Most people forget to use all cotton thread also. All other threads will cause the bags to catch fire. I found this out the hard way also.
Originally Posted by Alisapao730
I recently made a potato bag in a sewing class. They assured me that by using 100% cotton batting, that it would not catch fire in the microwave, "It's the cheap batting that has metal in it that catches fire". Well, not so! not only did it catch on fire, it ruined my new microwave! I made several for others as gifts and I had to call, email,or Facebook them all warning them to not use them. I was wondering how many of you have had Potato bag fires?
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That is scary! I live at high altitude, almost 7300 ft so everything takes longer to cook. In the oven a baked potato takes almost 2 hours so I was going to make one of the bags for the microwave. Maybe only use them to keep the baked potatoes warm on the table before eating, but I wont be using one in the microwave now.
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Originally Posted by mzsooz
Guess I won't be making any of these!
Did you know you can bake potatoes in the crockpot? Prick potatoes with fork and wrap in foil. Place in crock. Do not add water. cook 8-10 hours. |
Same thing happened to me a few months ago. There is a thread someplace on the board that I started. Mine were also for gifts and 1 for me. In a second it was up in flames. I used 100% cotton everything, includeing thread. The fire was not in a seam but in the middle of the bag in several places.
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100% cotton batting has scrim. Scrim is a very thin layer of poly over the batting. Too little amount to be listed on the package. Scrim is what will catch on fire. The batting has to say NO SCRIM or it will have scrim. Low wattage microwaves will not get hot enough to cause the scrim to flash so that's why some can use it and never have a problem. There is no excuse for any fabric shop owner/manager to not know this information.
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I have one and have used it quite a bit. Only once did it catch on fire, but I caught it right away. I am still using it. Don't know why it started on fire the one time - maybe something on the bag??
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Sorry for your trouble but thanks for the warning! I just stick mine in the microwave aftre poking a hole in each and cover them with one of those plate microwavable covers. Maybe when you take them out, you can put them in the bags to keep them warm?
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I wanted to make them for Christmas but think I will try something less flamable.
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Originally Posted by Alisapao730
I only had one potato in the bag. I've used it in my older microwave about five times with 2/3 in the bag with no problem. It may be the newer microwave was a higher voltage? not sure, as I have thrown it out and replaced it with the older one. LOL! I may have left it in the oven too long as well. I'm not going to make another one to find out :) better safe than sorry!
Originally Posted by amma
If the bag gets any oil/grease on it, that may cause even a 100% cotton bag to catch on fire :wink:
Also, I would hesitate to put more than 2 potatoes in the bag... any more and the bag gets really hot... :thumbup: |
Originally Posted by bluteddi
I do mine the plain way... just stick em in ...DIL uses a plastic bag I think.. but I'm just don't it the plain way. Never had a tator sent back, so I guess it tasted good.
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