Karen Maslowski wrote in message .. .
Cynthia, I think Polarfleece, et al, are even more flammable, and on the
body they are not self-extinguising the way cotton is. Instead, it has a
very low flashpoint, and melts into a disfiguring mess of super-hot
plastic. I absolutely do not understand this love of Polarfleece and its
cousins for baby and infant wear, in light of this.

I'm not going to try to address every brand of fleece on the market,
but I'm talking here specifically about Polartec, from Malden Mills,
in Lawrence, Massachusetts. I'm not discussing their older Polarfleece
brand products.

Here's their web page about their features:
http://www.polartec.com/fabrics/technologies.php
I quote from the web page:
" * Will not melt or drip on the skin
* Flame resistant properties do not change after use or repeated
launderings"

That kinda surprised me actually, I figured they'd just claim a high
melting point or something. I may have to burn a scrap sometime to see
what happens.

And, I don't know where you get self-extinguishing cotton, but my
experience is that cotton is, plain and simple, fuel, and flannel is
the worst of all. Does this mean that I think we should keep cotton
away from baby? No, I don't. Frankly I think we should, instead,
prevent baby from catching on fire.

I don't understand *your* belief that we have to select different
fabrics for babies than for everyone else. Babies are people and are
just as valuable as other people - no more and no less. If a mother
doesn't believe a fabric is safe for her baby, she darned well
shouldn't be wearing it herself (she has to live to be there for the
baby!) or letting anyone else in her family wear it. Either Polartec
is safe for everyone under appropriate circumstances, or it's not safe
for anyone.

If you want to treat un-meltability as your primary criteria in
selecting fabrics, okay, that's fine. But, my firemen friends wear
Polartec and other fabrics not made of natural fibers, so I feel
Polartec is good enough for myself, my family, and friends in that
regard.

Tom Farrell
http://www.SewingWithTom.com/