Now a saga of the spray starch
When I went to the Tauranga Exhibition on Wednesday this week , a fellow embroiderer mentioned "Spray starch problems " and lots of ladies said "Oh! yes I am having problems also"...
Now most of us starch our Linen when the project is complete ... but some people are having problems with the spray starch marking the linen by leaving a a brown mark when it has been ironed dried.
So I have done some research ..... Spray cans of starch tell you NOT to use on Linen ...I looked at a couple of different cans and both said the same. So a bit of detection work and I found the answer ..... Drum roll ........The reason is they contain silicone's and this when ironed onto linen can leave a brown edged stain .... this happened to me on a really good dress shirt of my husbands years ago when men wore dress shirts under their dinner jackets... and these shirts used to have linen inserts in the front.... I digress sorry !!
So fear not I have found the answer it is simple you make your own starch ....using the same ingredients as good old Robin Starch used ..... Which by the way is no longer being manufactured.
So to quote just as I found it .....
Cream the cornflour with the cold water then add the hot water stirring well.. Before you begin the starch process, wash the linen wring by folding into a towel but leaving it damp wet. Soak it in the well stirred starch, and once you've done that you need to wring out the linen again in a towel and then hang it to dry. This is not the end of the process. It needs to be ironed, and it needs to be damp when you do this. To finish off the job, a reasonably hot iron is required
I am sure with a touch of brain power you could reduce this amount if you only have a small item to starch
So there you have it ...my computer playing and shopping trip was not in vain.... I hope this helps someone out there in blogger land besides all the ladies who embroider,
3 comments:
well done sherlock lots of interesting information there Laurie and i do like that hanging pear,enjoy your day.xx
This is good to know! thanks for sharing the results of your research.
Thank you so much for doing the legwork, research-wise, I have been wanting a recipe for ages. I have only ever found US recipes and got confused with what cornstarch was (yes I can be easily confused :)) I KNOW what cornflour is, so this is fantastic, now I can do starch, yay!
I think I may have to have a go at the felt pear too, so cute.
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