Do you use starch?
 

I was watching a YouTube video and the quilt maker was going on about starching her blocks, and how she only uses high-quality, non flaking starch. I'm pretty sure my local store only sells Niagara.

So, do you use starch and if so, what kind and where do you get it?

Thanks,

Karen

starch is my best friend NIagara heavy duty

the flakes come if you press before it has time to really soak into the fabric.
cure that by spraying and pressing the back of the fabric.

I starch a lot also .
I use Easy On Starch . Always have a couple cans here.
Tried A high end starch from the quilt store $23 a bottle not worth it as far as i,m concerned .
I starch then let it dry and then iron it.

Tom

I do not use starch

Starch is starch, there is no high quality or low quality. How much the starch is diluted is the key. I like Niagara. I use Sta Flo when I want very stiff. The stronger the starch the more flakes there will be. I use fabric ironing sprays like Best Press and Flatter which aren't starch, when I want a light fresh finish.

I buy starch at the grocery store or Walmart. I keep a gallon of Sta Flo in the laundry room.

I always use starch when doing any piecing with a bias cut, like HST. I starch my yardage before I cut. My local store carries StaFlo in half gallons, so that's what I use. I dilute it 50/50 and dip starch. As mentioned, you need to give the fabric time to absorb the starch, so I put the dampened fabric in a plastic bag for a half hour or so. If I get side tracked & won't get to it in a half hour, I stick the bag in the refrigerator.

I'm afraid to use starch because my tops sit for quite awhile before they're quilted and washed, and I've heard there's a potential for attracting bugs. I use Best Press.

We have discussed starch a lot of times - if you use the search function you will get a bunch of opinions. I rarely use starch and don't love best press

I think if you get bugs because of starch then they were there to begin with and came to the starch, so you see them all in the starch items not dispersed throughout the house. So don't blame the starch. Mostly silverfish is what I've seen around starch items, if fabric is in a humid environment.

I usually use Magic brand sizing. Has just a light scent. (some starches are too smelly for me)

no starch, no best press, no sizing, no pre washing...and if my points or seams don't match, it's sewer's carelessness...

I know that Walmart carries Niagara but I buy Magic Sizing and never had a problem with flakes. You need to wait a few seconds after spraying.

I use Sta-Flo mixed 50/50 in a spray bottle. Before cutting the fabric, I spray the wrong side of the fabric, let it sit awhile, then iron.

Walmart is the only place I could find Sta Flo but they don't have it anymore. Don't know where I'll get it when my current supply runs out. I remember my mom putting the starched ironing in the fridge back in the day.

I use best press mostly unless I am dealing with a lot of bias like a lone star than heavy starch is needed. I just used what I could find which is faultless

I think there is "starch" that is made from a plant based materisl. - and "sizing" that is made from inorganic substances.

I think of using starch/ sizing on fabric in the same way I think of using scaffolding around a building. Once the item is complete, it should be able to stand alone.

If a fabric is too flimsy/thin/limp to use after washing it without bolstering, I don't use it.

Although moths/silverfish do eat fabric materials, it’s not the fabric itself they are primarily attracted to: it’s the dirt, lint, salt, dead insects, or stains from human sweat and food such as tomato juice, milk, coffee, and beef gravy that moths like to eat. They cut through the fibers to get to the dirt and stains on the fabric.

There are pieces of fabric in my quilting cave that have been starched (or heavily starched) for lengths of time between 21 years and 2 months. I've never had bugs or insects (moths or silver fish) chew or make holes in the fabrics. My fabric has been moved and refolded quite a bit as we have moved or I have switched rooms or when I'm working on a quilt and pulling out fabric. I've never found holes or dead bugs/insects. The only bug/insect holes I have found in fabric was a suit my husband wore and hung back in the closet without having it cleaned. When he took it out a year later to wear it it was full of holes! Moths suck on the sweat drops that are left in clothes, hence the holes.

One season I found that moths had eaten holes in my two cashmere sweaters. They left the wool alone, LOL.

I love starch. I use whatever I can find, usually either Niagra or Faultless if I buy it locally. I prefer my fabric to be pretty stiff when I cut it and also when I stitch. I've never had a problem with bugs getting in my starched stash. I've recently found that you can still buy Staflo gallons from Walmart.com and also Amazon.com. For some reason they can't be found locally anymore. What I like about Staflo is you can mix it up to whatever strength you want and either use a spray bottle, or dip your fabric to starch.


When I was growing up we used a Coca-Cola bottle with a cork stopper that had one of those pot metal sprinkler heads in it to hold our home made starch mixture. When it was time to iron we sprinkled the starch on and then ironed/pressed. Of course, we didn't have a steam iron so if we wanted to use steam, we had another bottle (Pepsi I think) with the same kind of stopper/sprinkler that just held water, sprinkled it on and then "steam-ironed" LOL.

Rob

I LOVE using the Downy Wrinkle Release, I dilute it down.

I use Downy wrinkle releaser too. I spray yardage and put in dryer to get out the wrinkles when I don't want to wash it.

I hate starch...


...With a passion.

~ C

Niagara is the brand I use and have no problems with. The trick with any spray starch is to let it set for a few seconds before ironing to avoid flakes. I just made 168 HST with bias edges that would have been a nightmare to square-up if they had not been starched. Starch today is not the same formula as it was many years ago so there is no need to worry about it drawing bugs.

No, I never use starch. It irritates the heck out of my sinuses, and makes my eyes itch fiercely. I don't think that there is a truly 'flake free' starch in the world. Some may be less prone to flaking, though.

I also have to wash my fabrics before I use them, for the same reason.

Rob, my mom had one of those pop bottle sprinklers! I remember her sprinkling the ironing with water, then whatever she didn't get to got rolled up and put in the fridge in a plastic bag (a few people have mentioned that as well).Wow, that brings back memories. :o

Thanks for all the responses. I haven't used it in the past, but it makes sense for HST or anything with bias. I will give it a try and see how it goes.

Karen

It's not necessarily that the fabric is too flimsy. It helps keep biases from stretching. That can happen with any fabric.

I starch all my fabrics excluding the backings before I cut. I use what we quilters know as "Quilter's Moonshine". I make mine up in a gallon jug and keep it in the fridge down in the sewing room. I use sta flo starch along with the vodka.

Also I just found an old time wooden wringer section off a washer. Mostly all wood. Picked up a galvanized tub to attach the wringer section to so I can wring out my fabrics when I starch. Its tough going when you're starching large pieces of fabrics and I still couldn't wring them out by hand without it dripping all over the place. Now I can use this wringer setup (as soon as I clean and sand it down a little). Will probably make a sock to go over the rollers so not to transfer any marks to the light colored fabrics.

Also I let my fabrics dry completely before I press them. I usually mist them with plain water while I press as it seems to help ease out the wrinkles from wringing them out. With the new wringer setup I shouldn't have so many wrinkles..................hopefully.

Starch is my friend.

I love using starch. it sets the threads flatly and makes bias edges easy to use. it's the greatest next to the iron.

I do not use tHe fabric.

I use stay flow and delute with water 50/50

I buy the concentrated starch and mix my own - brands I have used are Linit and Sta-Flo; there are probably others. Most major grocery stores and Wal-mart normally carry at least one brand. Very economical and I can mix it light or heavy as needed in a spray bottle that fits my hand well and won't tip over. No clogging either!

I make starch, started from older blogs here. I use Stay-Flo, water 25% - 50% (depends on strength needed) then 20% or less Vodka keeps the starch from getting spoiled for lack of a better word. Also add a scent, few drops of liquid scent. Vanilla, pumpkin, lilac etc. Love thanks to older blogs from here.

I use it only if doing lots of bias cutting (like HST) or if the fabric seems to fray a lot. Otherwise I don't use. sometimes use Best Press if the block has lots of seams and I need to get it pressed flat.

This is what I do but spray instead of dip. I have a dishpan that I spray into to keep the mess contained. Letting it sit is key because it allows the starch to absorb into the fibers of the fabric. I never have flakes when I do this. It takes some planning and patience (not to press right away) but it is well worth it. The liquid starch that you dilute is also so economical. It makes a huge difference when cutting some pieces.

As far as bugs go I live in Florida where there are bugs, bugs and more bugs and have never had any problems with them in my starched fabric or quilts. The quilts get washed when they are done being quilted but the fabric sits until I'm ready to use it again. I try to estimate how much fabric I'll need for a project and starch that much but I always have some left over that I save for other projects.

i use starch too....whatever comes in the spray can. After i put the block together, i'll spray the block after i finish putting it together, while it's still wet, i can square up the block and press it - making it ready to be put into the final quilt.

I starch, I just find the fabric easier to handle for piecing when starched. Unfortunately, in Canada you cannot find concentrated starch such as Sta-flo. There's only starch in spray cans and I don't want the chemicals.

I've made my own spray starch out of corn starch that I like, but the downside of spraying is that you don't get it evenly over all of the fabric, especially the edges. So I've taken to dip starching with cornstarch. I can adjust the starch concentration to what I want and it gives beautiful results. It's economical too!

I ordered Sta Flo through Amazon Prime. We had to buy a box of six.

Niagra for me. I also use Terial Magic if I need to cut on my silhouette cameo.

iron or press yardage after starching
 

After "starching" yardage do you iron or press the fabric?