I like the Flawless brand of starch (heavy). And one thing I started doing , after hearing it from Mary Fons, is to spray the back of the fabric, not the front, because the starch will penetrate the fibers better (less dye to go through). I spray only as much fabric as I'm going to be able to cut at one sitting. I spray the back, fold the piece in half and flatten it with my hands to really get the starch into the piece. I let it dry well before ironing. I use steam on everything except bias edges.