We "sprinkled" clothes before ironing them. We used a thin metal thing with holes in it and a cork on the bottom, also with a hole in it so the water would come up from either a beer or soda bottle. Hence, the sprinkling.
Very fine ground corn was used for cornstarch and those who couldn't afford that, did used flour, thinned with water. If you make gravy from scratch, let the container sit after you have used the liquid inside and you will find a very fine powdery surface. Starch helped with washing the clothes, the dirt came out easier and when used for ironing, made the cottons smooth and neat. People strived for clean, neat and smooth cotton clothing before permanent press came on the scene.
Carol J.
Originally Posted by TanyaL
First, they would have made their starch from flour and water if you want to go back far enough in time. Later from it would have been made from purchased(usually Niagara brand) dry starch powder which was added to water, boiled, cooled and then diluted to desired strength. The fabric would have been dipped in the starch, hung to dry, ironed, then cut to size with scissors and stitched. When the quilt was washed or rinsed the starch would have all come out. The quilt fabric would have been starched along with the weekly laundry and probably ironed with the weekly laundry as well. In between starching and ironing, it had to sprinkled, rolled up, let sit awhile for the moisture to be evenly absorbed through the fabric so that the (dry) iron could iron it. You also had to iron quickly, or to reapply moisture by wiping the starched garment/fabric with a damp washcloth or rag. I don't think anyone had a spray bottle.