DIY Sleeping bag

[beean]

Project 2 for the long weekend - a sleeping bag.

It's incomplete at the moment, as I ran out of fabric to complete the hood. Also didn't anticipate the fabric bunching up when I sewed it, so I need to add a vertical baffle at the zipper to make it wider.

Plans were drawn up a week or two prior to the gear arriving, using sketchup which is basically a free CAD program.

I'm now the baffle zen master! I reckon this will keep my warm down to maybe -7 or -10. Sweet. Downside is I need a new stuff sack.

Kudos to everyone in this thread (http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=16601) for doing it first.

Features:

Superslim (i.e. I can't move it's so damn skinny)
16cm loft
Paltry weight so far of 633g (so far)
Maybe 200-300m of thread used
Down draft tube
Useless hood

Upcoming features

Slim (i.e. I can unzip the damn thing)
Increased weight
Hang loops (I forgot them)
Functional hood

For my first build I'm stoked!

[Redback]

Great work! sewing baffles is a pain.

[beean]

I hated the baffles, I loved the baffles, I became the baffles.

[simonm]

Really nice work. Yes you get to know baffles well.

[Orion]

didn't anticipate the fabric bunching up when I sewed it

Had to laugh reading that as I've had the same happen to me.
My girlfriend wondered if I'd had the machine tension too high. I decided it was inevitable.

[beean]

Note I'm calling the slim fit a 'feature'. Normally you pay extra for that.

[DannyS]

I hated the baffles, I loved the baffles, I became the baffles.

Love it!

[beean]

Well I've finally finished. Added an extension baffle and finished the hood. Total weight: bang on 700g.
It looks like Frankensteins monster.

[perfectlydark]

That is.awesome well done!

[simonm]

Looks warm.

[undercling-mike]

Nice work, looks very warm. What fabric and down did you use and how much did you put in there?

[beean]

I picked up a top quit kit off simonm at Tier Gear and added a bit of extra fabric and zippers.

It's got 450g down and uses around 8m of Argon 67 fabric.

[Orion]

Very unusual with how you did the side panel below the zipper. That must be the Frankenstein part.
It's a half length zipper, right? Does it have a draft tube?
Did you make a collar?

[beean]

The side panel was thrown in because the fabric bunched up and made it too skinny to zip up, so I needed to make it wider.

Yup, half length zipper with draft tube. I've also sewn the zipper offset on the long panel so it overlaps the draft tube as well.

I didn't make a collar because I thought it would be too hard, but I'm thinking if I need to I can put a bungee cord in to pull the baffle around my neck closer.

In hindsight, I definitely should have gone with a quilt for the first project.

[Orion]

I see. I tried something similar with a pair of shorts I made. I copied an older pair quite faithfully only to discover my template shorts didn't actually fit me anymore! It was a very embarrassing moment when I realized that. I had already invested a fair amount of time on these shorts. So I added a third panel to the butt section. It looked ridiculous and there was no way I was going to walk around like that. Did you ever see that old Monty Python sketch about the guy claiming to have a third buttocks?

Fortunately your sleeping bag only looks a little bit weird. You might even convince people it's part of a clever design to improve its performance.
How does it feel to sleep in it?

[beean]

I only plan on showing it to my climbing partner, it can be our secret

With temps still around the 22 degree mark here I can't stay in it for more than 10 mins, so I guess it's pretty warm.

I'm off to live in Canada shortly where I expect it'll get a workout.

By the way, the wonky baffle design is intentional as it captures the down and stops it moving around (convincing enough?)

[markg]

Looks pretty good to me.

[undercling-mike]

That Argon fabric is very nice and as long as the bag functions well then it will look beautiful in your eyes.

I've made a down quilt and am working on a second one (for the latter one I got materials and down from Simon at Tier Gear, he was great to deal with). I realised that I was always using my previous bag opened up quilt style so making a quilt made sense. I've probably just been lucky with the sewing machine I'm using but I had no real problems with bunching or feeding the lightweight fabric and I'm super happy with how it all turned out. Perhaps I'll have to start a thread about my quilts...