Years ago, we starched a lot of stuff with Argo Gloss Starch. Dissolve it in cold water and add boiling water. Dip the clothes in and wring out by hand. After the clothes were hung on the line, they need to be "sprinkled" before ironing. Everything is rolled up in a basket, and left sit for a few hours to even out the dampness for ironing. Then you start ironing. Never put into the refrigerator. But if you didn't get back to ironing for a few days, it would mildew. That happened to me once with my good white plaid dress, but a small amount of bleach fixed it perfectly.

I still do this with my fabric. Wash, dip in starch, dry, sprinkle, put in large plastic bag and let sit for a few hours, iron. No refrigerator. But the freezer would be a good choice if you got interrupted and had to let it set for a while.

My mom used to buy a powdered starch (name brand Faultless), which you cooked into a thick paste, then thinned down with water. Anything cotton that was going to be ironed was washed, rinsed, then placed in the thin starch solution in a tub, then wrung out and hung out to dry (this was before we had a dryer). When the dry laundry was taken in, each piece was sprinkled with water to dampen it, then all the damp clothes were wrapped in a large towel and put in the "back room" refrigerator until there was time to iron it. The cooked starch was a light blue color, so was fine for light fabrics when it was thinned, but for darker fabrics, blue jeans, dark shirts, etc., she would add a little tea or coffee to darken it. No one was happier than my mom when they came out with spray starch! No one was happier than me when we got our first dryer!

I am anti-spray of all types, but I do liquid starch occasionally, depending on the amount of fabric I need to starch; however, if it's small pieces of a variety of fabrics (or flimsy fabric) I'm sewing, I use paper to stabilize it. With a small stitch length, the paper is easily removed and saves me having to re-wash all the starched fabric. I somehow accumulate used printer paper, which I save for this purpose; however, when I sew on the bias, I use adding machine paper because it is so porous and tears so easily; therefore no stress to bias.

This is what I do - turn it over so the starch goes into the fabric and not my iron. Also I tried a hint and it works - take an odd-ball pillow case and put over your ironing board (I opened the side seam and it fits 80% of my board) and then do your starching or fusing on top of it - when dirty, toss it in the wash and reuse when clean. :-)

Marysewfun

Quote: When the dry laundry was taken in, each piece was sprinkled with water to dampen it, then all the damp clothes were wrapped in a large towel and put in the "back room" refrigerator until there was time to iron it.<

Oh yes, I remember looking in the "freezer" for a blouse I wanted to iron and wear! LOL

Marysewfun

I agree with several points made earlier:

I put a piece of scrap flannel on top of my ironing board. When I'm done starching, the flannel goes into the wash.

I let the starch soak in to the fabric before pressing. Pressing too soon is what gives you flakes, because the starch is sitting on top of the fabric instead of soaking into it. Spray the starch, then walk away. Put a load of laundry in the washer, or walk out to the mailbox, or have a cookie and some milk.

I like the idea of cookies and milk. I buy the powdered & make the fabric board stiff. Let it dry & 're-dampen & press. Good luck. Stiffly starched fabric is so nice to work with. I recently started searching my backing & what a difference it made.

I am sure that as soon as you thaw it, you can press it. It shouldn't be mildewed or have mold on it if it was frozen. You can use Sta-Flo starch and mix it to your specifications. Try their recommended formula and if that isn't stiff enough to suit you, add more starch and keep spraying and ironing until you get as stiff as you want it to be.

I spray, let set a few seconds until it's absorbed and then there's no white residue on the fabric then iron. I use Niagra most of the time 97 cents, can't beat that.

WOW! I have learned more about how to starch from these 3 pages than I did in all my decades of sewing! Thank you ladies! And a big Thank You to the person who asked the question!

What I've been doing is thoroughly spraying the fabric, folding it up and putting it in a big plastic bag, and then letting it sit for a while, which distributes the starch throughout the fabric. After an hour or so, I press it, and it comes out very nice. So glad to know I can put it in the fridge if I can't get back to pressing it at the right time. Never thought of that!