I've heard of that happening before. Scary thing.
(I also used a magnifying glass to burn things as a child)

This type of thing used to happen at the senior citizen apartments near my home. Someone would use the magnifying glass for reading and leave it on the couch. It was very dangerous as many of the residents were on oxygen. I am relieved to hear that you are safe.

We had sun pass through a snowglobe and it caused a burn mark in my husbands boots! Glad you were home before things could have gotten worse!

So happy your are safe and were at home at the time and saw it! I have a magnifying glass so I will be more careful of leaving it uncovered. Thanks for sharing your story!!

Same thing happened to me in the back seat of my car! My DH had one his many "science experiments" which included a magnifier in the car and when I came out after work there was a spot on my back seat that was smoking, ready to burst into flames!

I am glad you caught it in time. I have seen posts about this before. My Ott light in my sewing room has the magnifying glass on it. It sits next to thewindow. I made a small draw string bag to cover it to prevent this.

WOW is right. Talk about a close call.

I've heard of this happening with stained glass, too, the kind of thing people hang in their windows.

Glad you were close by, and glad you posted this information. It is a good warning/reminder for all of us!

Years ago my youngest DD borrowed a navy colored prom dress that was strapless. She was very "skinny" so wanted me to sew on some straps. I bought some navy ribbon and sewed on some straps. After the prom I tried to cut off the straps, using a seam ripper, but I did not have a very good light in the house (pre Ott light days) so took the dress outside on my porch and put one of those magnifying glass things with the rope around my neck and sat in the sun and could see the stitches perfectly to remove them. I kept smelling "hot" fabric - lo and behold, it was on fire in my lap!!! Thank goodness that the burned place was on the inside and could be repaired fairly easily.