A lot of grannies approach me at work with a bolt of flannel, and ask, "This says I cant make pajamas out of this. What can I use to make my granddaughter a nightie?"
Some fabrics say "Not suitable for children's sleepwear" even though it's obviously a fabric that most pajamas are made of. The only reason it says this is because it, and most other fabric, is flammable. Apparently, some kid back in the day got himself caught on fire while wearing his jammies and mommy and daddy sued the company that made the flannel.
This makes me worried about the priorities of most families. If you need to be warned that an organic material manufactured to let air collect in between it's fibers is combustible, and that putting it on your child could increase their probability of being engulfed in flames, maybe you should leave your baby in the care of someone with a couple more brain cells.
I guarantee the shirt you're wearing will catch fire if exposed to an open flame, whether you made it or bought it. Just watch your spawn. They wont become a blazing inferno by walking too close to the Christmas lights or by staring at a microwave. If you take your kid to a BBQ, just make sure he doesn't dive into the campfire after a rouge marshmallow. Don't dangle him over a bonfire. And by all means, please don't let him smoke. Its a disgusting habit.
Actually, there is a better reason why some fabrics say this and some don't....
ReplyDeleteFabric burns, and believe it or not thats a GOOD thing! Cotton burns to ash leaving a child naked scared and red. Synthetics don't burn, they melt. THey melt into the skin and stay hot and keep burning until they have to be surgically removed. When choosing fabric for children's sleepwear, choose 100% cotton or other natural fiber. Also, some fabrics have been treated to raise the temp at which they burn, so that makes them a bit safer too. The warning on the fabric isn't just a statment of the obvious for the chronically stupid, it helps people make good choices.
That's very true! But the fabrics that say they are not suitable for children's sleepwear are made of 100% cotton, and look and feel like the exact same material that flannel pajamas are made of! Synthetic fabrics typically don't have that much of a warning. In my store, the flannel section has that warning written on the bolt, the sign, even the selvage of the fabric, but with synthetics, the warning is only in tiny print at the top of the bolt. This makes it confusing to the people who are just learning to sew and don't know the difference between natural and synthetic fibers.
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