Homemade Laundry Starch

I have to iron a lot. I never actually iron the clothes we have to wear, but sewing is so much easier with crisp, flat materials. Ignore my lack of ironing in this shirt restyle. Sometimes the lazy just gets the better of me; I can’t help it!

I’ve been out of spray starch for a while and it’s been obvious in my sewing. Maybe it’s a good thing production was being held up waiting for a replacement snap press piece. Then I got to thinking that with all the random things I make anyway, like dish soap, I bet there is a do it yourself starch. And then I bet myself it involves corn starch. And guess what? I was right.

It’s so crazy simple!

2 cups distilled water
1 TBS corn starch
several drops of lavender essential oil, or similar if you want something that smells pretty. Lavender is calming and I need all the help I can get.

See the small print? Lavender = calming.

Combine water and starch in a smallish sauce pan and boil together. You’ll have to stir pretty good in the beginning. You can also mix the starch to a couple TBS of water and then add the mix starch to the pan. The point is you don’t want clumps. After a couple minutes of boiling let it cool (this is where I added my EO), then put in your spray bottle, and have crisp clothes.

Things to remember:
– settling will occur, shake before each use.
-you have to use steam or it gets a little tacky when you first put you iron down

Easy peasy! I’m almost sad I no longer have Army uniforms to iron.