Step-by-step instructions on how to starch a dress at home
Starch was often used to give clothing a dressy, fresh look. Most often it was used in the preparation of evening dresses for girls. Before using starch, you should familiarize yourself with how to properly starch a dress.
Why do you need starch
You must first understand why you need to starch outfits before using them.
Volume
The main reason for starching is to give clothes bulk. Processing fabric clothes with a starch-containing liquid gives them a volumetric shape. At the same time, the curvaceous forms are retained until the next washing of the dresses.
After washing soiled items in washing machines with the spin turned on, the procedure will need to be repeated.
Freshness and beautiful appearance
It's no secret that some things start to look bad over time and lose their freshness. Therefore, in order for a woman's outfit to become more beautiful and presentable, you will need to treat it with a starchy composition. There is no need to starch new clothes, as they look great even after 2-5 washes. However, if the dress is worn regularly, it will need to be starched at least once a month.
Fewer wrinkles
Girls who often have to wear dresses are faced with the fact that they wrinkle a lot. This problem is very common because many fabrics leave wrinkles on the surface after washing. To get rid of it, you have to use an iron. However, if there are few wrinkles, starching will help remove them.
Correct form
After prolonged use of things, their cuffs and collars lose their original shape. In order to somehow maintain their shape, you will periodically need to starch. At the same time, not all clothes can be treated with the composition, only their individual parts.
Professional remedies
There are a number of professional products that are used to starch women's evening dresses.
Spray or aerosol
When ironing laundry, special formulations are often used, produced in the form of a spray. Their advantages are:
- things that have been periodically sprayed with an aerosol retain their shape for a long time and do not lose their freshness;
- products made from delicate materials after processing cease to wrinkle strongly;
- the components that make up the aerosols prevent perspiration and other contaminants from being absorbed into the fabric.
powder or liquid
Sometimes people do not want to use aerosols with sprays and therefore use other means. Among housewives, washing liquids or powders with a starching effect are considered popular.
Their particularity is that they must be used when washing in the washing machine. These products are poured into the powder or detergent compartment.
The traditional way at home
Before you start starching, you need to familiarize yourself with the features of the procedure at home.
Kinds
There are three main types of garment processing.
Soft, tender
It is recommended to use this method if it is necessary to process dresses made of thin materials. In this case, use a small amount of starch powder. It is enough to add one and a half tablespoons of the substance to a liter of water. Soft starching works well for knitted fabrics.
Medium hardness
The average starching intensity is not suitable for all articles. Experts advise using this method when working with napkins, tablecloths and bed linen. You can also process durable skirts, sweaters and shirts. For evening dresses, this technique is completely inappropriate, as it can damage the material of the fabric.
Hard
The hard method is not used very often because it is not suitable for everything. People who starch regularly are advised to use it when treating shirt cuffs or collars. Sometimes skirts and dresses made of tough fabric are treated in this way. Starch hard the garment is needed to shape it.
Preparation of the solution
To independently prepare a solution for starching things, you need:
- add 90 grams of starch to 500 milliliters of water;
- boil 400 milliliters of liquid and add it to the starch mixture;
- the resulting solution is thoroughly stirred and boiled again on the stove for half an hour;
- the liquid is poured into a separate bowl and infused until it cools.
Recipe enhancement options
There are four ways to improve the recipe to create a starch mixture.
For the whiteness
Some housewives starch evening dresses for whiteness. In this case, the solution will need to be prepared according to a standard recipe. However, a little blue is added to the resulting mixture, which helps remove dirt and stains from the surface of the fabric.
Shine
A special recipe for shine will help to give things freshness and make them more attractive. To prepare the paste, the starch is mixed with talc and water. After that, a towel is dipped into a container with liquid, through which a woman's dress will be ironed. The shine left on the fabric after ironing will not disappear even after washing.
For easy ironing
Sometimes starching is done so that the dresses are less wrinkled and better ironed. To remove bruises, starch liquids are used, in the manufacture of which they added not only water, but also milk. No more than 60-80 milliliters of milk dissolve in one liter of water.
To keep the color
It's no secret that colored items fade over time and their color becomes less bright. In order for bright dresses to always look good, you need to use a special tool.
Before washing, things are soaked in starch porridge for half an hour. The temperature of the thick mixture should not exceed room temperature.
handle the thing
It is quite simple to process clothes with starch solutions. For this, the dress is placed on an ironing board or any other flat surface. Then the fabric is moistened in a liquid and the surface of the dress is treated with it.
Drying rules
There are several recommendations to read before drying treated clothes.
hangers
With natural drying, all wet things should be hung on special hangers. These products allow you to keep the shape of the dress and do not wrinkle it when drying. The hangers are hung on special fasteners one and a half meters above the surface of the floor so that the fabric does not come into contact with this one.
Ambient temperature
When drying things, you need to monitor the temperature indicators in the room. They should not be too low or too high, as this may affect drying. The temperature in the room where the treated dresses are dried should be between 20 and 23 degrees Celsius.
You can't speed up the process
Some people don't like the fact that treated women's dresses take a long time to dry. Therefore, people try to speed up the process by all available means. Hot batteries, household hair dryers and electric heaters are often used for this. However, you don't need to do this, as clothes dried this way will be less ironable.
Shades of ironing
It is recommended to determine the nuances of ironing in advance in order to do everything correctly. Experts advise ironing damp clothes because they smooth better. If it is completely dry, it is pre-sprayed with water and immediately smoothed with a heated iron. In this case, the dress should be ironed through an additional moistened towel.
Tips for special occasions
There are several recommendations for specific cases.
Marriage
It is not necessary to starch the upper part of wedding dresses, especially if it is made in the form of a corset. Just starch the bottom part where the skirt is. It is covered with a towel dipped in a solution of starch and ironed with an iron. The procedure is repeated 2-3 times.
children's new year
Sometimes children have to prepare a New Year's outfit and starch it. To do this, the product is completely moistened in a starch solution, after which it is smoothed with an iron. If after that the New Year's dress is wrinkled, you will need to repeat the procedure using hard starching.
Cuffs and collars
To starch collars with cuffs, as in the case of a children's New Year's dress, it is better to use a hard solution. To increase its effectiveness, a little sodium boric salt is added to the composition. Then the liquid is brought to a boil and insisted for an hour and a half. After that, things can be rolled out into the prepared dough.
Knitted
To make knitted clothes more beautiful, people recommend starching them. Thanks to this, the treated clothes will become shinier, stop stretching and retain their shape better. In addition, the patterns on the surface of knitted items will become much more voluminous and embossed.
Skirt
Tulle and other materials from which a petticoat or skirt can be made should be periodically starched. For this, it is necessary to use solutions of medium hardness or light starch mixtures. They soak things in it for 20-30 minutes, after which they dry them a little and iron them to get rid of bruises.
What can't be starch
There are several things for which starch is contraindicated.
Underwear
Some people starch their underwear, but experts advise against doing so. After the procedure, such things begin to pass air with moisture worse. This leads to the fact that the laundry becomes less hygienic and uncomfortable. Therefore, it is better not to use starch to care for it.
Things in black and dark tones
It is forbidden to starch completely black clothes or objects made of dark fabric. After using starch mixtures, white spots and light marks remain on dark clothes, which will be difficult to get rid of even with the help of effective detergents.
Synthetics
Synthetic materials are not considered very high quality fabrics because they are not very breathable. Their flow will deteriorate only if you periodically process them with starching, therefore, it is better to refuse starching.
Alternative methods
There are four alternative methods to starch things.
Sugar
Instead of starch, you can use powdered sugar which can shape clothes.
To prepare a product for the treatment of dresses, 5-6 tablespoons of sugar are poured into a liter of water. Then the liquid is boiled and insisted.
Gelatin
For starching dark clothes, it is better to use gelatin products. When creating a solution of 250 milliliters of water, 50 grams of gelatin is added. Then the composition is heated on a stove and used for soaking dresses.
PVA glue
For processing knitted clothes, it is better to use formulations based on PVA glue. The adhesive should be mixed with the liquid in a ratio of one to three.Then the solution is infused and poured into a basin, where the laundry will be soaked.
In the washing machine
The easiest way to starch dresses is in the washing machine. To do this, simply add starch to the detergent drawer and activate the normal wash cycle. The starched dresses are dried and ironed before use.
Conclusion
Many girls are engaged in starched dresses. Before starting such work, it is necessary to understand the peculiarities of the preparation of starch formulations and recommendations for their use.