by andrewa » Tue 13 Sep, 2011 11:15 pm
Nice project. Bad luck about the cat. Worse if it was a waterproof outer.............like much much worse.
Another way of making a foot box if you sometimes don't want one............
Make your quilt about 6" longer than needed, and flat. Think about the best way to attach the edges of the lower quit together - either an open end zip (12-24"), or some press studs, and sew a sleeve across the bottom of your longer quilt into which you put a draw cord. When you want you foot box, zip/press-stud the lower bit together, and pull the draw cord up tight. When you don't want i, you can have a flat quilt. No tricky circular sewing, or velcro.
I apologise if this isn't clear, but it's difficult to describe. I can attach photos of this if anyone really needs them.
My more recent (note that this is not my"ultimate one", which I'm about to make when my nylon and 900 loft down arrives from thru-hiker) sleeping bag functions as a quilt using this "foot box" design. I've made 5 sleeping bags to date, varying from the full on goretex shelled, differentially cut baffled designs, with vertical baffles over the chest of the 80's, through to the ultralight quilt style of recent years - sometimes quite a cerebral challenge. I add that it's really hard to think about chucking out the former, when the latter is so much more efficient
Andrew A