Originally Posted by colleen1978
sahm4605...I have never starched. Please tell me more. Do you mean the old fashioned spray starch my mom used years ago? Do you spray before you cut your pieces, after you iron seams, or when the whole quilt top is done??? Does the starch gum up your needle or machine?
I use the spray starch in the can but you can make your own or use sizing. If i wash my fabric I then spray and iron, but my rule of thumb is if you are going to iron your should spray before hand. I saturate mine and then let it dry. I then iron my fabric flat and cut out my shapes. i sew my fabric together then when i go to press my seams i spray the fabric wet again and let dry. then iron the seams and fabric flat. I keep doing this till I am completely done with the quilt. Then when i go to quilt the quilt, I spray the backing several times till it is fairly stiff as construction paper/ cardboard and then pin everything together. then go at it. i have found that it helps a ton to get everything looking very nice. I even do this with the binding. I make sure that it is fairly stiff to get nice crisp edges. try it once and you will be inpressed. but you can starch at any point, just make sure that the starch is dry so it doesn't burn/scorch/ or flake on your fabric and i would iron on the wrong side just incase.