Vintage Starch Recipe

Tags

cornflour starch, cornstarch, homemade starch, starch substitute, vintage starch

I know I’ve posted about this in the past, but I’ve had another go and I thought you might be interested in the results.

Part of the problem with the previous recipe was that it made gallons of starch! Although I managed to use up all of what I had without mishap, it did start to degrade as I got to the bottom of the jar.

So if you’re not starching a dozen hankies for each member of the household plus tray cloths and doilies, here’s the revised recipe.

Vintage Starch

1 teaspoon cornflour

1 teaspoon cold water

Mix to a paste.

Add 275 ml boiling water and stir until smooth

Top up with 125 ml cold water.

 

Immerse items in starch, squeeze out excess and hang dry. Iron when damp.

{a little glimpse}

Laura at Cupcakes for Clara has been encouraging bloggers to post a photo of their work in progress, which I’m using as a much-needed foot in the posterior to encourage me to get cracking!

The idea is that you don’t add any text to the image, which is both a bit or a relief and a challenge when it comes to taking interesting photos without giving too much away!

So, here’s my first one…

Vintage and Crisp (365 Simplicity – 209)

Tags

is there nothing that can't be done with cornflour?, make your own starch, spray starch alternative, vintage starch recipe

I have a new obsession…

As I finished my bottle of spray starch the other day, I was musing on the alternatives to yet another aerosol bottle of mystery ingredients.

So I had a wee search, and had to ask myself, “Is there nothing that can’t be done with cornflour?”

I wasn’t thrilled with the recipes I found online, and after all, what’s the point of buying vintage household management books if you go straight to Google for all your answers?

Ideal Home Library – Home Queries ?

It was a pretty good start, but for ease of use, here is my slightly adapted version:

Boiling Water Starch

1 tablespoon cornflour (because it’s all lace to me, darling)

1/2 teaspoon borax

3 tablespoons cold water

 

Mix into a smooth paste and add 1.136 litres (although precision is not crucial) boiling water, stirring constantly and then 525 ml (see note above) cold water.

 

I added 12 drops of rosemary essential oil because I am keeping the leftovers and I didn’t want it to go fusty on me.

 

It has since started to settle a little (but reconstitutes easily with a shake), from my reading online, I believe that if you boiled the starch mixture and boiling water, you would get less settling. If you try it, let me know.

 

Once finished, dip your damp laundry into the starch, give it a squeeze and hang until not-quite-dry. Iron with a hot iron (no steam) and marvel at the creaselessness!

 

 

 

On the left, ladies and gentlemen, is the pile of spray starched fabric awaiting designs, on the right are some finished pieces using my new recipe.

 

Begone spray starch!

It’s Not a Problem…

Tags

abakhans, jane eyre, linen, mending Toms, vertigo

I’ve just had a rather epic trip into town (you know the kind you have panic attacks about more than 24 hours in advance). Part of it was boring (seeing if my little laptop Bertie could be fixed after he got his feet wet) and part of it was fun (looking for more backing fabric for Dragon’s quilt and getting iron on patches and glue to mend our household’s Toms).

If you’ve never been to Abakhan‘s in Manchester (and other places, including Latvia apparently), and you are of an excitable disposition, you should probably just stop reading.

There’s a normal fabric store upstairs, but on the ground floor is a maze of bins where everything is sold by weight. I don’t know why it makes it so much easier to buy vast quantities, maybe because it comes in pre-cut bits (you can have smaller pieces cut, but I rarely do) but that place makes me want to crawl into one of the nicer bins (suiting, not stretch denim) and curl up like a happy cat.

I was only going to buy only what I needed for the quilt backing, until I found myself in front of the linen section. But, I left the saffron yellow and just bought gray and gray and gray. But it’s ok, I have a plan for the two I’m not using for the quilt. Despite being pathologically opposed to the idea of ironing clothes every time you wear them I have a little linen problem. I seem to want an endless range of gray smocks and smart suits. I fear early exposure to Jane Eyre and Vertigo are to blame.

Framed

Tags

how to frame embroidery, measure twice cut once, Sewing

I’ve finally got round to finishing a few things which have been hanging about for a while, annoying me.

It didn’t go quite as smoothly as I’d have liked…what is it they say? Measure twice cut once…

But I’m pleased that I can move on to the next project on my list.

Exerting a Little Self-Discipline

Tags

a little self discipline, it seemed like a good idea at the time, Sewing

I’m struggling with a project…it was one of those things that pops into your head fully formed and causes you to rush off and start it, full of enthusiasm.

That was at the end of December.

It’s a great project and I’m really excited about it and what it might lead to, but I’m struggling to force myself to finish it.

So today’s the day, I’m not letting myself off with anything less than a completed piece.

Behind the Scenes

Tags

colour blocks, dragon's quilt, quilt back ideas

I’m meant to be working this morning, but I can’t seem to settle to anything. I’ve been having that problem all week, and it’s driving me nuts. So I decided that reading a paper (Abdominal muscle recruitment during a range of voluntary exercises…not The Guardian), doing a spot of spray painting, drinking three cups of tea and checking my email counted as work and I could devote the rest of my morning to working out what to do with the back of Dragon’s quilt.

Here are the things I’m liking…

Source: flickr.com via Katy on Pinterest

 

Using the fabrics from the front on the back, in fairly small quantities.

Source: blueelephantstitches.blogspot.com via Katy on Pinterest

 

I’m very into continua of colours…but I’m not sure my colours really work this way.

Source: meamomblog.com via Katy on Pinterest

 

I love the horizontal stripes!

Source: filminthefridge.com via Katy on Pinterest

 

This is the most logical solution, but I don’t know how it will work with what I’ve got.

So off I go to ponder a bit more.

Start at the Top

Tags

dragon's quilt, hand piecing, linen quilt, pinwheel quilt

If I didn’t have photographic evidence, I’m not sure I’d believe it myself…

(I love the way hand sewing makes the seams a bit wiggly.)

But I was there, and I can tell you that this is a completed twin sized expanse of hand-pieced goodness.

So far I haven’t found anything in it that I can’t live with.

Dragon will be a year and a half old at the end of the month and is still sleeping in a cot, so a quilt this size wouldn’t be practical even if it was finished. (But I think he likes it so far.)

Any back or quilting ideas would be gratefully received. I’m going to strongly consider stealing the Occasional Crafter’s stripe idea, but I’m still very open to ideas. I’ll maybe write a whole post with my current thoughts, I’m quite liking basking in the glow of completion without starting to worry about the next stage…much.

Weekword – Epiphany

Tags

bias binding, epiphany, I've started so I'll finish, weekword

I’m good at epiphanies, I have them a lot. Other people are frequently less inspired by my epiphanies than I am, but I suppose that’s the nature of the beast.

I have had three recently, one was about applying bias binding, the other was that I’m really rubbish at finishing things and the last is that there is such a thing as too much inspiration.

I made a list of all the projects I have to finish and it made me gulp a little. I’ll write a post about it when I get over the shock of the thing (and possibly finish off a few of the things on the list to make it look a bit more presentable).

The problem of too much inspiration, leading to too many ideas, leading to not finishing anything because I’ve moved on to the next bright idea is going to take some discipline on my part. I’ve picked two types of project to work on this year, and hopefully it will make me more productive (less feeling my way through a new media all the time) and make it easier to put together coherent shops when I finally get them organised.

That’s the theory at least…

In honour of my new self-knowledge, I started a new project.

But I did finish it, so that hardly counts, right?

Go have a look at the other lovely Weekworders:

Carmen, Helen, Sally and Sally

I’m going to tag Helen for next week’s word, so don’t forget to pop along to her blog to see what next week’s word is!

Tea and Sniffles

Tags

christmas crafting, dragon, embroidery, naptime projects, sewn not of tree, sinusitis, SNOT

Thanks for all the lovely responses to the Rose embroidery, I really enjoyed making it and now have heaps more ideas up my sleeve.

Thanks to a new illness (sinusitis, I really had no idea…I even went to the dentist to make sure my teeth weren’t falling out), I’ve been proving my membership to SNOT. Apparently, green isn’t a good colour…

The new piece pictured here is another one of those It Sounded Like a Good Idea presents which are almost impossible to finish in time for the holiday (when you start it on 12th December). But I’ll keep you posted.

So while Dragon naps, I stitch and snuffle.