Down Comforter repair

Hi --

Anyone have any advice on making a down comforter more effective at
keeping the down in its place? Despite frequent shaking, most of the
down in my 12-yr-old comforter spends its time in the bottom corners.
The down is in vertical channels, with no horizontal baffles to keep
it in place. I'd like to shake it into position and then sew simple
horizontal baffles. Is there an art to doing this? That is, am I
likely to squash the down and thus keep it from being warm unless I do
it right? Or should I just keep the horizontal lines, say, a foot
apart and go for it? And is it possible to buy more down (real or
synthetic) to add to it, while I'm at it?

Thanks!!

When I was young, my mother had purchased down comforters with these
supposed channels to keep the down in place. Knowing that they wouldn't
work for squat, she basically did her own quilting by doing squares both
directions on her machine. I can't remember exactly, but I think she
followed the "channels" that were already in the thing, and then made the
ones going the other way the same size. It worked well, and didn't change
how warm or cold I was at night....

I hope that helps! I am going to have to deal with my down comforter
sometime soon, so I hope you get more information!

--
Dannielle from NY
http://www.beitzell.com/dannielle/index.htm




"Niknak" wrote in message
m...
Hi --

Anyone have any advice on making a down comforter more effective at
keeping the down in its place? Despite frequent shaking, most of the
down in my 12-yr-old comforter spends its time in the bottom corners.
The down is in vertical channels, with no horizontal baffles to keep
it in place. I'd like to shake it into position and then sew simple
horizontal baffles. Is there an art to doing this? That is, am I
likely to squash the down and thus keep it from being warm unless I do
it right? Or should I just keep the horizontal lines, say, a foot
apart and go for it? And is it possible to buy more down (real or
synthetic) to add to it, while I'm at it?

Thanks!!

On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 15:12:51 GMT, "Dannielle Beitzell"
wrote:

When I was young, my mother had purchased down comforters with these
supposed channels to keep the down in place. Knowing that they wouldn't
work for squat, she basically did her own quilting by doing squares both
directions on her machine. I can't remember exactly, but I think she
followed the "channels" that were already in the thing, and then made the
ones going the other way the same size. It worked well, and didn't change
how warm or cold I was at night....

I hope that helps! I am going to have to deal with my down comforter
sometime soon, so I hope you get more information!

Hello from Scotland!
Our duvet has channels down the duvet, but it also has lines sewn
across the duvet to divide it up into squares. We never have a
problem with down migration. So I suggest that you do the same.


-- Jo in Scotland
I can be reached during the week at johanna.gibson at strath.ac.uk .... make obvious corrections to address

Mine is quite old, purchased at a local auction approx. 10 yrs. ago, and it
has huge squares, 12 inches square sewn into it to keep everything in place,
plus a 8 inch border all around sewn down for non-travel of down to outside
edges. I love it, especially this week where our temps are becoming much
more winter-like! 0-18 most days.
Marilyn in Moravia, NY



"Niknak" wrote in message
m...
Hi --

Anyone have any advice on making a down comforter more effective at
keeping the down in its place? Despite frequent shaking, most of the
down in my 12-yr-old comforter spends its time in the bottom corners.
The down is in vertical channels, with no horizontal baffles to keep
it in place. I'd like to shake it into position and then sew simple
horizontal baffles. Is there an art to doing this? That is, am I
likely to squash the down and thus keep it from being warm unless I do
it right? Or should I just keep the horizontal lines, say, a foot
apart and go for it? And is it possible to buy more down (real or
synthetic) to add to it, while I'm at it?

Thanks!!

Down Comforter repair

(Niknak)
Anyone have any advice on making a down comforter more effective at
keeping the down in its place? Despite frequent shaking, most of the
down in my 12-yr-old comforter spends its time in the bottom corners.
The down is in vertical channels, with no horizontal baffles to keep it
in place. I'd like to shake it into position and then sew simple
horizontal baffles. Is there an art to doing this? That is, am I likely
to squash the down and thus keep it from being warm unless I do it
right? Or should I just keep the horizontal lines, say, a foot apart and
go for it? And is it possible to buy more down (real or synthetic) to
add to it, while I'm at it? Thanks!!
---
('Quilt' and 'comforter' used synonymously)
First, if you are going to add feathers/down, plan to add it before
you sew additional baffle rows. The cheapest/best way is to buy a down
or fine feather/down blend pillow, and transfer the pillow contents to
the down comforter. Buy the closest to pure feathers that you can
afford. Avoid the cheap feather pillows--some of them contain feather
quills which you could darn near write with. They also make crunching
noises when you turn your head. (I felt a lot of pillow blends before
finding a nice down mix.)
This is what I did to transfer the down: open a very small (approx 2
inch) seam on the down pillow.
On my quilt, which had, like yours, only vertical seams, I shook/
pushed all of the feathers down into the quilt, away from the quilt top,
then I opened a matching hole in the top of each baffle, basted the
pillow hole to the baffle hole, as if they were two lips-- and shook a
bit of feathers into each baffle. Despite this careful maneuvering, down
gets everywhere, so have the vacuum handy, or work in your bathtub so
you can maximize the down retrieval.
I then worked the feathers further down into the quilt, and pinned or
basted across, about 2 inches down, to hole the feathers back, until I
was finished filling all of the baffles.
At this point, I had a problem, because the ends of my comforter were
originally serged shut, so I decided to simply serge off the original
finished end, which meant trimming only about 1/4 inch. (Sergers trim as
they sew, so this went quite fast.)
To make horizontal baffles:
Use a disappearing ink quilt marking pencil to mark off horizontal
baffles evenly. Push feathers/down away from the line, and stitch.
I was looking at new comforters today, and sewing the baffles every
12 to 16 inches duplicates many of the nicer quilts. The better feather
comforters are rated for warmth by the amount of fill--so much feather=a
certain warmth ratio. The covers are rated also for thread count and
resistance to down migration. Don't forget to also make a duvet cover
to protect your comforter. A couple of high-count cotton sheets sewn
together make a great cover. The sheets should be about the same size as
your comforter, with very little wiggle room. Close with buttons, ties,
a zip, or snap tape. (I used the snap tape, and I hate it, although it
does keep little dogs from burrowing between the cover and the quilt,
which was the main purpose.)
I think I used 1 and 1/3 feather pillows to refurbish my queen size
quilt. Should have put all of the second pillow in, but we were having
some fairly warm winters at the time. I combine the comforter with
flannel sheets, and it's warm and cozy.
Cea

I know I have to do this too, my duvet does not have pockets but
incomplete lines of stitching here and there that don't seem to work too
well. It gets so asymetrical that it weighs me down since all the
feathers seem to be hanging on my side of the bed.... but I have been
managing to ignore it... I am scared of having to roll it really small
to make it fit under the arm of the SM! I guess you would start at the
center and move to the edges.... of course now I have to do it... )



--
Dr. Quilter
Ambassador of Extraordinary Aliens
(take the dog out before replying)