Let’s talk about… Starch!

Let’s talk about Spray Starch!

So I brought up the topic of spray starch in last weeks Sassy tip post… let’s dive in and learn a little more about starch and how we as quilters use it.

“Starch” is a German word meaning strong or stiff. Where does if come from?  It comes from a variety of plants such as potatoes, wheat, rice and corn.

When combined with warm water it is used as a thickening, stiffening, and gluing agent. We use it in food, wallpaper, on our fabrics and all kinds of other things.

We enjoy starch for its stiffening qualities. It gives us our fresh looking collars and pleats in our clothes and in quilting it stiffens the fabric(helps with bias), keep fabrics clean(dirt sticks to starch and then washes off), helps to remove wrinkles, keeps seams flat and makes the fabric easier to handle or join with other types of fabric.

Let’s look at some of the most popular starching agents in Quilting…

 Aerosol Spray Starch– most common type of spray starch. This sprays a fine mist which is easily distributed over your fabric. Be careful not to spray too heavily or you might get some white flaking. Letting starch dry before pressing with a dry iron also helps!

Best Press Spray Starch– This starch is different because it is actually a starch alternative. It is made with a soil guard, wrinkle resister and shatterproof spray bottle. It also has a lighter weight to it and because of the spray bottle it does spray in mist/droplet spray. It comes in various scents and unscented. One of Best Press’s best features is that it is no flake and no clog , meaning it won’t leave any white residue on your dark fabrics!

Flatter is another Starch Alternative. They call themselves a Smoothing Spray. It has all the same qualities, but also boast that they are environment friendly and easy on sensitive skin. This is definitely the least stiff in my opinion, but still a nice spray and it comes in lots of great scents!

Spray starch is one of the many tools we have in quilting that makes our job just a little bit easier! So if you haven’t tried it yet… give it a go!

Wanna make your own? Its easy….Check out this link HERE.

Keep it Sassy♥

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