When to starch ?
 

I know that a lot of quilters use starch and that it helps to get accurate blocks, but I am never sure when to apply starch. For example, if I have a big piece of yardage, I may cut a yard or half yard piece at a time for my strips. Do I starch that yard or half yard piece? What about when using fat quarters, or jelly rolls or charm squares? If I sew jelly roll strips together, and nothing has been previously starched do I apply starch?
When my block has been put together and the pieces were starched, do I starch again?
This is probably elementary to many, but not to me.
I would very much appreciate thoughts on this.
Thanks

It is a good question.

I usually do not use starch/ sizing - but i did resort to using it to make a hand pieced top hold its press.

I starch prior to cutting & while piecing.

I usually only starch if there are going to be off grain cuts, like triangles, trapezoids etc. I would starch as you go as it's best not to store fabric that has been starched. So you have a yard or two of fabric and you need 1/2 yard for your project, I would just starch the half yard. I wash pre cuts, but only starch if cuts will be off grain. so if i'm doing a jelly roll race, I probably wouldn't starch. If I'm sewing strips together, then going to cut the strips into triangles, I would starch the strata (so after sewing the strips together).
As far as starching blocks goes, if they are wonky & don't want to lay flat & square, I will use a bit of spray starch, but usually you don't need anything additional.
As in all quilting techniques, do whatever works for you. If you don't starch now, try it on your next project. If you like it, continue. You might find that it doesn't aid you in piecing, so you can omit this step.

Thank you, especially to Paper Princess for your in depth answer.

Paper Princess when you say you wash precuts do you mean fat quarters, charm squares,and jelly rolls? If you do, how do you do it? Do you put them in lingerie bags?

Typically, if you are going to starch, you want to starch before cutting. Starch stabilizes fabric so that it does not as easily stretch or distort while handling. This means it helps while cutting, and also while piecing.

The only thing about starching pre-cuts is that they might shrink. Shrinkage is not a problem once a top is quilted to batting and backing. However, if your pre-cuts shrinks before you use them, they might shrink too much for your piecing project. For example, I would hesitate to starch 5" squares if I were using a pattern that called for exact 5" squares; they might shrink in one direction or another to less than 5". Same with fat quarters, although usually even if the fat quarter shrinks a little you will still be able to get the required pieces out of it.

Usually, if I am going to starch, I am starching yardage. Storing starched yardage is a problem probably only in climates where there are a lot of bugs, especially if there is dampness and heat. Honestly, it's never been a problem for me in MN and WI.

I starch my yardage just before I use it. My yardage gets washed when I bring it home, but I don't iron and starch it until I am going to use it. (Maybe because I am lazy, but I only want to iron once.) I also wash my pre-cuts because the chemicals on the fabrics can irritate my fingers, so I will starch them too before using them too. But as Prism99 said, they can shrink. I just had a kit that had 9 pieces of 1/3 yard each and I washed them and each piece shrank. It was a bit of a shock, I had to adjust the pattern which didn't thrill me but it's okay. I was just surprised because the fabric was a good brand.

Quilting candy how do you wash your precuts, since fabric,especially small pieces of fabric ravel so much.

I starch all my fabric before cutting. Never starched during of after sewing.
But I understand some do.
For pre-cuts, I adjust my cutting/sewing to the size of the pre-cuts after
starching/ironing. For charms, I prefer to make patterns that use 4.5" squares
that way I'm covered for any shrinkage and I can trim my charms to 4.5"
and avoid the pinked edges. For layer cakes I go with max 9.5" squares.
For jelly rolls I use them as is...no trimming.
But I have to adjust my 1/4" seam allowance once/twice.

Joan my stash is comprised of only FQ's and smaller so if I am pre-washing I just use some hottish water in a basin and swish the fabric around gently by hand, then I hang it out to drip dry. Then I starch and iron before cutting.

I wash, starch, and iron all yardage when it comes in the door before I add it to my stash. The starch helps keep the dirt and oils from dirtying the fabric and makes piecing easier. You also don't know what shoppers in the store have handled before they picked up your bolt of fabric. I wash all quilts before I use/gift them.

I wrap all of my fabric on 12" x 6" cardboard and place in a plastic tub. I also put 2 or 3 cotton balls with Lavender oil in each tub. Thru the years, I've never had a problem with bugs, and the material stays fresh and clean. Dust around here is horrible.

I do something similar to Deecee. Wash in the sink with a drop or two of laundry detergent, rinse well, spin excess water out in a salad spinner. I lay the pieces out on the counter to dry, then iron.

Thank you all for the info. I appreciate learning the different ways people do things.

I never thought of using my salad spinner to get the excess water out of fabric I wash by hand-what a great idea!

I'm looking for a salad spinner next time I go shopping.

I wash my precuts either is a salad spinner or using a mesh bag in the washing machine. My top loading machine does not have the center agitator. In the salad spinner I use a bit of the blue Dawn dish soap, the washing machine I use the normal detergent.

I just started starching my larger pieces of fabric before cutting this past year and I like how it handles especially during the cutting process. I do not starch small precuts only FQs and larger.

I don't pre-wash my fabrics, unless they're batiks, unless the fabric is going to be used in clothing. I starch everything that I'm going to be working with, at least 2 hours ahead of time, stick the starched fabrics in a ziplock baggie, when the minimum time is up, I either put it in the dryer or if I have the time I'll "hang" the fabrics across my ironing board.

A lot of people don't like starch because it gunks up their iron and flakes all over the fabric, but, that's because when you’re ironing, you're ironing the starch. not the fabric, doing it this way, I've never had a problem with the iron getting all gunky then, I do spray mist with water since I don't use the steam on my iron.

A lot of people also say that if you use starch, you'll get bugs, I've never had a problem with bugs and have had starched fabric in the drawers for at least a year, so, if you have problems with bugs, in particular, silverfish, then I wouldn't leave starched fabric around, but if you don't have a problem, then simply because you have starched fabrics around, doesn't imply that all of a sudden you'll have a problem with bugs.

I use starch whenever I need it - simple as that. I like to starch (actually I use sizing more than starch) before I cut yardage as it just makes for easier and more accurate cuts - also helps to stabilize a bias edge if that is what I'm cutting. I will starch a finished block if I am trying to get a bunch of seams to lay flat. I starch to get out creases - almost always on fat quarters.

Great info here :)
I try to wash all yardage and usually rinse precuts in warm water to get rid of the manufacturing chemicals and to see if there is any bleeding/ excess dye. If there is some bleeding I use synthrapol or retayne with the yardage, depending on the fabric. I use colour catchers with the precuts.

I lightly starch when ironing after washing to get some of the crispness back and when cutting to assure that the pieces hold their shape and don't stretch. It helps get the wrinkles out and adds stability.

To me these time consuming steps are not "fun" and I really don't "like" doing it but find this is a necessary part of the process - have had issues previously if I didn't do them.
Thanks for the 'salad spinner ' tip :)

I prewash all my fabric, even precuts. I soak precuts in the sink in warm water, the spin dry in my salad spinner, (which I bought my salad spinner for my quilting room for this purpose only). On precuts, I dry on a dry towel and I always starch or use best press all the time. The starch or best press has improved my accuracy sooooooo much. This is just me, but it works for me. That is what you should do, is what works for you.

For me I cut however much fabric I think I need for the project and maybe just a little more in case I miscut, starch it, press when dry and then do my cutting. I find ithelps with the fraying and distortion. When I get my blocks done I do a light steam pressing to set all the seams flat, then I start to assemble my blocks together. I had my old kitchen metal sink/faucet installed down here so that I could use it for cleaning paint brushes at that time and then starching my fabrics. I added a large dowel rod above the sink and keep skirt type hangers there to hang my starched fabrics to dry over the sink as it can caught any drips. I use a dishpan to dip my fabrics into, wring them out as best I can and then hang them up.

If I'm using pre-cuts, I'll starch after I get the block put together. I spray the starch on the backside and let dry, then mist from the front side and press.

Thank you everyone for your wonderful info.

I wash pieces a fat eighth and smaller by hand, place the wet pieces in a mesh bag and spin in the dryer, then hang on a line to dry.

I use Best Press as my starch, and spray yardage before cutting, and during block construction. I have to use a very lightweight iron, and I think spraying seams during construction helps make up for the lack of weight.

I'd like to try traditional starch some time, but the spray kinds have the type of sprayer I'm not able to use, and using the non-spray kind sounds more complicated, so I haven't tried it. The Best Press is so easy, LOL!

I don't starch but I'm thinking I might start. I was watching Christa Watson on her blog and she had jelly rows and starched each one before she started cutting. If I were starting to starch, I would only starch what I was using.

This is what I do. By letting the startched fabrics hang dry, the starch does not flake when ironing. Cutting and sewing Accuracy up, fraying of fabric down. I love to use starch as I sew and it all washes out in the first laundering of the quilt. Yeah

I pre-wash everything and use lingerie bags for smaller than yardage. I put them in the washer. I rarely use pre-cuts. Last few batches of pre-cuts I purchased and before washing were all wonky and not uniform size. I have the canned starch I spray outside or the hubs gets a headache and me too. I only mix a little at a time. I'm always having to stop for something.

I don't think I would starch any fabric until I am ready to use it, for I have heard that silver fish like starch and I would be devastated if I found little holes in my fabric when I was ready to use it.

I have had good results with Best Press. I have heard it is especially important to use it with bias edges.

I don't use starch in general (even when I had to wear dressy clothes to work I would find outfits that didn't require ironing). Therefore it never occurred to me to starch my quilting fabrics, but it's probably an idea worth trying just to see. That said, there are a lot of things I'd like to try out that I don't get to and I may never do it. :)

I did use starch once when I was using flannel for a backing. The flannel tends to bunch up and I find tucks at stitching intersections if I'm not very careful. Starching the flannel held it in place and I didn't have to worry about it tucking. It saved a lot of time because I didn't have to hold the fabric taut while I sewed and I didn't have to redo any of the quilting. I wouldn't have thought about using starch if I hadn't read about people doing that, so yay to all the quiltingboard posters!