Best Practices for Pressing & Using Starch?
 

Ok, me again. Another day, another question!

I'm really working on making my quilts more accurate. So the question today is, when do you starch? Do you steam? Ok that was two questions. :p

I have prewashed my new fabrics I posted the other day, though I am not likely to get to that quilt anytime soon. Wondering if, when I press them from being prewashed, should I starch them at that time? Or should I wait until they're made into blocks and starch then?

I remember my mom using starch when I was a kid, to iron my dad's work shirts. She had it in a spray bottle that she kept by the iron. Is that how you all do it? Buy the big jug and then put it in a spray bottle?

Thank you!! P.S. Happy Friday!

Ally

I pre wash all my fabric. I don't starch until right before use. Growing up I learned early on not to get too much ahead of the game with the starch. If I starched in the morning, I'd better be ironing that piece within a couple hours or I'd have to rewet. Mom mixed the starch in a bottle with water. 2 parts water to 1 part starch. Then some one invented permanent press!!!!!

Also be aware that starch is a foodstuff, and you can get rodents and insects gnawing away at it if you leave it for a long time before using. That happened to some of our linens years ago!

PS - when I was little I had to help iron the sheets, Dad's undershirts, and his boxers. Oh my! No air conditioning either!!

I don't press after pre-washing (unless there is a wrinkle that interferes with folding), because I will just have to press the fold marks out again when it's time to cut. I hand press as I fold fabric for storage. I use steam when pressing fabric before cutting, but I do not use steam when pressing during piecing, because it causes problems for me (ripples and the like). I use Best Press starch substitute while constructing blocks, not necessarily with every seam, but as it seems necessary. I don't tend to use the starch when pressing the row seams.

I, too, prewash. I wait until I'm ready to use the fabric in a project before starching. I buy Sta-Flo liquid, mix 50/50 and put into a spray bottle. I starch liberally through almost the entire construction process. I do use steam as well as needed during construction. Don't generally have issues with steam unless I've had to rip/re-sew a few times.

I prewash, press, and fold. When I'm ready to start cutting I starch the fabric, then cut, because having nicely starched fabric makes the cutting easier and more accurate. I seldom add starch after that point.

I wash, dry, smooth out and press when I need it. I tend not to use starch on everything. It depends on the fabric and the pattern. When I starch (I make my own Best Press) I do it when I press the large pieces, before cutting to size.

i buy the starch in bulk and mix it in a small spray bottle 1:1. i starch when piecing. i remember when young, the starch was mixed in the laundry tub and all starchables dunked. if not ironed right away, the clothes were rolled, put in a plastic bag, and stored in the refrigerator until ironed.

Amazing that I am the first to post that I don't wash my fabric before piecing. I usually don't need to starch because the sizing from the mill is still in the fabrics. Of course, sometimes I do get surprises when I wash the finished quilt. :<(

Barb, I usually don't either. In fact, many of the quilts I make are OBW's, and you're not supposed to prewash for those. But lately I've been thinking on two things: I'd like to make more accurate quilts, and I'm getting a lot of lint in my sewing machines. A TON of lint. So I'm trying something new. :-)