Starch - Help...Please
 

This is gonna seem very silly but I'm getting so frustrated. I am having trouble lining up even the simplest seams. The fabric I am using is definitely on the low quality side & thought starch would help to stabilise the fabric. I guess my question is What is the correct way to use starch? I have tried 'Best Press' & reg. starch. I have been spraying, then pressing (while wet) Is this the wrong way?
Please tell me the correct way to use starch. What are your methods? Thank You.

I spray until wet and then press. Sometimes repeating. My fabric is stiff as paper before I cut. That's just what I like to do even when I use my Go. If the fabric is low quality and you have to use it, you can fuse lightweight interfacing to it.

Do you have trouble with all material or just this low quality stuff you are working on? Is it worth the effort to continue or can you switch out the material for something else? You have done what I would do. I do remember my mother soaking the fabric in starch and then putting it in the frig until she was ready to iron it. She said it helped the fabric absorb the starch. Personally I would ditch the bad stuff.

Spray the fabric on one side and then press till dry on the other side. This makes sure that the starch gets into the fabric.

Spray and press!

You mention that it is not stabilizing it ... are you trying to cut before the fabric is dry?
Then it should be ... Spray, Press, Dry.

If you've used minimal spray, it will be dry, almost as fast as you finish pressing.
The more you use, the longer you may want to let it sit before cutting.

Thank You ALL for your input. I am trying to make my 3 year old Grandson a 'picnic quilt'. He likes to have picnics on the living room floor and I'm sure will want to have picnics outside this summer. It was suppose to be a quick - easy project.... & I was trying to use up some of my 'not so great quality' fabrics. Didn't really want to spend a ton of money on something that was gonna be eaten on & drug around outside. Next time, I'll stick to quality...:)

Thank You.

Good luck with the spray starch.

Have you thought of cutting the fabric the same width and different heights? Then you don't have to worry about matching seams!

Nan

I'd quit worry about lining up the seams and just put it together. I can guarantee no 3 year old is going to notice or care if a few seams are off. All he's going to care about is "gramma made me a picnic quilt!!"

I read this before. So I starched my backing for a quilt and put it in the freezer. I found it about 2 weeks later and wondered what this frozen thing was. How long should it stay in the fridge?

I starch, let the starch absorb into the fabric for a few minutes and then, while it's still damp from the starch, press dry. I've evolved to using the liquid starch you can mix to varying strengths. If you have lighter-weight fabric, go heavy on the starch. Maybe even doing 2-3 passes if you're using pre-mix.

Thank You, I think that I was not using enough starch. I started using more and letting it set a couple minutes, then pressed - working much better.

Thank You. Working much better now.

Dried starch will leave the fabric stiff. It will be smooth only if you press while damp (or wet!)

A lot of times, I'll dampen (with starch) several pieces, stack them up, fold them up to a smaller size, lay something heavy over them----------cutting board or something similar. Go fix lunch or throw more laundry in the dryer or sew a bit more, then come back to press. The starch is better distributed over the fabric and not too wet in spots.

Take it from someone who hates to iron-----------------next to forever. If you want, just roll up for a short time (10-15 minutes) or roll up, slip in a plastic bag and put in the fridge, if you don't intend to iron shortly.

Also from someone who hates to iron--------------the freezer is for long term storage. No real need if you intend to iron the same day.

I spray my startch, then wad the fabric up in a tight ball. Then I straighten it out. Let set several minutes, then press. This allows startch to absorb well and evenly.

I prefer to wet the fabric completely with starch and then let it dry completely, before ironing. I find I get the stiffest results , and no starch build up on the iron.

I am so glad to learn that I am not the only one who puts starched fabric in the freezer before pressing it. I really do think it presses easier when I freeze it first. I did that because I thought that was what my mother did; but actually, she probably just put it in the refrigerator. I leave mine in for an hour or two or overnight. Yes, I, too, have found a bag of frozen fabric in the freezer and wondered what it was.

I use Sta-Flo starch, you can get it in 1/2 gallons at Walmart. Bring it home and pour into a gallon container and fill with water. Dampen your fabric with water then spray solid with the starch. I like to put mine in the frig over night or all then iron until DRY ! ! ! All of this is before you cut any pieces. You will have less dust (fuzz), less raveling, better matched seams , etc., etc. A much better quilt top, that is my opinion. You cannot do this after pieces are cut because the starch will disstort the pieces.

Years ago, we starched a lot of stuff with Argo Gloss Starch. Dissolve it in cold water and add boiling water. Dip the clothes in and wring out by hand. After the clothes were hung on the line, they need to be "sprinkled" before ironing. Everything is rolled up in a basket, and left sit for a few hours to even out the dampness for ironing. Then you start ironing. Never put into the refrigerator. But if you didn't get back to ironing for a few days, it would mildew. That happened to me once with my good white plaid dress, but a small amount of bleach fixed it perfectly.

I still do this with my fabric. Wash, dip in starch, dry, sprinkle, put in large plastic bag and let sit for a few hours, iron. No refrigerator. But the freezer would be a good choice if you got interrupted and had to let it set for a while.

My mom used to buy a powdered starch (name brand Faultless), which you cooked into a thick paste, then thinned down with water. Anything cotton that was going to be ironed was washed, rinsed, then placed in the thin starch solution in a tub, then wrung out and hung out to dry (this was before we had a dryer). When the dry laundry was taken in, each piece was sprinkled with water to dampen it, then all the damp clothes were wrapped in a large towel and put in the "back room" refrigerator until there was time to iron it. The cooked starch was a light blue color, so was fine for light fabrics when it was thinned, but for darker fabrics, blue jeans, dark shirts, etc., she would add a little tea or coffee to darken it. No one was happier than my mom when they came out with spray starch! No one was happier than me when we got our first dryer!

I am anti-spray of all types, but I do liquid starch occasionally, depending on the amount of fabric I need to starch; however, if it's small pieces of a variety of fabrics (or flimsy fabric) I'm sewing, I use paper to stabilize it. With a small stitch length, the paper is easily removed and saves me having to re-wash all the starched fabric. I somehow accumulate used printer paper, which I save for this purpose; however, when I sew on the bias, I use adding machine paper because it is so porous and tears so easily; therefore no stress to bias.

This is what I do - turn it over so the starch goes into the fabric and not my iron. Also I tried a hint and it works - take an odd-ball pillow case and put over your ironing board (I opened the side seam and it fits 80% of my board) and then do your starching or fusing on top of it - when dirty, toss it in the wash and reuse when clean. :-)

Marysewfun

Quote: When the dry laundry was taken in, each piece was sprinkled with water to dampen it, then all the damp clothes were wrapped in a large towel and put in the "back room" refrigerator until there was time to iron it.<

Oh yes, I remember looking in the "freezer" for a blouse I wanted to iron and wear! LOL

Marysewfun

I agree with several points made earlier:

I put a piece of scrap flannel on top of my ironing board. When I'm done starching, the flannel goes into the wash.

I let the starch soak in to the fabric before pressing. Pressing too soon is what gives you flakes, because the starch is sitting on top of the fabric instead of soaking into it. Spray the starch, then walk away. Put a load of laundry in the washer, or walk out to the mailbox, or have a cookie and some milk.

I like the idea of cookies and milk. I buy the powdered & make the fabric board stiff. Let it dry & 're-dampen & press. Good luck. Stiffly starched fabric is so nice to work with. I recently started searching my backing & what a difference it made.

I am sure that as soon as you thaw it, you can press it. It shouldn't be mildewed or have mold on it if it was frozen. You can use Sta-Flo starch and mix it to your specifications. Try their recommended formula and if that isn't stiff enough to suit you, add more starch and keep spraying and ironing until you get as stiff as you want it to be.

I spray, let set a few seconds until it's absorbed and then there's no white residue on the fabric then iron. I use Niagra most of the time 97 cents, can't beat that.

WOW! I have learned more about how to starch from these 3 pages than I did in all my decades of sewing! Thank you ladies! And a big Thank You to the person who asked the question!

What I've been doing is thoroughly spraying the fabric, folding it up and putting it in a big plastic bag, and then letting it sit for a while, which distributes the starch throughout the fabric. After an hour or so, I press it, and it comes out very nice. So glad to know I can put it in the fridge if I can't get back to pressing it at the right time. Never thought of that!

I make my own spray starch using cornstarch. Cornstarch is cheap and I never run out of starch.

Hey--does starching help with sewing with slippery fabrics, like lining or silk or satin? Curious to know!

Sharon Shamber suggests in one of her videos to spray the back of the fabric and lay that side down against the ironing board and then press the top side, she says this forces the starch into the fabric. I think she's right because it seems when i try and iron the starched side up i get more flaking.

I'd love to have that recipe. Please share.

I like to use Magic Sizing. It makes the fabric feel like new and does not flake off. I get mine at Walmart.

I spray and press on the wrong side of the fabric - so if it flakes a bit it doesn't matter. I like it when it feels like a sheet of paper, as that's when it cuts the best. Used to buy starch, add water and mix and soak my dad's fatiques in it, then iron it dry, as their uniforms had to be extremely crisp when wearing them. Don't think I'd want to go to that length now, but that might be the solution to your problem. Its cheap to buy, and will really make a crisp fabric. One thing to think about though -- if you're having this much trouble with it now, will it hold up in your finished quilt like the rest of the fabrics? I'm thinking probably not.....and it would be a shame to have areas of your finished quilt wear much faster or tear apart. Easier to switch out the fabric now and use a good quality one.

one thing to know. Iron the piece before applying the starch as the starch works better on warm fabric

Here is the most recent one i googled
1 heaping TBS corn starch
1 pint cold water
1-2 drops essential oil, optional

Mix untill cornstarch is disolved. Place in spary bottle and you are ready to go.

I do it a little different tho, I bring all but 1/4 cup of the water to a boil, I mix the cornstartch in the reserved 1/4 cup of water. When other water comes to a boil I mix together, let cool and then put it is a spray bottle. You can also use a little more of the cornstartch for a stiffer piece of less for a floppy piece.

Normally when you are going to iron your fabric, you wet it, or starch it, roll it up and put it in a plastic bag. You then put it in the refigerator--not the freezer, and iron it a day later. If you wait week it is just like the week old mystery food, it molds. So leave it in the fridge 1 night-maybe 2 days, and iron.

If you use spray starch, I suggest turning it over after spraying it as well, but for a different reason. The starch builds up on the top of the cloth and if you iron it it will brown, just like your potatoes in a skillet. If you don't take it off the heat (as in the pan) it burns which is what happens to starch on your iron. So I spray and flip. I also watch my plate of the iron to be sure I am not building up a scorched iron. If you are, get a wash cloth wet it and set it on your ironing board. Then iron the wash cloth, turning it and 'scrubbing' with the cloth. Mine usually go away.

LOL! (on fabric in the freezer). Thanks for that morning laugh.
I agree with both "quiltinghere" and "scissor queen".