Vodka is a preservative.

you can also buy concentrated liquid starch and add however much water you like. i like 50/50. shake it before you mix it and before you use it. wash out the nozzle regularly.

I have made my own from dry starch, per my Grandmother's instruction, for the "anti-flake" reasons as well but was THRILLED when I found Niagra Spray starch at WlaMar the other day with the "New: Will not flake on dark fabrics" version!
I have it and it really works!
I found the homemade kind should be made in batches you will use up within a week or so, or it gets really gummy. Perhaps the wrong recipe but, for a couple of bucks, I'm stickin with the new Niagra.

Wow what a great topic! So now I have a question too. I iron all our shirts which are mostly cotton as well as my quilt pieces so I use a lot of starch. I was mixing my own (which works great btw) but my problem was with the sprayer. Everything was getting too wet and took forever to dry with the iron. Anyone who irons shirts every day knows they want to get through it as fast as possible. So I have gone back to buying the spray stuff in a can but I'm not keen on inhaling whatever is in there to keep it from clogging up and thickening in the can (my lungs must be smooth as silk by now). All the various spray bottles I have used so far haven't had as fine a spray as I would like. So....which bottles do you all use?
Heidi

ME TOO Love Best Press, and when Joann's has a 50% off coupon, I order a gallon from their web site.......

I only use best press too! It smells nice..no gumming and no worries!

I buy my bottles in the garden section of WalMart or the Dollar Store. They are adjustable for the spray. If they do clog, take them off and soak in water or blow them open. I don't have many problems with them. My biggest problem is getting them too close to my iron and melting a hole in them! I melted my 120" tape measure this week.

Somebody said adding some alcohol to spray starch will keep it from going moldy...read it on a forum somewhere...

Spray Starch, Homemade


Boil 1 quart of water. Dissolve 4 Tablespoons of liquid starch into 2 cups of cold water; add to boiling water and return to a boil, then remove from heat immediately; add 2 more cups of cold water. Starch should be clear and not milky. Place it in a mist spray bottle and store in the refrigerator. Cost about 2 cents a quart. Clean the iron with a wet terry towel.

By Ricky Tims
I use this starch but make 1/2 a batch and use more liquid starch depending what I want to use it for.

What great information! I just read the thread about Mark Lipinski and I think he had the recipe LeeLee posted (or a similar one) in the quilt magazine sometime over the summer. I spent a month at a friend's place and she suggested I look at the magazine because I'd love the guy who wrote it. I found it very interesting and highly entertaining!
Thanks for the recipe ... can't wait to try it.
DI