Recipe for making your own Spray Starch Cheaply

[Anne B.]

Anne, I starched all of my fabrics for the BOM, just to know that all of the fabrics have been treated the same. If I had not starched the PP blocks, but did all the rest, parts of the quilt top would be stiff and some would be limp. I do it for continuity.

Ahh! That makes sense.

[Diane O.]

I'm not sure what the point would be. Because the paper stabilizes the fabric, you don't need the stabilizing influence of starch. Unless I'm missing something . . . .

Anne in Vancouver, Canada

The paper doesn't stablize the fabric until you get it sewn to the paper. When you are cutting your triangles out, all your bias edges can strecth if you don't handle them carefully. By starching your fabric before you cut, you reduce the chance that the bias will stretch when you pick up your triangle pieces. On some lighter weight fabrics, it doesn't take much to stretch it.

Also, there is a chance that when you remove your paper, you can stretch your fabric if you aren't careful. I was noticing on the feathered star, that there are still some edges that aren't sewn until you get it all together and add the setting triangles. When you remove the paper from each of the sections, you could stretch some of those edges. By starching your fabric, it is less likely to stretch on you.

I never used to starch my fabric, until a friend of mine suggested it. Once I tried it, I won't make a quilt with out starching my fabric. It is just so much easier to handle, and even pieces that aren't cut on the bias seem to go together better with starch than with out.

Diane