What's the best starch?

[volvoguy87]

I need to buy more starch. I use so much that I like to mix my own from big bottles. My choices are Sta-Flo and Linit. What do you recommend? I like to use starch when I iron, LOTS of it! I like my things with a starch level someplace between heavy and oppressive. No flaking, but good sharp creases and that nice freshly-starched feeling.

I'm all out and the ironing is piling up, help!
Dave

 

[westie2]

Dave make your own. Do you spray starch or dip it.

Hers is link to make the Boiled starch.

http://ashleys.net/recipes/Starch.htm

 

[westie2]

Here is a link to making spray stach.

With either of these you can make it the strength you want from light to very heavy.

I like the boiled starch and dip everything in it then hand wring it and spin on low spin in the washer. Hang dry then sprinkle and place in plastic bag and place in the refrigerator overnight. Bring the bag out and iron shirts. This is how my mother and grandmothers did it. I do this twice a year and use the homemade spray stach the rest of the time. It seams that the dipped in boiled starch stays and haelps the fabric keep longer.

Laundress probabally has a better way. I think she has posted on this before.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5293764_make-homemade-spray-starch.html

 

[petek]

I've used Niagara spray starch for quite a number of years but now most of my shirts are just tees and golf shirts that don't need creases. RIght now I'm on a bottle of Magic spray sizing. It doesn't really stiffen the fabric much but it sure makes ironing alot easier.

 

[volvoguy87]

I do have a box...

I have a red box of Argo Gloss Laundry Starch but have never used that product before. I want to spray my starch since I tend to iron a little at a time here and there. So my 3 options are the box of Argo, Sta-Flo, and Linit. What should I use?

I stopped using Niagra cans because I went through them like water.

Heaven forbid my shirts have a wrinkle,
Dave

 

[launderess]

You Can Use The Box Of Argo

For starching in your washing machine, and the results are vastly better than spray starching, also does not take as much time as you think with a little advance preparation.

Mix the Argo starch according to directions for "light", "medium or "heavy" starch. Take clean items, they can be dry or fresh from the spin cycle.

Set washing machine for final rinse and water level to "low" if only doing a few items. Let washer fill and start agitating, then pour in starch and allow to mix with water for a few minutes. Stop washer, add items you want starched, then reset timer so washer will agitate at least for five mins, maybe a bit longer. Then allow machine to spin dry. If your washer has spray rinses after the final rinse, they must be skipped or stopped as they will dilute the starch.

When machine is done, take items out, give them a good shake and hang to almost dry, then iron. Keep a spray bottle filled with water handy to moisten areas that may dry before you can get them ironed.

If you are not going to be doing a load of laundry within the next several hours, run the rinse cycle again (set washer to one level higher than you had it for starching, or "high" if that is what you used, and let it complete the cycle. You want to rinse any remaining starch out of the washing machine and pump to prevent mould from growing. Starch is a great food for molds and mildew (ever see bread that has hung around too long in damp and dark conditions?), so the machine has to be cleaned out after a starching cycle.

While it is possible to make "spray starch" from powdered starches, I've never been able to get the stuff to work without making a mess of things.

Faultess used to sell liquid starch in huge jugs one could find at K-Mart and other stores, but think they stopped sales to all but commercial laundries.

You can also try this:

http://www.cleanersupply.com/products/product.cfm?pID=2347

 

[angus]

Faultless liquid starch is still available through agelong.com. However, through that website it costs around $6.00 per half gallon and come 6 to a case. Then there is the shipping... UNfortunately for those of us on the east coast, that is the only way to get that product. Faultless has stopped making its dry starch so I guess I will be hoarding my small stash of their "blued and perfumed starch".