A sheepskin sleeping bag!
In a slow and deliberate process, I've been developing a sheepskin sleeping bag, made from the offcuts of the vests. I've been using them now for a complete turn of the seasons, in the summertime as rugs, in the wintertime as sleeping bags. They're luxurious and so warm! Even on cold ground. They're the size of a queen bed when fully open, and fold and roll neatly inside a swag/bed roll. I'm trying to avoid using a Zipper to close it up. I have a few ideas, daisy chaining rope and loops for example. Until I resolve that, I'm not ready to put a price on them. They'll be up there though, as they take a full day to make on the machine I currently have. I'm not sure if a quilting machine exists to handle sheepskin, or if it will reduce the time to make. But at this stage they're looking like an Au$600 item.. Probably more if I think about it. Also, they're slow to come at the moment because I'm only using off-cuts from the vests. I'll ask around to see if any other sheepskin users have wastage I could use.
Of course, it's possible to use whole new skins, and while that would reduce the make time, it would increase the material cost. So it works out about the same.
I'll try and keep the price point about the same as a good quality sleeping bag. Even though they're entirely different products, I think it's a good comparison and perspective.
Watch this space!