Cotton Nightie

A cotton nightie  for a little girl who dislikes polyester as it makes her hot and who likes the colour pink. It is not a sale item.

The pattern says it is an easy make but I added a few hours to it by doing french seams and adding decorative machined borders.

There are links to Pinterest to lots of free patterns for this peasant style garment but I used Butterick 4910. 

I was happily sewing until I read the note in bold on the back of the pattern: NOTE: Garments in this pack are not intended for sleep apparel.

The pictures look like sleep apparel to me so I decided to ask about rules and for general advice about sleepwear from members of the Sewing in the UK Facebook group.

I received lots of helpful links and opinions. Some people pointed out that :

• even if it was easier to find fire retardant fabric there is some fear about the chemicals used to make them fire resistant. 

• most sleepwear in shops is not fire retardant but items carry labels warning that the wearer should stay away from fire. 

Here are some of the links :

1985 UK Regulations

Safe Kids UK

Kids Clothes-Articles of Interest. A Podcast (All of it interesting but specific to my enquiry after about two thirds of the way through )


Here are some of the comments:

Kate: The information I received from my local trading standards was that items either had to be made using fire retardant fabric or contain the wording, in red, on the label "keep away from fire". That was for pj's and night dresses. Dressing gowns were a whole other kettle of fish though.

Sherren: I would worry more about the flame retardant chemicals which really aren't good for you, I know a fire isn't either, but personally i would prefer no chemicals but our risk of fire at home is small, no naked flames, no smokers, etc

Daphne: Unless you have an open fire or someone smokes in the house ...I don't get this...the risk is minimal surely .

Sally: The law is that if nightwear isn't flame retardant it must be labelled as such.
I believe this is only if you're selling it though. Otherwise I presume you just say, oi mate, I made your kid some jammies but they are not flame retardant so don't stick your kid near the bonfire in them.

I like the nightdress. I slimmed it down, opted for short sleeves instead of the long ones originally planned and I have issued a warning about fire. 

 The exercise, however, has made me question a lot of day wear designs, for instance,  many little girls delight in wearing twirly skirts and dresses with frills and sashes. 

Back to the Butterick  pattern - when do they expect the garments will be worn? Why might  the garments be more dangerous to wear whilst asleep than at any other time?