Jackie, I am old enough I remember making starch to do my cotton clothes and laundry! Starched and ironed all cotton dresses, aprons, blouses, skirts, husbands shirts, kids school clothes, table cloths, pillow cases,dresser scarves, doilies, etc. With the onset of permanent press and automatic driers, it went by the wayside. I learned all this from my sweet mother who did that and most of the early years in laundry tubs outdoors and we carried water in buckets, heated in a tub over a fire and hung things on a line. "Good old days"? Sometimes I think they were, but I am grateful we don't have to do it now. :)