Turning A Snugpak Jungle Blanket Into An Under blanket

Hello there, I hope you enjoy this little “How To” article

I have been using the Snugpak under blanket and quilt when in my hammock for many years now and it has never let me down. I am off on another canoe trip to Sweden later this year and I want to take my hammock and Snugpak under blanket and quilt with me, But….. It does not pack down as small as I would like and now that Snugpak are using some newer technology in some of their kit such as the Jungle blanket, I thought I would give something a go.

I took my Jungle blanket to the sewing machine and made a few modifications to it.

I wanted this to be useable in a single layer and a double layer under blanket, so first after sitting down and drawing up a few plans I decided I would need to hem it all the way round and straight down the middle of it too.

I first I had purchased some elasticated shock cord and some small carabiner clips to fulfil the task, these I got of eBay for a few quid.

At the sewing machine I folded the blanket in half and marked out where I would need to cut a hole in the centre to allow the centre draw cord to be pulled through in the middle. I used the “button hole” setting on my machine to sew in a button hole then cut this open.

Next I sewed down the centre with it folded in half to produce a channel for the shock cord to run in. then I did the same on all four edges. Folding over the edge about 2cm to make a channel all around the edges. Leaving a small gap at each end and in the middle of each edge.

Once done I had to feed in the shock cord along each side. This was trickier than I thought it would be due to my sewing being very need and close to the edge. Maybe I should have done a 3cm hem as that would have made this step a bit easier. But I managed to after a fair bit of fiddling to get the cord trough.

Then at each end of the cord I slipped on one of the small carabiners and tied off a looped end. In the centre of both length edges I put on a toggle clip so that the cord could be pulled tighter in use and held in place by the toggle.

It’s easy when said (or typed out) like that but it took a couple of hours to get it all done.

Packed back into the stuff sacks the size difference is clear to see.

That weekend I was off to the woods for an extended period of time so I took it all along to set up and test out. It worked a treat. I am very happy with the results and the much smaller pack size of this is great for expeditions abroad where space and packing weight are at a premium.

So Snugpak, if you want to make the under blanket and quilt out of this new material, I for one would be a happy customer and more than happy to help you out with development and testing.

Ian