pencil, available in the arts section.

There are some other things that help with insulation, usually dealing with feed (such as using an even feed or walking foot) or with avoiding snagging (using an index card, post-it, or tape loop to keep loops off the pressure foot prongs).

Looks like i got my materials mixed up. The liner is actually the 1.1 oz Nylon Ripstop, not silnylon.
Thanks for the other ideas.

You can probably remove the sharpie markings with rubbing alcohol.

I normally HAND-baste the synthetic insulation to the shell to avoid stretching. Then I turn the quilt inside out (I leave a 12” hole inthe shell at the bottom) and top-stitch about 1/2” from the edges, which secures the insulation in place. The Hand-baste doesn’t need to be done very carefully, since the later machine top-stitching is what actually holds everything together. As I recall, my last quilt took 2 hours to Hand-baste, and I probably wouldn’t have done the job any faster with a machine, given all the errors I would have made due to insulation catching in the machine.

Could you describe what you mean by “hand-baste”?  I’ve only ever heard that term at Thanksgiving.

“Baste” means to sew with long loose stitches.  The purpose of the stitches is just to hold the pieces together, and the long stiches makes them easier to remove.  They could be spaced as much as 3-4” apart.  Ray Jardin suggests using clothes pins to do the job.  Ikes,nice job. Is your quilt rated for 20 degrees?  What does it weigh?  How do you plan compress it to stow it in your pack?  I have believed synthetic bags to be too bulky, but maybe Climashield is less so than older materials.

Hello,

I’ve wanted to do this with a double layer of 6 oz. Primaloft (for winter climbing), but I’ve been told it’s hard to manipulate and sew. The Climashield is supposed to be bulkier, though. Any thoughts?

elliott.will - 14 December 2007 12:50 AM

Hello,

I’ve wanted to do this with a double layer of 6 oz. Primaloft (for winter climbing), but I’ve been told it’s hard to manipulate and sew. The Climashield is supposed to be bulkier, though. Any thoughts?

I’ve done a few projects with the XP and with Primaloft and for approximately equal weight insulations (comparing 2.5osy XP to 3osy PL Sport for me), I found that the Primaloft is somewhere between—and this is a rough and somewhat subjective approximation—60-80% more compressible than the Climashield.  However, the stiffness of the Climashield really pays off for sleeping bags and quilts so you don’t have to do much work to stabilize the insulation, and this ultimately pays off in eliminating any zero-loft spots.

AYCE - 29 November 2007 02:45 PM

 
Also from the notions aisle, a stiletto tool or equivalent, such as a bamboo skewer, will allow you to adjust the feed of the insulation layer as needed to keep the layers lined up.

There are some other things that help with insulation, usually dealing with feed (such as using an even feed or walking foot) or with avoiding snagging (using an index card, post-it, or tape loop to keep loops off the pressure foot prongs).

<How does that work, exactly? Push down with the skewer, along the direction of travel of the material?>

Never mind - I think I figured it out!