Reviews > Sleep Gear > Summer Bags and Liners > Design Salt Silk Mummy liner > Owner Review by Lynne Durham

Product purchase date: Not certain - approximately end of 2001

Product specifications:

• Material: 100% Silk
• Color: Muddy elephant (which I call "brown")
• Size: One size, advertised as 95" x 35" (241 cm x 89 cm), tapering to 22" (56 cm); actually 94" x 33" (239 cm x 82 cm), tapering to 19" (48 cm). However, my measurements are taken after 3 years of use and laundering. Additionally, 17" (43 cm) of that is part of the "hood" which is actually just a flat flap with a drawstring sewn around the edge, so it really doesn't have a hood shape until you pull it tight around your head.
• Weight: Advertised as 4.7 oz (133.2 g) ; actually 4.6 oz (130.4 g) (but of course that is after nearly 3 years of use, wear and laundering). This weight includes its own stuff sack which has labels on it and a big plastic barrel lock. I just stuff it with my sleeping bag and save 0.4 oz (11.3 g).
• Stuffed size: Not advertised, measured at 7" x 4" x 2" (17.8 cm x 10.2 cm x 5.1 cm) in its own silk stuff sack. I can stuff it down to the size of a softball with no problem.

Since its purchase, this mummy liner has been used at least 30 times in the field. Areas that it has been used include Kentucky in summer and early fall; Michigan in spring, summer and fall; West Virginia in early fall; and Ohio in late summer. It has been used for 3-season backpacking and camping in conjunction with a Campmor 20-degree (-7 C) down mummy bag. Because sleeping temperatures are so subjective, the conclusions of this report will be subjective while the reporting will be as objective as possible.

The bag has one opening where your head ends up after you're in it. To enter into the bag, I sort of put it on like pantyhose: I hold the bag with one hand on each side of the hole, gather up all of the material until I am holding the entire liner bunched up in my hands, then step into it and pull it up if I'm standing or pull it over my feet and then up over my torso if I'm lying down. Once the liner is up all the way, I tie the tie at the top to make the mummy hood stay in place on my head.

I've always estimated the Campmor bag to keep me comfortable down to about the high thirties, low forties F (low single digits Celsius) when dressed as I normally do for camping sleeping (T-shirt, knit pajama pants, socks in cool weather). By adding the Design Salt silk mummy liner, I have been comfortable in the mid to low 30s F (0 C). I have yet to be out on a night when it was colder than that. The silk liner may offer even further comfort, but I have not yet had a chance to test it lower than about 32 degrees F (0 C).

BENEFITS OF THIS LINER:

• Added warmth of about 5 degrees F (3 C), maybe more
• Perfect in hot, sticky weather - I'd rather have silk against my skin than sleep with no bag at all and have sticky, sweaty skin against skin
• Silk fabric feels much better against my skin than the sleeping bag nylon does
• Protects the down bag from excessive dirt, grime and sweat
• Launders well. I don't remember the care instructions that came with it, but I wash it in my home washer on gentle, with my normal detergent in cold water and hang dry
• It's durable. I have to admit than when I purchased it, I was skeptical of how well this gossamer fabric would hold up...I can be pretty rough on gear. But it has held up very well, and even after approximately 30 uses, there are no visible signs of wear.
• The natural fiber does not excessively hold stains or odors and it launders very well.

• The silky material slides and twists and turns - so on nights when I'm having a rough time sleeping and I toss and turn a lot, it gets annoyingly all twisted up around my body, even more so than my sleeping bag alone ever did.

Reviews > Sleep Gear > Summer Bags and Liners > Design Salt Silk Mummy liner > Owner Review by Lynne Durham