I use the home made recipe of vodka, distilled water and to make mine stiffer, I had some Sta-flo starch to it. Just made up a gallon last night to soak my fabrics for the next project. Yes, I soak my fabrics and hang them over the sink to dry over night and then iron them the next day. I use a steam iron but still spray mist them with regular water a little. This also lets me know if I have any bleeders in the bunch of fabrics before hand so I usually start with my lightest fabrics 1st and end with the darkest in case they bleed as it discolors the starch mixture which I will throw out once I'm done. I put just enough in the wash tub to soak the fabrics so I'm not wasting too much. I like my fabrics stiff as a board when I'm working on a project with thin strips in them. Next project is a log cabin using 1.75 wide strips.
I used to spray the starch onto the fabric over my ironing board so got a lot of starch build up on the pad which in turn would burn eventually onto the backside of my fabrics. I quit doing that and have washed my pad cover more frequently.