My mother used a Pepsi bottle with the rubber cap and holes punched in it. She would sprinkle all her blouses and our dresses (6 little girls all aged 1-1&1/2 years apart..!). Then she would roll each one up tightly and place them all back in the clothes basket until later in the evening when we were watching tv. She made her own starch 'sprinkle' too until my parents got to the point in their marriage they could afford the Niagara Spray. Seemed to save her a lot of time. We weren't allowed to touch the ironing when we got older as this must have been her 'de-stressing' time.