I got my sewing machine from a thrift store earlier this year, played with it a bit, but never put it to work.
Now I'm going backpacking with my nephew, he needs an underquilt for his hammock, and instead of buying one, I made a rough copy of mine.
It's a little shorter, and heavier, but it's probably a little warmer too 😬
I still have to put the shock cord on the ends, so I haven't tested if it will hold its shape properly, but I think it will.
I cut up an old throw blanket that was gifted to us years ago, we never use it, and it's not pretty, so... 🤷♂️ I was gonna cut the tassels off and sew all the edges, but I ran out of gumption. I still might, it would be a weight savings, but I doubt my cuts will be clean and straight, it'll probably look worse.
Edit:
So I tested it out. I was warm at 50 degrees with no breeze, but the temp went up to 55 and a steady breeze started blowing, I definitely felt... Cool, underneath me. So I think it could be decently warm, it just needs some wind breaker material added to it to stop the breeze from sucking away the heat.
Nice work! Having an underquilt already probably really helped getting the shape right.
I just made a light camping quilt myself, and it was really nice to be able to pick the materials that I knew I would like. I'm a sweaty sleeper, so i don't like the feeling of a lot of technical nylon fabrics right on my skin. They often feel really plasticy and don't let much water vapor through. I made my quilt with a meshy fabric on the inside, and a traditional lightweight, water resistant, windproof fabric on the outside. That way I could still keep drafts at bay, but without my skin ending up clammy.
I would like to eventually make a hammock with the under quilt built in for weight savings.
That sounds like my sleeping material preference
Specifically, I used ripstop by the roll's Monolite. It's not super soft, so maybe not something you'd want if you planned on sleeping in just underwear or something, but with shorts and a t shirt, it works great