this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2025

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My first project! Underquilt! Not pretty, but functional, probably. (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by beastlykings@sh.itjust.works to c/sewing@lemmy.world

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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.

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[–] evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] beastlykings@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Oh for sure, I traced that thing haha. It still ended up s little lopsided, but close enough 😬

Nice! A custom top quilt would be a cool project! Did you stuff it with anything?

A built in underquilt sounds good as well, again the question of stuffing comes to mind 🤔

[–] evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah, the easiest thing to use for any DIY lightweight insulation is called climashield apex. Most synthetic stuffing is essentially like cotton balls, and you have to quilt it in so that it doesn't all settle in the bottom. You still end up with some settling over time within each quilted compartment, and the parts where each square is closed off becomes a cold spot unless you sew in baffles like for a down quilt. That's a lot of work, though.

Apex is a continuous filament sheet, and you buy it by the yard like fabric. It won't have an issue with settling, so there's no need to use baffles or do any seams other than the outside edge, making it really beginner friendly. There's also charts giving you rough temperature ratings for a given thickness of the insulation which is nice. I'll caveat that the ratings they list seem a little optimistic to me, so they are likely "survival" ratings not "comfort" ratings, and they assume appropriate clothing worn underneath.

This isn't exactly what i did, but its similar. Mine is wide enough to be used as a top quilt for 2 people on a sleeping pad, or to completely enclose one person. I kept mine rectangular rather than taper the bottom end like most people do.

[–] beastlykings@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago

Thanks for all the information! Maybe I'll take a crack at a version 2!

[–] volvoxvsmarla@sopuli.xyz 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Such a great (more or less) first project! It looks great and I hope your nephew will like it just as much. It took me a while to even realize which one was copied (especially since I first had to figure out what an underquilt is and how it is supposed to look like - at first I somehow assumed it might be an inner and an outer part in the first picture)

I love that you used up a blanket that wasn't being used otherwise. Great way to upcycle and give an item a new life! The fringes look great.

Also, thanks for making me look up what an underquilt is. Never heard of that before. Neither of people sleeping in hammocks during hikes.

[–] beastlykings@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 months ago

Thanks! I didn't think of it as upcycling at first, but I like that!

Yeah hammocks can be super comfortable to sleep in, I prefer it to a tent. But you NEED an underquilt, otherwise the cold air will suck away your heat. Blankets in the hammock with you won't help, because they get squished flat and lose all insulating abilities. Gotta have a nice fluffy blanket strung up snug underneath your hammock to stay warm.

Or you can put an air mattress in the hammock with you, but that's clumsy and fiddly, in my opinion.

I'll update with pictures once it's strung up and operational!

[–] evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Hammocks are great for hiking if you live somewhere rugged with lots of rocks/roots, and not a lot of flat ground. I recently went on a hike where I had to go an extra few hours because there was nowhere flat to even lie down on the ground for 1 person, but if I had a hammock with me, I could have set up anywhere.

A one person hammock setup ends up being about the same weight as a one person tent when you factor in everything, but it's often easier to find a good place to set up.

[–] beastlykings@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Speaking of flat ground, have you looked into tensa style hammock stands? The idea is that with 4 lightweight collapsible aluminum poles, a couple stakes, and some careful movements, you can hammock on flat ground, sans trees.

I've been meaning to build one from wood to play with the idea at home, but haven't found the time.

I really like hammocking, and have no desire to buy into a tent/pad, etc for trips that have no trees. Specifically thinking of the Grand canyon eventually. It might be worth it to me to bring the extra weight if the poles, not sure yet.

[–] evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

That looks really cool. I've been wanting something like that to throw in my car. Looks like it's heavier than you'd want to carry around, but still useful for car camping. I've seen people park by a tree and string a hammock from their car to a tree before.

The other thing I made recently (inspired by the fact that I wish I had my hammock on my recent trip) is a hammock bug net. Mosquitos can bite through a hammock, so technically you need netting completely around you, but if you have an under quilt and/or a sleeping bag, you don't need it on most of your body. I made one roughly following this design. Instead of noseum mesh, I used monolite, which is a lightweight/see-through nylon ripstop which should be stronger than the noseum mesh.

If I make a hammock completely from scratch with an integrated under quilt and bugnet, I might go with a bridge hammock design.

My ultimate goal would be to make a setup that i can deploy while in the rain without getting wet. I've already made a poncho that's usable as a shelter (ripstop by the roll kit), and you can string it up while wearing it. It's a little smaller than I'd want as a permanent solution in rainy weather (single width of fabric doesn't give you much to work with), so maybe I'll eventually gift it to someone and build a bigger poncho/tarp.

[–] beastlykings@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That's a lot of info packed into one comment! Wow!

Ok so, that bug net, how does it work? It looks like there would be a big gap between your body and the top edge of the hammock walls? I can't wrap my head around this.

Also I had never heard of a bridge hammock. Very cool design, I'd like to see how one feels.

And finally, I can't picture how your put it up in the rain style hammock would work, but I love the enthusiasm. And I've never heard of ripstopbytheroll! I made an account, but the projects seem to just be pictures? Are there no instructions? At any rate, this has SERIOUSLY piqued my interest, and I'm contemplating making my own hammock now 🤣

It's a problem because I already own so many, but really only one of them is the proper length for me to sleep in while hiking. The rest I mostly just enjoy setting up while glamping, so people can hang out and chat.

[–] evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The bugnet basically goes completely around the top half of the hammock, but then there's enough extra fabric at your waist level that it drapes down and forms a "good enough" seal. You can either attach it to a ridge line, or you can have your ridge line pass through a buttonhole or grommet (what i did), so you still have access to the ridge line above your head so you can hang stuff off of it.

Setting up in the rain is a bit of a trick. If you are wearing a poncho/tarp, you start by lashing the front left corner to a tree. Next you grab the back right corner, and step back and lash it to another tree. You will have to pull your head out of the poncho hood at that point to be able to see what you are doing. You can then stake the other two corners out. You'll be completely out of the rain at that point, so you can string up the hammock.

The "projects" tab on ripstop by the roll is user submitted, so some people give a lot of pictures/instructions and some don't. Each of the items they sell as DIY kits have a YouTube video to explain how to put it together, though. Their YouTube has a lot of useful stuff, too. They also do a podcast.

The other place people buy stuff is dutchware gear. They have a lot of similar stuff, so just check to see who has what fabric you want cheapest.

[–] beastlykings@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 months ago

Thanks for everything!