Is a DIY down quilt made from an eBay used down sleeping bag a good idea?

[TailLights]

I'm seeing used down sleeping bags on ebay for okay money. Some seem crazy expensive for used bags, some seem reasonable. I'm wondering how practical it is to buy one, wash the down with Nikwax down wash (or maybe just woolite to save money?), then deconstruct it, and re-sew it into a quilt (closed in foot box, then opens up) to make a physically smaller bag which weighs less. So I'm re-using the down and the fabric. Zip and some fabric would come off and be put into the spares for future projects pile.

I'd be doing this for a fun project, and to save money, and to reduce my carbon footprint. If I could work out a way to do it effectively, I'd want to make a few for my kids (3 and 6) ... maybe get one bag and convert it into two kids quilts.

1) Is this just going to be a feathery mess?
2) I've heard down can lose it's loft, particularly if stored rolled up. Maybe a loft check at home with marked jar and scales before building
3) We donated our sewing machine last year, so I would have to go buy a replacement at goodwill or similar.

[Lentamentalisk]

This sounds like an astronomical amount of work, but if it is fun, then you should absolutely do it! I think you'll find that you can't salvage as much of the fabric as you might hope, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

Handling the feathers is tricky, but I've seen some clever hacks with a shop vac or something like that to insert and distribute the feathers. You may want to look into that. Certainly don't go using and old vacuum that is full of other junk!

[Adam Alphabet]

The way I would do it...

*You could shift the down out of the way creating a flat spot of just shell material before cutting it...
*Sewing a basting line or some other way of keeping the down in place before you cut it open to keep the down flying all over the place cause that would be a nightmare.
*Create you pattern on the open 'blanket you now have' with the feathers still sealed in place.
*Then one baffle at a time remove what excess you don't want/need and seal it up up one baffle at a time.

I think it'd be a worthy experiment if you've got the time, patience and find good value on the cost of the original bag you're going to cut up.

Good Luck!