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I too always wonder know I know also.

you can make your own starch with just cornstarch & water. Go to ehow.com and do a search. I have the info taped inside a cabinet in my laundry room. It's easy & quick using the microwave.

Quote:

Originally Posted by raptureready

It's spray starch and isn't all that great. You can go ahead and use it. I'd use it on the underneath side because sometimes it will get flaky on you. Because it's the light formula it won't get the crispness that you may be wanting. Personally I like Mary Ellen's Best Spray starch

If your starch flakes on you, give it an extra minute to soak into the fabric after you spray it on and before you iron. The flakes are caused by the starch sitting on top of the fabric instead of soaking in. I had a teacher share this with me when she watched me starching in class and dealing with the flakes. I was surprised at what a difference it made.

Quote:

Originally Posted by quiltaholic

Magic Sizing is actually better for your fabrics because it does not have the corn starch or flour in it that starch has. It's actually used by the manufacturing industry when fabric is made. This came from an article in one of the quilting magazines not long ago. I wish I could remember which one.

WHAT!?! :shock: I've got Celiac and I'm allergic to corn so I've been making my own starch, which is quite a pain in the butt. If you remember where the article on this was, please let me know. Now I need to go buy some Magic Sizing!

I'm with you...sort of. I do use spray sizing to prepare applique pieces for hand sewing but not for machine piecing. If I wanted to work with something as stiff as a board I would go into woodworking. And, right or wrong, it has been said for years that starch attracts bugs but sizing doesn't.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwessel47

What am I missing here? I have been quilting for 35 years and I have never used either product. Don't have a clue. Why would I want to use it? Crispness? I guess I just don't need it - which is "less expensive" (let's not say cheap around here) than the other choices.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ckcowl

there is quite a difference between sizing and starch. i use both regularly; the sizing does not add 'crispness', the sizing adds body to a fabric most fabrics we buy have sizing added to it, that's what we wash out when we pre-wash our fabrics so you can put it back. starch adds the crispness, but if you do not want it 'crisp' use the sizing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mar32428

Quote:

Originally Posted by ckcowl

Teehee - I don't use starch AND I don't wash my fabric. Maybe that"s why I don't find a need for it!

Sizing is NOT starch. It is sizing. It will make the fabric feel sort of crisp, but not stiff like starch.

Quote:

Originally Posted by raptureready

It is NOT starch, so bugs won't eat it. But it also doesn't get your fabric as stiff. I like to use it when I iron shirts, and I don't want to put water in my iron.

Please explain why we wash our fabric to get the sizing out and then spray it back in. Only time I wash fabric is for clothes and then very seldom even then.

I like the sizing for a stabilizer and the starch for stiffness[/quote]

I don't wash to get the sizing out - I wash & dry in the machine to get the fading & shrinking done before I sew!

I have used Magic Sizing for years and still do in ironing clothes. They look like new then. But for quilting, I use starch. I let the fabric soak a while before ironing. Doesn't stick to the hot iron as quickly either.