Quiltingboard Forums - Starching the quilt

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I'll try it. I am going grocery shopping today and I have it on my list.

Quote:

Originally Posted by trugger

I might try the painting on the starch... I wonder... does that get messy?
:)

Yes, a little, at least the way I do it. I use my kitchen island and use a big house painting brush. Sometimes I saturate both sides of the fabric. After that, I just roll up the fabric and let it sit until I'm ready to toss it in the dryer. I have some old towels that I can use to mop up any excess so the stuff doesn't get on the floor.

Others might be neater than I am. Mostly I am going for speed, especially since clean-up is so easy.

If you're vigilant, you may be able to get your fabric out of the dryer while it is still slightly damp. Mine usually comes out crumpled up and stiff as lightweight cardboard, but it irons up beautifully with steam.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prism99

Quote:

Originally Posted by pittsburgpam

I've been reading the starch threads too and wondering about starching the center medalion of a giant dahlia quilt. I'm almost ready to applique it to the background and since it is a 54" circle, would it help to starch it so that I don't get stretching around the circle as I pin it and applique it?

Right now the curved edge is really nice and not wavy and I did take heed of the directions to not handle it too much so that it doesn't stretch.

I don't know. With a big piece like that, it seems to me likely that it would become distorted from handling while doing the starching and ironing. Here is a youtube video that shows how to "true up" a block with spray starch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6aplw_tVZc
I just don't think you could do this properly with a giant dahlia.

The ideal would have been to starch the fabric before cutting. This would have resulted in already-stabilized edges.

I think I would be more inclined to spray baste the entire medallion to the background fabric, making sure that there are no ripples. The spray starches are re-positionable, so it seems to me you could get everything pretty much trued up before taking it to the sewing machine. This would be easier than pinning and re-pinning, IMO. (Caution: I have never done a giant dahlia, so this is armchair speculation!)

Thank you thank you. I have a border that has some waves in it and I think this will work to fix it. I will let you know if it works. Thanks again.

I picked up a can of spray starch just to try it out. I put it on some material that I had washed and dried and ironed with steam. I was thinking I was going to have to totally wet it again because the tiny wrinkles weren't coming out.

WOW!!! I sprayed the starch on the wrong side and not one wrinkle, it's just stiff enough to have some body, not floppy. I let it soak in good and no residue. How did I ever piece without it? I'm going to use it on the dahlia center to give it some body so I can work with getting it centered and round.

I'm not really a dummy, but could you tell me exactly your process?

like, dilution ratio, how you applied it and everything you did until it was without a wrinkle?

I prefer to use the liquid starch mostly for control of stiffness as well as overall cost.

I mix my starch 1:1 ratio. Yes I do get some flakes but I don't pay any mind to them because eventually they just flake off. Also, I always wash my quilts when I finish them so it doesn't really matter about the flakes anyway.

I use a garden spray bottle for application. I get the one with the spring in the sprayer head they seem to last longer and the mist can be adjusted easily.

everything she said, except i spray the back. love the stuff!

I too have used spray starch to stablize fabric in order to control my cutting and stiches. Our PBS station often has Martha Pullen who spray starches the heck out of fabrics and irons them "bone dry". HOWEVER, I did hear someone on one of the quilting instruction shows say that leaving the starch in fabric attracts moths, and my husband did have a cotton pair of dress pants that got moth holes. These had been sent to the cleaners and they used the starch --- Not me!!! I'm too busy with quilting to starch and iron pants. :D

I had never tried starching until I decided to try a Ricky Timms convergence quilt. Because of all the intersecting lines and cutting he recommended medium starch, which is 2 cups starch to 6 cups water. The receipe is on the bottle. I washed the fabric, then soaked it in the starched and dried until damp. It was amazing how straight the smallest piece (1 inch strip) was and almost all my intersections were dead on. I was very pleased with how the starch helped. I wouldn't do it for all quilts, but I will certainly do it when there are alot of small strips or bias' to cut and sew.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nana2

a lot of members say that starch attracts bugs. mostly silverfish, i think. i sew and store my fabric in a half-finished basement that gets very damp in the summer even though i keep a large dehumidifier running. i only have 2 teeeeny weeeeny little windows up high. i've never had bug problems and don't want any. do you think i should store in plastic bags or plastic bins? i would hate to take everything off the wall shelves.