Hi I am also new to quilting also. But I have learned a few things the hard way =) first of all using a really heavy starch will make a world of difference when you cut out. It will hold your fabric true to size and help reduce the cuts that the fabric grain layout is not exactly straight. Also, I am hand quilting and found that the ends of some fabric wanted to unravel really bad and the heavy starch eliminated that problem, and the other thing I noticed is that when I am matching my fabric up to sew it together the ones with heavy starch match up and fall into place easier. As for the starch and bug thing I don't know I read both side of that post and figured I wash my quilts and once washed the starch will be gone and I hope to not take that long finishing the quilt that the bugs have time to move in. LOL
Good luck and have fun.
Diane