Starch (to starch clothes)

I have a thing for cute embroidered table cloths, tea towels, tray covers, etc... Besides cooking I also love cross stitch (I'll probably post some of my craftwork here one day). And nothing better to conserve my beautifully stitched table cloths than starching them. Not only they look better on the table, starching also prevents wine and sauce stains, making it easier to clean.

Here's a recipe, just like grandma used to make it.

For general starch:
1 tbspoon of corn flour
1 tspoon of salt (to prevent bugs getting to fond of chewing your beautiful things)
1 littre of water

Mix it all in a pan, stirring constantly let it boil (it will become more transparent). Mix it up with the rinsing water....
Here's a problem: in Brazil we normally use washing machines that are vertical, allowing us to open the lid and mix it with the rinsing water. In England however, they all have little circular side doors... And there's no way I can open them.

Brazil

England

What I do is, wash it all normally, prepare the starch, put a bit of water in the bath tub (enough to soak everything I need to starch in) and mix a bit of fabric softener and starch on it. It is much more trouble, I agree, so I tend to let all my "to starch" pile accumulate a bit and do it all at once.

For strong starching (when you really want them stiff): instead of 1 tbspoon of corn flour, use 2.

Also, if you want it a bit starched (like men's shirts) but not too stiff, you can prepare the mix, let it cool off and put it into a spray bottle, spraying the shirt or whatever you want while ironing.

Pics http://happyhomemaker88.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/washing-machine.jpg
http://user.img.todaoferta.uol.com.br/R/Q/EM/PY3WI5/1244433346169_bigPhoto_0.jpg