To starch or not to starch, that is the question.
Before you dry your item, you need to decide if you are going to starch it and if so with liquid starch or spray starch. Recently I’ve had some very interesting discussions concerning starching or not starching your linens. I think that is a personal preference. I am going to try to be impartial in what I post and give you the do’s and don’ts as I learned them from my grandmother and mother as well as from what I have observed over the years.

When I grew up, not only was everything ironed, it was also starched within an inch of its life. There was nothing more unpleasant back then than wearing a starched blouse to school or church on a hot sticky day. I still shudder at those memories. Nor did I care for sleeping on a starched pillowcase! Ugh!

Consider starching all doilies and dresser scarves that are going to be used. The starch will act as a protector from dust, dirt and spills.

All crochet doilies and tablecloths do need to be starched with liquid starch and blocked as they dry. (I will post more about proper drying of crocheted items under drying tips.)

If you are cleaning an item for your collection or to be used only for holidays, do not starch! The starch will increase the likely hood of yellowing. I am not sure about bugs and modern starches but I do know that the old time sugar based starches would attract bugs that would come out and nibble on the sugar and often get the threads, too.

Starching anything else is up to you to decide if you want to or not.

For liquid starching, follow the directions on the bottle for mixing up the solution. Dip your linen in the solution and place it in a sink to drain. Following the proper drying techniques, let it dry until damp. If you are unable to iron it immediately, put it in a plastic bag and stick it in the refrigerator. If you are unable to iron it within a day then you should put it in the freezer. When you are ready to iron the item, let it thaw first, which should take about ½ hour. If it does dry too much you can mist it down as you are ironing it. Thanks to Lynns*vintagevilla for the freezing tip!

Crocheted pretties do not need to be ironed so let them dry completely.

For spray starching I prefer Easy-On Double Starch.

Ironing

Many of us grew up when everything had to be ironed, and we learned many of the following techniques from our mothers. But because of the invention of wash’n’wear fabrics, there’s a whole new generation who never needed to iron.

While ironing with either a hand iron or with the mangle, I keep a spray bottle of water handy and mist down the fabric as I press it.

If you will be doing a lot of large flat textiles, consider getting a mangle. I absolutely love mine as I can sit down, pop a movie into the VCR and happily iron baskets of tablecloths. I am unfamiliar with the new ones as mine is from the 40s. Never iron embroidery or crochet with a mangle. Fine Irish linen dishtowels and all hankies should be done with a hand iron.

A problem with fine linen hand towels, tablecloths and napkins is that they become skewed or out of alignment. One way that will help get them back into the correct shape is to start ironing in the center and iron outwards, tugging on the edge that you are ironing toward. You will find all of your vintage textiles will present better if used this same ironing method regardless of the fiber content.

Ironing embroidery work requires care so that the stitches are not damaged. French knots and padded stitches can be damaged if not properly ironed. Use a thick clean white cotton cloth to create an ironing pad. Place the pad on top of the embroidery and press down, do not slide over it. Lift and press down again. Then turn your embroidery face down on the pad and iron from the wrong side. Use lots of steam or dampen down the embroidery areas with a mister before pressing.

Protecting for long and short term storage

There are a couple of things that are important regardless of the length of time you are storing an item.

• Never use plastic


• Never let your linens touch wood

Even short term storage in plastic can have a negative effect on your linens. I recently sold a tablecloth that was from my old stock. It had been stored in a Ziploc bag for about two years. Without thinking I sent it off to the buyer. You can imagine my dismay when I received an email from her and she said that it had yellow spots all over it. I thought that they were very faint ones that I had missed, but when I received it back and saw the size of those spots I knew there was no way that I had missed them. I promptly checked all of my stock that was stored in plastic and discovered about ½ of them had yellow spots or streaks on them. I did some research and discovered that the discoloration is the result of gasses given off by the plastic being trapped inside the bag with the fabric.

Long Term Storage:

Sorry, I don't have a large linen collection so my pictures of long term storage solutions aren’t perfect examples, but they should be good enough to give you the idea.

If you are putting your linens into long term storage -- even if it is just from Christmas to Christmas -- there are several things you need to do.

I’ve heard contradictory advise concerning ironing linens prior to storing them. I am not knowledgeable enough to recommend one or the other, but based on my limited knowledge, I vote for not ironing them.

The ideal method of storing linens is to lay them flat. The next best alternative is to roll them.

If you are rolling your linens, you should use an acid free cardboard tube or cover a non-acid free one with clean 100% linen, cotton or acid free tissue paper.





Roll your tablecloth, napkins and other fine linens around the tube, then cover with cotton, linen or acid free tissue paper.



If you are placing your rolled linens on a wooden shelf, drawer or chest you should still line it with cotton, linen or acid free tissue paper. Do not store in plastic bins.
It never hurts to be over protective.

Just because you have taken great pains with protecting your fine linens, it does not mean you can put them away and forget about them for years and years.
You still need to take them out and inspect them a couple times a year. Check for any yellowing of the linens and the protector cloths or tissues. Tuck some herbal moth repellents in with your linens. When you roll them again, roll from the opposite side than what they were previously rolled.

If it is not possible for you to roll the larger pieces, you need to refold them at least twice a year. Fold them in different areas then where the previous folds were.

Good Question! Actually the only linens that I fold are the ones that in everyday use. My long term or once a year type linens are all rolled. Perhaps there is a collector here that can recommend how often linens should refolded? ...

Thanks so very much Anita!



lynn

Here is the link to the Needle Arts & Vintage Textile (NAVT) board
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