I just remembered when I was growing up -
Mom made this starch mixture in this huge bread making bowl (Mom would make 8 loaves at a time) -
Argo (I think - white print on blue background) starch - mixed with a little cold water to dissolve it - hot water added to it - it turned translucent - and a little square of blue Satina stirred in - made little streaks while it melted.
(Mom also added bluing to the last rinse water!)
"Doing the wash" was a big production - wringer washer, two rinse tubs, outside line drying when the weather was decent, clothes rack drying when it wasn't.
Anyway - the rinsed items were dipped in the bowl of starch, wrung out by hand, and then dried.
Of course, after they were dried, then they were sprinkled and rolled up for several hours (or a day - or put in the freezer!) and then ironed.
Aprons, shirts, dresses - don't remember if the overalls (bib-style) were starched or not. I think they were - it made it easier to wash the dirt out of them. An occasional cloth table-cloth.
It seemed like there was always a LOT of ironing - even though Mom was not "an iron everything" sort of person.
We had "oil cloth" on the kitchen table.
I don't remember if Mom washed fabric before cutting it or not. I grew up in garage/rummage/yard sale clothes. Actually, they were quite nice - better than what I have now! :?
I know she did a LOT of mending of the overalls. Rescued the backs of the legs from the more worn out ones and put it on the fronts of the legs of the less worn out ones. She did a lovely job of patching - she said decent repairing is also an art form.