Using a quilt with sewn through baffles for 2 season conditions - a bad idea?

Dave5791

Trail Blazer
Hi all,

Does anyone have thoughts on whether or not using a down filled quilt with synthetic sides that has sewn through baffles is a good idea? I'm considering something around 500g or less in total weight that is compressible to small volume and will be good for temps down to around 4 or 5C.

Various vendors appeal but I was looking to gauge people's experiences before taking the plunge. It would see most use in upland UK environments and would probably be used with a liner.

Any comments would be most welcome.

Cheers,
Dave
 

craige

Thru Hiker
Best person to ask is @Scotty Von Porkchop, owner of bespoke ultralight. He makes quilts with down centre and synthetic edges and quilts with sewn through baffles that are differential so they can loft properly. He's been using them for a couple of years and is pretty pleased with the results afaik.
 

Dave5791

Trail Blazer
Cheers Craige. Already been in touch with Scotty. Just thought I'd canvas opinion on the pros and cons of such construction tested in the field.
 

craige

Thru Hiker
Fair enough, I assume in that case that you're talking about Scott's quilts?
I've not tested them myself but I'm pretty sure his theory is sound... the D shaped baffles squash into a regular baffle shape when against your body so the normal cold spots associated with sewn through quilts should be eliminated and the seams will be stronger fabric to fabric compared to regular fabric to noseeum x2. Synthetic sides should be fine as they'll be under you anyway.
My only concerns are that the down section should be wide enough to tuck under your body or the synthetic sides should have a similar temp rating to the loft of the down centre. Also tucking the quilt tight would flatten the baffles, especially around the shoulders, though that can be an issue with anything that isn't contoured and differentially cut to your precise body shape. On the upside if it's warm the quilt could be reversed and the cold spots of the sewn through baffles will prove an advantage. I've been trying to justify having Scott make me a quilt but haven't been able to... yet.
 

Dave5791

Trail Blazer
I was meaning the construction method generally speaking but given that Scotty uses the sewn thru method for some of his quilts as opposed to his D Baffle then yeah I guess you could say that it applies to his stuff as his quilts are under consideration. You make some good points regarding the actual use of such a quilt and I'll take them on board. I guess I was probably just looking for consensus on whether the cold spots associated with sewn thru are best avoided. It's too easy to be overly optimistic with regard to summer weather and temperatures in the UK never mind spring conditions. Thanks again for your thoughts.
 

craige

Thru Hiker
Well looking at other cottage vendors they generally don't do sewn through for quilts rated below 10°C. There are some bags I've seen sewn through rated lower but I'd rather have some real loft from box baffles or try Scott's design.

@GadgetUK I realise you probably actually know this and my post above may have been a bit confusing. But anyway, all down quilts have baffles. Baffle just refers to the method of restraining the down.
Sewn through is a method of making the baffles where the top and bottom layer of fabric are sewn together.
A box baffle is where there is a piece of fabric (usually noseeum) sewn to each side of the quilt to create a gap between the shell layers when the down lofts, this prevents flat spots and makes a more uniform thickness to the quilt.
 

Teepee

Thru Hiker
Temps approaching freezing is generally the point where sewn through construction starts to noticably suffer from feeling cold spots at the sew line. Above that temp, as long as there is a little extra filling in the quilt to compensate for the cold bridge the sew line introduces, it's fine. Wearing some clothes to sleep, in vastly reduces the effect of the cold bridging.

Sewn through down is always a compromise though, it's only done for budgetary reasons. Box wall baffles of any type are highly labour intensive to construct, compared to sewn through.
 

Gadget

Thru Hiker
my post above may have been a bit confusing. But anyway, all down quilts have baffles. Baffle just refers to the method of restraining the down.
It was the OP, not you, that threw me off. Thought it might have been a technique I wasn't aware of.
I just think of a baffle being a piece of material forming a wall between two tubes/chambers, rather than the tubes themselves.
But I see what you mean, if you have enough differential between the inner and outer skin, then the sides of the "D" created will maintain some loft over the sewn through seam.
 

Padstowe

Thru Hiker
I splashed out & got the PHD summer quilt from their collection last summer. It is a sewn through baffle quilt, was sleeping in it down to around 0 degrees with a montane fireball smock till Nov didn't find it a problem but wussed out of using it past that with a Rab photon mini & take the katabatic gear aslek instead. In the summer, found it great with a light base layer. (End of the day its all relative to how warm you sleep)
 
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Shoarthing

Summit Camper
As @Padstowe - I use a PHD sewn-through single ultra quilt (with footbox) from late April through to early September - ie a bit less than two seasons - with decent base layers & on a Downmat. Works fine - my favourite quilt by quite a way due to its weightlessness.
 
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Shoarthing

Summit Camper
Bought in the PHD sale - but in any event, it is really well hand-made, in blighty, out of first-class materials. The only cost I begrudged was PHD's extraordinarily expensive p&p . . .
Keep looking at a PHD ultra quilt - is it bad value for money though ?
 
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Padstowe

Thru Hiker
Keep looking at a PHD ultra quilt - is it bad value for money though ?
Not the same quilt, that one is a blanket quilt as the other was only available on the summer collection thingy they do & is as Shoarthing says is with a footbox meaning bottom half closed and open in the back from around ass level(for me just below). They may bring it out this april again? (edit: would be a nice quilt that for hot places with the ability of chucking the legs out from under)(edit 2: just seen you can get a footbag option on that so what do I know)
 
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Shoarthing

Summit Camper
Apologies: my silly mistake - didn't realise the summer quilt was a special design. Sounds great. My ultra quilt has a 'footbox' ie a pocket for the feet; but is in form a rectangle of sewn-through quilt. I actually prefer this to a full-on footbox as in my MLD quilt.

Sounds like a gixer sales pitch :biggrin:

Not the same quilt, that one is a blanket quilt as the other was only available on the summer collection thingy they do & is as Shoarthing says is with a footbox meaning bottom half closed and open in the back from around ass level(for me just below). They may may bring it out this april again?
 

Padstowe

Thru Hiker
@Shoarthing Ok so its just a foot envelope type thing? Its heavier aswell I believe the summer one is 270grs (sorry thats the price, 295grs is the weight :oops:) & rated to 5 degrees, they don't give a rating for that one. (always found that strange, ok you don't want to commit but at least give something that you're sure of!)
 
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Shoarthing

Summit Camper
@Shoarthing Ok so its just a foot envelope type thing? Its heavier aswell I believe the summer one is 270grs (sorry thats the price, 295grs is the weight :oops:) & rated to 5 degrees, they don't give a rating for that one. (always found that strange, ok you don't want to commit but at least give something that you're sure of!)
. . . yup, it's a foot envelope. Just looked on the PHD site and they call it a 'footbag' . . . . As a side-sleeper, I really like the freedom this gives. It weighs 405g and is big enough for a 1.93m user. I use it down to about 7-8C
 

Scotty Von Porkchop

Ultralighter
Right a bit late to the party (as usual) but I do have a set of sewn through quilts with pseudo baffles on them that are D shaped. Built so that the weak noseeum net is removed for tougher applications like bushcraft, novice users and me as I destroy gear in short order. While they're fairly competitive in weight with a traditional baffled quilt the one downside is that if the bag is, as @craige pointed out, if the quilt gets tightly pulled around one's self the down gets compressed.
I also use mine inside out in a bivy bag and that works well.

On the subject of normal style sewn throughs I absolutely love mine (one of my own but sewn throughs are all much of a muchness once material quality is accounted for) and is probably one of my most used bits of gear as you can use various tricks to push the temperature rating of a quilt

You can get a slightly more insulated version with KARO ish sewn through but not much in my opinion.
 

guaruska

Backpacker
sewn-through gives good materials a bad rendering. I have 2x Yeti Passion 3, sewn-through, both size reggae. T-limit is +3 C, weight is 520 g - I can't use them so my furnace sons use them. Fp 900 european standard. I'm moving away from sleepings towards box-styled baffled quilts/blankets - better weight to warm ratio, no cold spots. In reality I think it's impossible to actually feel the cold-spots, u just feel cold.
 
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