Originally Posted by Fancy Nancy
just something that I don't get - so many of the juvenile fabrics - cottons and flannels - are not recommended for kids sleepwear - so what is safe to use and why all the juvenile prints that you can't use for that reason? I have used the non-flam batting but what is the point if the fabric is flamable?
It's a liability issue for the manufacturers of juvenile fabric prints.
Actually, it's okay to use that kind of fabric in children's sleepwear ***IF*** the sleepwear is tight-fitting to the child's body. You can even purchase sleepwear like this that has not been treated with flame-retardents. When the garment is tight-fitted to the body, the fabric will not combust and engulf the child in flames before you can put the fire out.
With a loose-fitting garment, such as a nightgown, air can reach both sides of the fabric. If the hem of the nightgown or pajama bottom catches on fire, the child's body (including face and hair) will be engulfed in flames before an adult can put out the fire.
Polyester isn't particularly good either. When subjected to flame, polyester balls up into a gummy syrup that sticks to the skin.
These fabrics are not a problem in quilts because of the thickness of the quilt. If you touch a match to the bottom of a quilt, it will take awhile for the quilt to catch fire and for the fire to travel through the quilt. The problem with loose-fitting sleepwear is that a single layer of cotton fabric is thin enough for air to feed the flames from both sides of it; this is why it combusts so fast.
Think of a movie that shows curtains catching on fire. It's the same idea. The curtains are thin, so air can reach both sides of the fabric, and they go up in flames very quickly.