UKC

OK, not wishing to need to wash my new sleeping bag more than necessary I'm trying a cheap liner - if all I was going to make one from was a polycotton sheet it was as cheap to buy one already sewn.  I have bad memories of liners getting tangled up in sleeping bags, but this is one of these difficult to wash bags so I thought I'd get a cheap one to experiment with.  So I've got it here and it's what I expected - a mummy shaped liner bottom longer than top at head end and about 12 inches open at one side to the top.  Thereby provides the connundrum.

Do you modify these things.  The sleeping bag opens nearly down to my ankles - easy to get into.  The liner, as above, much less so.  So how do you use these things?  Do you get into the liner and then wriggle into the sleeping bag - difficult in tiny tent, do you modify the liner so it opens for a longer distance like the sleeping bag, then do you modify bag and liner and add tapes etc. so it stays in place, do you use sratchy velcro instead of tapes, do you go the whole hog and add a zip to the liner so it works like a sleeping bag etc.  

I'd be interested to know what other folks have tried and perhaps more importantly what works - for example, I have visions years ago of my mum's carefully sewn on tying tapes very easily ripping their stiches and possibly damaging the bag.  So please let me know what works for you.  Many thanks.

I’ve got a silk liner with no zip and just wriggle into my liner, then into my sleeping bag. I’ve never had to unzip a sleeping bag and never had a problem even in a small tent. 
 

There shouldn’t be a need for tape, velcro or zips on your liner. They’ll just add weight and more things to snag and catch on. 

Same as Shantaram, I use a silk liner which is warmer, lighter, more comfortable on the skin, easy to wash and quicker to dry than cotton. No need for ties, just slide into it before getting into the bag then pull the bag up from the feet up over it. Being silk it slides in easily and you can do it lying down on the mat with a little bit of wriggling by arching your back. It's easier with a zip on the bag, but not essential a , and no problem in a small back packing tent  - I've even managed in a bivi bag.

Good luck!

3rd shout for a silk liner - LifeVenture one, I think, not that it really matters.

As stated, don't try/bother to modify it. Un-zip bag, wriggle into liner, zip bag up.

As above, silk liner, no zips, get in liner get in bag. If it's warm might not use the bag, or just use it as a duvet. Liners are much easier to wash than bags.

Yes, they are useful for keeping you bag clean, but a pain.  Life is not as free and easy as it is without the liner.  Silk is good.  But they still tangle up with you throughout the night.  And as others say, you have to wriggle in and basically forget the zip on your bag. 

But I've used them for 25 years or so and only worn through about 4.  Basically the silk rips along the lengthwise stitching after a while.  And all repair attempts fail also after a while. 

Easier in a tent than a bivvy bag, where it feels like you are getting in and out of  27 layers of sleeping bag ever time you get up for a slash.

I used to have horrible worries about getting woken up with my feet tied together with the liner - mainly after years of youth hostelling with the cotton sheet sleeping bags, but that didn't really happen with a silk liner.

I used to just use a set of clean thermals and wash them instead.

Cotton ones seem to tangle more  easily than silk, possibly because silk slides more easily inside the bag. Warmer and lighter too. Well worth the extra cost.

Method:-

Open foot zip the requisite distance (1-2feet) if necessary, open head end zip down to the foot zip pull. Get into liner in open bag up to armpits. Pull up main zip / lie down in whatever order works. Pull liner up over your shoulders and finish sorting out bag zips/hoods drawstrings. Get annoyed that you can't lie on your side / front properly because the liner sticks to you instead of the bag and you can't turn around in it without getting suffocated.

I've not found a decent liner yet. Silk ones aren't durable. Mummy ones are too restrictive in the foot area. The lifeventure and Blacks ones aren't long enough, so the bag still gets mucky in the hood from face and hair grease.

For a long time now I've used a Rab pertex liner.

Tough but nice and slippy so you don't get tangled in it.

It adds an appreciable warmth to any sleeping bag and I often use it on it's own in summer. ( Having said that I sleep hot)

The only downside is the few seconds of cold when you initially get in.

This.