How to make a wool sleeping bag

Learn how to make a CHEAP woollen sleeping bag!

I tried finding a wool sleeping bag liner in local camping stores and then searched on line. Eventually I gave up looking and realized I would have to make one myself. I wanted to share this idea on Bush Channel so here it is! We have also used second hand wool items to make beanies, neck warmers and balaclavas. It is very easy to find wool jumpers and jackets at second hand shops. The blanket you see in my video would be about $300 to buy new but we got it for $8.

It was quite disappointing when I gave up searching for a factory made wool liner. It's obvious that lots of quality gear is turning synthetic, people are forgetting that nature has had it worked out for millions of years. Although it is heavier, there are many advantages with wool; it breathes better. Unlike polypropylene and nylons it is also much more difficult for bacteria to grow on wool. Woollen garments are more hygienic to use than synthetics. You won't have B.O. issues with woollen items the way you do with polyesters and other man-made fibres.

Once completing my project I was glad to think that my existing zero degree bag is now roughly minus 15 degrees in comfort with the wool interior added! I've now tested this sleep system on a recent snow camping trip, I'm sleeping like a bun in an oven.

Learn tips on how to camp in a snow tent CLICK HERE    • Winter Camping in a Snow Tent  

Video of what I take on a 4 day hike    • My Lightweight Camping Equipment  

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CAPTIONS TRANSCRIPT
I've always wanted a woollen sleeping bag
liner but after searching online I decided
I would have to make it myself
I bought this queen size blanket at a second hand shop for only $8
I use a thermorest and later a down sleeping
bag to help measure out the dimensions.
Here you'll see I'm removing the bias tape,
but later I use this for the draw string section.
So I have the blanket wrapped up tight and
the next step is I just want to weigh the portion I've cut off, just to find out how
heavy it's gonna be. I'm a little bit worried it's gonna be over a kilo. We'll just find
out.
I'm just cutting the draw string now,
We even have a small button for the rope ends
Once both pieces of that rope go through
Use my cigarette lighter to melt the ends.
If I am burning a piece of string this way,
first I lick my finger before I touch it, you don't want to burn your hand. If my finger
tips are wet I wont get burnt.
I might try to slip the draw string through
now before we finish stitching the bias. That part on the end is the bias, so we're just
using the bias from the old blanket, and this string is a guy-line from a tent.
Here's the other piece of bias for the hood
Not sure how they do this in factories. But I'll put the rope through and stitch the bias after.
So right now I'm in the sleeping bag we're
just testing it out. It's a pretty good fit, there's a little bit of room for movement.
I didn't want the sleeping bag to be too big because then it would be too heavy. But we haven't decided how big we'll make the box foot section.
My feet are sticking out a bit. So we'll just make the box foot bigger.
This will allow a couple more inches to the sleeping bag.
I've marked my 2 lines where I want the box
foot section to begin.
Plenty of foot room, and now to see if it fits inside my orange bag
The orange bag is rated at zero degrees, I'm
guessing that with the woollen liner that
temperature could drop to minus 15 degrees
comfort!
Now to see if the whole complete set
will fit inside the factory made bag that my down sleeping bag came in.