kate,
thanks for your well thought out posts. I have changed my design to fit some of your thoughts. The first was to

(Kate and anyone else feel free to chime in.)
I practiced on a smaller scale model with the design and have been practicing my quilting. I'm great at it on muslin, cheap ripstop.... not so much. I did a small 2ft segment with my mystery material and it seemed easier to quilt then the other synthetics I have practiced on. I'm dreading quilting this thing....

- Will thread basting not work for my project? After my quilting practice I feel not so confident and would like any other suggestions. My wife is bringing home a tightly woven acrylic yarn that I'm gonna practice with on the cheap ripstop and some old insulation from a Thrift shop parka. I know this is a small sample but I wanna test the small before I go big and waste.

Would basting every 1.5 feet be enough or should I go 1foot. The other Ploft quilt went every 2feet.

I also read about the rubbing of the insulation you deemed a problem. Will it pull apart on itself? In my new design (Hoping still for basting instead of quilting) I came up with two options:
1. Sew one layer of the Ploft (backing out) to side "A". Sew the other layer of the Ploft (backing out) to side "B". When I put "A" to "B" the Ploft backs would face each other and the open insulation side facing the mystery fabric.

2. Is shown in the picture below. Basically, sew the first layer of primaloft to another backing and then to side "A". I would then pin and spray the second layer of Ploft to side "B", align and sew "A" to "B". This adds 4grams.


Along with the basting I am changing the final seams to leave more of the pita open. My muslin sample ripped when the inside person tries to get out. Also I'm a hot body (figuratively & literally <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> ) & often need to throw out a leg to cool off.

I'm thinking about not using the folding and just making 3 pieces of fabric instead of one continuous.

I'm also planning to add some triangle pieces of mystery fabric to one end. The triangles will have a grommet holding 1/2 webbing 6 inches long. I will use the grommet with my trekking poles (upside down). I can make a quick shelter or lean-to with it or use some nylon cord to tie it up. The 1/2inch webbing is for connecting to my backpack to dry it off while hiking. My Deuter has two extra ladder locks. I can also use the webbing to connect to the bottom of my pad. (I always sew a ladder lock to my pads for connecting my bag.) I was trying to figure out how to get both in one package. I think this design is the best of both worlds. I used the triangle heavy ripstop to spread the stress of the connections across more surface space.


Everyones ideas, suggestions, flames, and otherwise are welcomed!!!!!!!

Thanks for everyones help!

GuruJ