I prefer the fabric liners like you saw. The thought of brushing against a vinyl or plastic liner gives me the creeps. As you say, the fabric liner is launderable which is so nice. Typically, the liner only gets grimy at the hem. If you get any of those pink water stains or mildew on it pop it in the washer with some bleach or scrub it with Bar Keeper's Friend and then launder with detergent (BKF works very well if you have iron in the water and the hem of the curtain turns orange).

Also, with the curved rod, you may need to invest in a liner that is extra long. The curve pulls the hem of the curtain higher in the tub.

Thanks, my dreamhome! We do get those pink stains on the plastic liners so I'll watch for them on the cloth one. We bought a suspension rod to help us figure out at what height we want to hang the curved rod. I'll keep your comment about length of liner in mind as we figure that out and make sure I have enough inches to spare.

I searched in this forum for answers before posting, assuming this was the right place to ask my question. After I posted, I did a Google search and learned that I could have found my answers with a search in the Cleaning Tips forum. I think I'll stick with the cloth liner for our 2nd bath but I'm going to try the tips for machine washing plastic liners for my oldest son's icky plastic shower liner that he brought home from college. Fingers crossed.

Thanks, again!

After years of having plastic liners being a pain to clean, I switched to a polyester one and wash it with the laundry. No mildew problems, it works great!

yes i wash mine aswell look fab once washed, i cant have a shower screen due to the small restrcitions on height etc and i buy them with funky patterns to create a dramatic effect

Thanks, lpinkmountain, cat_mom and jsmith12, for your comments. It's so nice to hear more endorsements for what I decided to do.

cat_mom, what product do you spray the tile, tub and curtain with? Thanks!

Do the fabric liners leak? I'm having problems finding a shower curtain that I like, so I thought I might have a larger selection in fabric.

No the newer ones are so tightly woven they don't leak at all, and I have to say that like lpinkmountain, I was amazed at how much better the fabric liners are these days. I had stuck with plastic because of dying my hair (henna, which really stains everything), and the fabric ones don't even stain. You can rinse the spots right off in the shower.

I use a fabric liner from Fieldcrest that I got at Target as my only shower curtain and it works fine.

However, you aren't going to find a lot of colors and patterns in liners. They're mostly plain white or ivory, with maybe a woven stripe, but not any kind of color or patterns. Fabric curtains and fabric liners are two totally different things. Curtains are meant to be used with a liner.

I've tried both and have washed plastic in the washing machine with detergent and bleach without any problem.

I've found that serious stains (like hair dye) don't come out of vinyl in the washer nearly as well as they do out of fabric.