Starch
There are several ways,
One, Faultless or Argo laundry starch - These are old fashioned "hot or cold" corn starches. The hot method involves boiling and a bit of cooking, then adding the hot starch mixture to cool water. Almost like making a roux. The mixture is either then poured into the washing machine during the final rinse, or items are dunked into the starch mixture. Stiffness depends on how much you dilute the starch mixture with water. This method is how nurse's caps and nun's headgear get that really stiff/stand up by themselves feelings. FWIW, hear this is the way many Texans like their jeans starched.
Two, buy Faultless or Linit liquid starch and either add the correct dosage to the rinse water, or mix with water to make "spray" starch. To get the really stiff look as above, one needs to use the starch full strength. Many housewives would dip collars, cuffs, and formal shirt fronts in the liquid starch instead of making up starch baths from powder.
Powdered starches can be hard to find, but many stores sell the liquid versions. Usually they are on the lower shelves near the fabric softener.
After laundry is starched, one allows it to dry (line or dryer), then sprinkle with water, roll up and cover with plastic/put in a plastic bag, cover with a damp cloth and allow the starched laundry to sit for several hours. This is to allow the moisture from sprinkling to evenly distribute throughout the laundry. You want the laundry damp, but not too wet. If the laundry is too wet the iron will stick to the starch and you may burn whatever you are ironing.
While ironing keep the starched items either in the plastic bag/under damp cloth to keep it from drying out. It is also good to keep a good spray bottle handy to spritz stubborn wrinkles, and or rewet areas that have dried before you got to iron them.
You can learn how to sprinkle laundry by reading many ironer/iron manual from the the era when everthing was ironed. Some women just used a bowl of warm water,others any of the fancy bottles and caps sold for the purpose. IIRC some vintage automatic dryers came with a sprinkle attachment one filled with water and fitted inside the dryer. As the drum rotated, laundry would get sprinkled.
Finally must say again, there is simply no comparison between properly starched laundry done via the methods above versus spray starch. Spray starch mostly sits on the surface of the fabric, where it flakes off and burns easily as one irons. Soaking/rinsing items in a starch bath allows starch to evenly penetrate all areas of the cloth, making for better results.
Launderess
There are several ways,
One, Faultless or Argo laundry starch - These are old fashioned "hot or cold" corn starches. The hot method involves boiling and a bit of cooking, then adding the hot starch mixture to cool water. Almost like making a roux. The mixture is either then poured into the washing machine during the final rinse, or items are dunked into the starch mixture. Stiffness depends on how much you dilute the starch mixture with water. This method is how nurse's caps and nun's headgear get that really stiff/stand up by themselves feelings. FWIW, hear this is the way many Texans like their jeans starched.
Two, buy Faultless or Linit liquid starch and either add the correct dosage to the rinse water, or mix with water to make "spray" starch. To get the really stiff look as above, one needs to use the starch full strength. Many housewives would dip collars, cuffs, and formal shirt fronts in the liquid starch instead of making up starch baths from powder.
Powdered starches can be hard to find, but many stores sell the liquid versions. Usually they are on the lower shelves near the fabric softener.
After laundry is starched, one allows it to dry (line or dryer), then sprinkle with water, roll up and cover with plastic/put in a plastic bag, cover with a damp cloth and allow the starched laundry to sit for several hours. This is to allow the moisture from sprinkling to evenly distribute throughout the laundry. You want the laundry damp, but not too wet. If the laundry is too wet the iron will stick to the starch and you may burn whatever you are ironing.
While ironing keep the starched items either in the plastic bag/under damp cloth to keep it from drying out. It is also good to keep a good spray bottle handy to spritz stubborn wrinkles, and or rewet areas that have dried before you got to iron them.
You can learn how to sprinkle laundry by reading many ironer/iron manual from the the era when everthing was ironed. Some women just used a bowl of warm water,others any of the fancy bottles and caps sold for the purpose. IIRC some vintage automatic dryers came with a sprinkle attachment one filled with water and fitted inside the dryer. As the drum rotated, laundry would get sprinkled.
Finally must say again, there is simply no comparison between properly starched laundry done via the methods above versus spray starch. Spray starch mostly sits on the surface of the fabric, where it flakes off and burns easily as one irons. Soaking/rinsing items in a starch bath allows starch to evenly penetrate all areas of the cloth, making for better results.
Launderess
