I spray starch on the back of the fabric and press on the front, no flakes. I cut, sew and starch again. I rarely pin or rip now because my fabric lays so nice and have no trouble with a 4 patch seam. I like the spray starch in a can and pay from .79 to 1.00 per can and buy 4 at a time.

I was so frustrated with one small quilt trying to free motion without puckers that I unsandwiched it and starched the backing and top it until it stood up by itself. It was great to machine quilt. I starch very heavy and use lots of steam before I cut my fabric. I get all the distortion out of the way first. LOL.

Wow, I have learned alot about the starching. Especially about sewing the seams. That sometimes is my problem too. The next time I go to the store I am going to get some starch.
So when you use the starch, do you starch on the back side of the fabric? And if starch draws bugs, then what do you do to your left over scraps after cutting your pieces?

Looking back ot some of my finished quilts and quilt tops, I can easily see that some problems I had would probably have been eliminated if I had had my fabric crisply starched. I am a fairly recent convert to starching, but am now a great believer in it. I have one issue with the spray starch and that is having it land on the fabric only and not on all surrounding areas, including furniture. I'm thinking that next time I go into a fabric washing/starching operation, I should cover the surrounding area with bed sheets. What do you do to protect the area around your ironing board? Also, I just bought a lot of die-cut 2-1/2" strips. Obviously, I will not be pre-washing them, but they are Bali prints, so when I wash the finished quilt, will I need something in my wash water to keep colors from bleeding, do you think??? (I've read many times on this QB the name of the product used for that, but can't think of it right now.)

It is called Shout Color Catcher.

no it wont make make your cutter sticky it dries when you iron the material

I haven't used starch yet, but am putting my blocks together now. Has anyone used starch on their pieces after they have already been cut?

yes i use it to orin down my seams

that word that was messed up was suppose to be iron
(i iron down my seams !!)

I buy regulary Corn Starch and mix my own, It last about a week before souring, so a cup to a cup and a half at a time in a comfortable spray bottle is so easy and Cheap too!
Works great for me.

I've read all the comments about starching and I want to try it but how do you keep it from stretching out of shape?

Thanks ladies, I sure learned a lot on starching. I never thought of starching before cutting.

Cookie

Yes, thank you for all your great information.

Hi Lisa_, I got past the issue of 'flakes' by doing it on the back side, and misting the top with water, so it's a little damp before you use the starch, let it sit for a minute, it seems to help it be absorbed better. I do the same with my clothes.

I finally bought some starch the other day and used it for the first time. I really like using it.
I bought some from Walmart called faultless for about $1.75, I think.
When I was at Joanns tonight I thought I would see what brands they had. They had the faultless also, but thier price was $4.29. What a difference.
Do any of you use this brand?

Wow, thanks for the pricing info on Faultless. At my LQS I paid $7.95 for 16 oz. of Mary Ellen's Best Press. IT goes too fast! I also plan to try the Niagra Spray that others have talked about on this board. Linda

I really like Mary Ellen spray starch too! It smells so crisp and good! Makes everything come together so much easier when sewing.

Yes, the next time I buy some I want to buy the Niagra Spray too.

When you talk about the starch flaking, is that when you see fiber glass specks on your fabric?

I find the Faultless and/or Niagra spray cans at the dollar store.