Starching Shirt Collars, tips and techniques?

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scoots

scoots

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I've worked most of my life blue collar, however, I'm finding myself in more formal settings lately. Not full shirt and tie, but more "sporty casual".

I'm noticing that my shirts would look better if the collars were starched to keep their shape .... otherwise they curl up into little canoes like Rosanne Rosannadanna's pinky toe.

Never having starched anything in my life, I bought a can of Faultless premium starch and have used it with good result. By the way, the shirts are 100% cotton.

My question is, how much starch should I put on? Right now, I am applying starch to both sides of the collar, and putting enough down to form a froth. Then I apply enough heat to remove 90% of the dampness.

Is this a good technique? Are there any mistakes to avoid in the long run?

Thanks
 
If the amount of starch you are now using is giving you the crisp results you’re after and your satisfied, then what your doing is OK.  My only suggestion would be to remove as much of the moisture as possible, with the DRY setting of your iron.

 

Also, spray starch is expensive.  When I was still working I starched all my shirts and used regular old fashioned liquid starch, like Faultless or Vano, mixed 50/50 with water in a spray bottle.   I sprayed the shirts and rolled them up, then ironed them in the order of spraying the starch on, the little time they were allowed to sit let them become uniformly damp with the starch.

 

And if you get a starch build up on the sole plate of your iron, here’s and old trick my Mom and Grandma used.  Place a sheet of wax paper on top of a towel, sprinkle regular table salt onto the wax paper and then run the iron back and forth over the salt using the cotton setting, doing so until the starch build up comes off.

 

I really liked wearing starched shirts and my coworkers used to comment on the nice creases my shirts had, which can only be accomplished by using starch when you iron.

 

Eddie
 
Am not a huge fan of spray starch, but if it works for you..

By all means have at it.

Would start with spraying both sides of collar until a bit damp, but not too heavily. Then lay shirt down for several minutes to allow product time to seep into fabric. If you are doing several shirts, do them all up then place in a clean clear plastic bag to keep the starch from drying out totally.

By time you've done last shirt and cleaned up, gotten out ironing board and iron in heated to proper temp shirts should have rested enough. Start with first shirt sprayed and work down to last.

Ideally there shouldn't be a residue on your iron. If so it means either too much starch was used, and or temperature is perhaps too high.

Good starching means the stuff goes into fabric, not rests upon it; flaking and scorching, and other problems often means too much product was used. This and you've got excess starch on surface of fabric, and it can cause problems.

Suggestion above about using liquid starch (Linit is best IMHO) is a good one. Comes out to be much cheaper than canned spray starch. You can stock up on spray starch but keep in mind it can go "off". By this meaning propellant becomes week and you cannot get a good spray. Also some cans now have a one piece spray nozzle and stem. So if can falls onto floor or some how cap is broken off, unlike days of old you simply cannot just put it back, the can is now done for.

As for ironing collars you want to do the back first (until partially dry), then flip over and do front until thing is totally dry. While still warm fold down collar along crease and shape, then get on with ironing rest of shirt.

You want to fold collar while still warm so not as to "break" or "crack" the starch.
 
Spray starch in cans .......

I've always had the worst luck. Purchase a fresh can, use it once or twice, works just fine. Come back awhile later to use it again and the propellant has leaked out and all you get is a stream of piddle. Why is it that starch cans do this? No other product with propellant does this ..... except WD40. But even WD40 takes years for this to happen. I have 20 year old spray paint rattle cans that still work just like the day I bought them. But spray starch ...... won't last 6 months on the shelf. And yes, I take the nozzle off and rinse it like the instructions say to do.
 
When ironing collars I was taught to iron from the points toward the middle back. If there is any extra fabric in the collar it will make small pucker in back so the front points always lay smooth and neat.
 
Ironing in general

So many folks I know HATE ironing, but I think it comes down to having the right tool for the job.  I iron a fair amount, when I travel I often stay with family.  I find they have the worst irons, the biggest issue I can see is they all want the lightest iron possible.  I find the opposite to be true, I like  a firm heavy iron.  I find it very difficult to iron with the common light weight iron, I use and love my Rowenta I've had for many many years.  It has some heft behind it, makes ironing a breeze.
 
Derek,

Liquid starch is usually diluted with water, but I’ve heard of some people using it straight out of the bottle for a very heavy starching.  

 

You can either dilute it in a basin or sink and submerge the items to be starched and then wring them out and let them dry until damp, then iron.  This method would be used if you are going to starch a lot of things at once, like a large linen or cotton tablecloth and napkins.  You could also do this in a TL washer, using minimal water level, then spin out the starch, allow items to dry until damp and iron.

 

I always found that just using a spray bottle with a 50/50 dilution as I outlined in reply #1was the easiest method of all.

 

If you buy a bottle of liquid starch you’ll find the instructions for the various ways it can be used.

 

I always preferred Vano starch, I don’t know if it's even made anymore, or if you can even buy it anyplace other than California.  Here it used to be the starch of choice for anyone I knew.  They had a very catchy commercial, “If your not using Vano, you’re working too hard”, and an iron with wings used to seemingly glide over the ironing board.

 

No matter what, liquid starch is far superior to the canned spray stuff.

 

And like Matt, I think a heavy iron is the only way to go, preferably a vintage iron.  And when starching, always use the dry setting, you don’t want to use steam when you’re trying to dry out the starch.

 

Eddie
 
unfortunately Vano is no longer made. When Purex was acquired by Dial , the Vano (west coast) and StaFlo (east coast) brands were merged into the SteFlo brand. I discovered Vano Starch back in the 80s when I used to travel for business and I would buy cases of it and ship it back to Connecticut. I liked the fact that it was very concentrated unlike our Linit (Best Foods) and StaFlo brands and it really gave a beautiful finish.

I have since started using Faultless liquid starch - not readily available here on the East Coast, but for some reason Wegmans supermarkets carry it so I can drive the one hour to Montvale NJ to the closest Wegmans to get supplied every few months.
 
We used to use Linit Starch.

My Grandmother iused to make up a basin full. Dip the articles in the solution, wring out the excess sometimes in the Solid Tub GE.

Then all the shirts, napkins, whatever into balls, put them in a plastic bag and put them in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day Iron them with a Dry Iron no Steam. The Shirts and pants could stand up on their own !!!
 

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