Starch/Sizing
 

Is there anyone else on this board that thinks fabrics should be able to 'stand on their own' without the need to use starch or sizing to make them usable?

I am working on a simple baby quilt right now and decided to starch the fabrics. Just for me- I don't find any benefit. There are so many who swear by starch I thought I would give it a try. Maybe for curves or appliqué or bias I will give another try.

I rarely starch fabrics before cutting - applique is one time I will use it more often.

I think it largely depends on if you're a pre-washer or not. If you pre-wash, you'll probably need to starch just to stabilize the fabric comparable to what comes off the bolt. If you don't pre-wash...probably no need to starch. I'm a pre-washer and a starcher. I use the liquid sta-flo at about a 50/50 mix. Not to heavy but certainly better than no starch. If something is really flimsy I can always spray multiple times.

I usually do not prewash fabrics and find it unnecessary to starch them. They seem to come off the bolt with enough sizing/starch to be stable for cutting and piecing.

I heavily starch a fabric, whether it was prewashed or not, if I am planning to cut it on the bias, or if I am going to use it for a quilt backing when I intend to quilt on my domestic machine.

If I prewash fabric, then I always starch to restore stability to the fabric before cutting.

I use a heavy solution of starch on fabric that will be the background for machine applique, whether the fabric has been prewashed or not. Heavy starching eliminates the need for me to use a stabilizer underneath the background.

I spray starch tops during my final press before quilting.

For frame quilting, I use spray starch on the backing as I load the backing onto the rollers (which I learned from a Sharon Schamber video). The top is already spray starched.

My favorite sewing notion is starch! I get the jitters if I am down to one jug of concentrate.

If you are doing embroidery on it and don't want to use the typical stabilizers the yes definitlely use the starch. Lit also helps keep the bias from stretching.

I only use starch or siziing if I am doing an applique.

Yep! I don't starch. Tried it once or twice but really don't feel the need to add that extra step

I only starch if something is prewashed or if I am doing a lot of bias sewing.