As a way of dealing with the stress of HP Tech Support, I thought I'd do a page where I could show the process I use for starching cotton. This is my second year making snowflake ornaments from cotton yarn and I starch them with sugar. It's a non-toxic way to do it as well as a pretty simple one.

For this, you need...

-granulated sugar
-water
-two towels (preferably white but a light colored one works)
-a small bowl
-straight pins
-white printer paper

Combine 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water in a small saucepan. Stir it to dissolve the sugar in the water. Bring it to a boil and then let it cool.

While you're waiting for your sugar water to cool, set up the surface on which you'll be drying your cotton. I used a drawer lined with towels because I had lots of cotton to starch. Place the printer paper over the towels.

Here's the example I'll be using. I made it using this pattern and this yarn. I ended up using an H crochet hook instead of an F because my stitches tend to be too tiny.

Wet your cotton using water in a small bowl.

Place the cotton in the sugar water and let it sit for 1 minute.

In this case, the snowflakes tend to float so I'm using a potato masher to keep it submerged in the sugar water.

Place your cotton between the folds of a towel and blot.

Place your cotton on the printer paper/towels and pin down using the straight pins. I couldn't find my straight pins so I'm using the safety pins I keep in my notions bag. Let it dry for 24-48 hours.