Starch/Sizing - waiting for it to dry or be absorbed
 

For me, waiting for the starch or sizing to be absorbed is the hardest part about using the stuff.

After I've soaked the piece and it is sopping - I want to iron/press it *now*.

That has not worked out well.

1) The fabric can stretch like crazy. Might be a good thing if I want to block the fabric - but I have "a thing" against stretching fabric that might be washed again. It tends to revert back to the original size.

2) It can get the iron gunky.

3) It can get the fabric flaky.

I have found an easy solution to the problem: After spritzing starch on the fabric, I spritz water. That seems to speed up the soaking-in of the starch, and it won't scorch or flake.

I use Terial Magic and spay lightly. I scrunch the fabric up, it takes just a minute for it to absorb and is about five times stiffer then starch. Saves me time and money.

I press the fabric to get it hot, then spray the starch and then let it sit and absorb in before pressing again, or I hang it on a folding clothes drying rack to soak in a bit.

I hang the fabric over the shower curtain rod, spray with starch and wait till it is dry. Then iron. It generally means a little bit of planning ahead.

I have started using the Terial Magic for some projects. A light spray creates a perfect level of stiffness.

And I never starch.

Starch needs to "marinate" for a minimum of 2 hours on the fabric, from what my mom taught me growing up, so that's how I do it, I starch, put in a large plastic zip lock bag, again for a minimum of 2 hours, then I take the fabric/s out to either dry for a few minutes in the dryer or air dry, although I much prefer air dry I usually don't have the time for it, after dry, I iron with a dry iron, although I do usually mist the fabric with water. I've never had any problems with flaking or a gunky iron.

I brush my hand over the sprayed area and that pushes the starch in. Very little time waiting.

I let my fabric air dry (not always to 100% dry) before pressing. I never press wet fabric, starch or no starch.

I soak my fabrics in my starch solution and hang it to dry. If I know I'm going to need fabric for the next day I'll do it the night before so its dry in the morning and I can press it. I'll spritz it with water and press it. No gunk on my iron and I'm not waiting around for it as I did it the night before. I try to add up how much fabric I'll need for whatever project I'm working on and cut that much to starch beforehand. Hopefully I've calculated enough but times I goof up on my cutting and have to recut. Working on a project now where the instructions were screwy and I've had to find another way to make that particular block so have to recut. Just for your info, the miscut fabric will be used on another project so not wasted. I hate waste.

I learned all the above "the hard way" -

This has been an interesting thread...I guess I have not been letting the starch soak in long enough.

I spray my fabric with a 50/50 solution of starch/water. I use a plastic dishpan to keep the overspray in check. I bought a spray bottle at Sally's Hair Supply that has a fine mist. Once I have sprayed both sides I roll it up and put it in a plastic bag to mellow, much like we did back in the day when we sprinkled clothes to iron. I go do something else and when the starch has had a good time to absorb I then press the fabric. No flakes or gunk left on the iron this way.

I spray one side and iron on the other.

Several people have mentioned the problem of starch on irons, and this is sort of aside from the main point of this thread, but I wanted to share that at least part of the problem is with the iron. I got a new Rowenta a few weeks ago because my old Singer iron had started to sputter rust. I never, ever had a problem with starch coating the Singer, but in less than 2 months, with the exact same style of use and brand of starch, the Rowenta is the one on the right! Both irons have stainless steel, and they were in a similar price range. I never had to clean the Singer. I like Rowenta fine so far, but I'm not happy about having to clean it all the time.