Snooze2978

As I make my batch by the gallon at a time, I add a cup of liquid starch to make it even more stiff. I live in an area where I don't worry too much about roaches who love starch and glue.

d.rickman

The original recipe calls for:
2 cups of distilled water,
20 drops of lavender pure essential oil and
2 oz. of vodka,

Note - the vodka keeps the oil from separating.
Put into a spray bottle.

Scissor Queen

Vodka is not starch. Vodka is alcohol. Yeast consumes starch and converts it to alcohol. Then it is distilled to concentrate the alcohol.

star619

Thanks to everyone who responded! I've now got the recipe in a safe place (LOL) where I can't lose it! This board is a great resource!

MartiMorga

Just reading this to my husband and he asked me this, "So what you spray once on the cloth and once in the mouth, etc., etc., etc.? Is this why you never have bad quilting days?"

Jean45

We keep a spray bottle of water and when the cats scratch the furniture we give them a shot. My husband couldn't find the one he uses near the computer, got up looking and saw my spray starch bottle on the ironing board. I couldn't find it and asked. He said that he thought it was the one to "shoot" the cats with and that is what he had been using. No wonder their fur looked so nice and laid down and they were so docile and calm.

PPWilkerson

I made up a batch and love it for the smell while pressing. Something to look forward to when ironing!! Doesn't add any stiffness to the fabric as far as I can tell at least not on the pieces I have used it on.

quiltinglady-1

I finally found the courage to go buy vodka and made my own best press. I looked for the ingredients in best press, but they don't have them listed, so it makes me wonder if it really could be vodka and water with a little fragrance in it. I mix mine 3:1 ratio (water:vodka),or there about, and find that it does just as good as best press and a LOT cheaper. The most expensive thing to buy was the fragrance at Vitamin Shoppe and if you don't get the lavender it's even cheaper. When I went into the liquor store to get the vodka and told the man that I wanted the cheapest quality, he kind of looked at me weird so I had to tell him what I was doing with it. Wonder if he ever looked it up on the internet???
If you are worried about whether or not you like using the vodka mix, just buy a small size bottle of it, that's what I did.

quiltinglady-1

I add a small amount of liquid starch to my homemade best press mixture sometimes if I want a little more body to my item, but generally don't use the starch.

swizzy

Is the fragrance necessry?